Dhao language

Not to be confused with Ndau language.

Dhao
Ndao
Pronunciation	ˈɖ͡ʐao
Spoken in	Indonesia
Region	Lesser Sunda Islands
Native speakers	5,000  (1997)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Sumba–Flores Sumba Savu Dhao
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nfa
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The Dhao language, better known to outsiders by its Rotinese name Ndao (Ndaonese, Ndaundau), is the language of Ndao Island in Indonesia. Traditionally classified as a Sumba language in the Austronesian family, it may actually be a non-Austronesian (Papuan) language. (See Savu languages for details.) It was once considered a dialect of Hawu, but is not mutually intelligible.

Phonology

Dhao phonology is similar to that of Hawu, but somewhat more complex in its consonants.

Lab.	Apic.	Lam.	Vel.	Glot.
m	n	ɲ	ŋ
p	t	tʃ	k	ʔ
b	d	dʒ	ɡ
ɓ	ɗ	ʄ	ɠ
(f)	s			h
bβ	ɖʐ			ʕ~∅
(w)	l, r	(j)

Consonants of the /n/ column are apical, those of the /ɲ/ column laminal. /f w j/ are found in Malay loan words. In the practical orthography, implosives are written ⟨b' d' j' g'⟩, the affricates ⟨bh dh⟩ (the dh is slightly retroflex), and the voiced glottal onset as a double vowel. The /ʕ/ is sometimes silent, but contrasts with a glottal stop onset in vowel-initial words within a phrase. Its phonemic status is not clear. It has an "extremely limited distribution", linking noun phrases (/ʔiki/ 'small', /ʔana ʕiki/ 'small child') and clauses (/ʕaa/ 'and', /ʕoo/ 'also').

Vowels are /i u e ə o a/, with /ə/ written ⟨è⟩. Phonetic long vowels and diphthongs are vowel sequences. The penultimate syllable/vowel is stressed. (Every vowel constitutes a syllable.)

/ŋe/ [ŋe] 'this.obj', /neʔe/ [ˈneʔe] 'this', /ŋaŋee/ [ŋaˈŋeː] 'thinking', /ŋali/ [ˈŋali] 'senile', /ŋəlu/ [ˈŋəlːu] 'wind'.

A stressed schwa lengthens the following consonant: /meda/ [ˈmeda] 'yesterday', /məda/ [ˈmədːa] 'night'.

Syllables are consonant-vowel or vowel-only.

Grammar

Dhao has a nominative–accusative SVO word order, unlike Hawu. Within noun phrases, modifiers follow the noun. There are a set of independent pronouns, and also a set of pronominal clitics.

PRON	Indep.	clitic
I	dʒaʔa	ku
thou	əu	mu
s/he	nəŋu	na (ne)
we (incl)	əɖʐi	ti
we (excl)	dʒiʔi	ŋa
y'all	miu	mi
they	rəŋu	ra (si)

When the clitics are used for objects, there are proximal forms in the third person, ne 'this one' and si 'these', the latter also for collective plurals. When used for subjects and the verb begins with a vowel, they drop their vowel with a few irregularities:^[1] keʔa meʔa neʔa teʔa ŋeʔa meʔa reʔa 'to know'. Many words that translate prepositions in English are verbs in Dhao, and inflect as such. Dhao also has a single 'intradirective' verb, laʔ 'to go', in which the clitics follow: laku lamu laʔa or laʔe lati (na) lami lasi.

Demonstratives distinguish proximal (here, now, this), distal (there, then, that), and remote (yonder, yon).

DEM	sing.	plur.
Proximal	neʔe, ne	seʔe, se
Distal	əna, ʕəna	səra
Remote	nəi	səi

Sample clauses (Grimes 2006). (Compare the Hawu equivalents at Hawu language#Grammar.)

Lazarus	kako	maɖʐutu	nebβe	ɖʐasi.
(name)	walk	follow	shore	sea

'Lazarus walked/was walking along the edge of the sea.'

həia	ra	kako	taruu	asa	Baʔa.
then	they	walk	cont.	path	Ba’a

'Then they continued walking/traveling towards Ba’a.'

ropa	ra	poro	r-are	kətu	na,
when	they	cut	they-pfv	head	he/his

'When they had cut off his head,'

te ŋaa	ra	pa-maɖʐe	ne.
but	they	caus-die	this.one

'But they killed him.'

laɖʐe	ama	na	maɖʐe,
if/when	father	he/his	die

'When his father dies,'

na	əra	titu	kəna.
he	strong	very	much

'He was incredibly strong.'

Notes

1. ^ In some cases, the clitics in -u and sometimes in -i assimilate with the verb rather than just dropping. Ku-, mu-, and mi- (but not ti-) do this with aʔa 'to know' and are 'to take': koʔa moʔa taʔa miʔa; kore more tare mere. This does not happen with other initial vowels such as schwa, such as əti 'to see' (kəti məti ...).

References

• Grimes, Charles E. 2006. "Hawu and Dhao in eastern Indonesia: revisiting their relationship"