Tukang Besi

language
name=Tukang Besi
familycolor=Austronesian
states=Indonesia
region=Sulawesi, Tukang Besi Archipelago
speakers=200,000
fam2=Malayo-Polynesian (MP)
fam3=Nuclear MP
fam4=Sunda-Sulawesi
fam5=Muna-Buton
fam6=Tukangbesi-Bonerate
iso2=map
lc1=khc|ld1=Tukang Besi North|ll1=none
lc2=bhq|ld2=Tukang Besi South|ll2=none

Tukang Besi is an Austronesian language spoken in the Tukang Besi archipelago in south-east Sulawesi in Indonesia by some 200,000 speakers. It is also an archipelago called the Tukangbesi Islands, where many of the speakers live.

ounds

Tukang Besi has 25 consonant phonemes and a basic 5-vowel system. It features stress which is usually on the second to last syllable. The language features two implosive consonants, which are uncommon in the world's languages. The coronal plosives and IPA|/s/ have prenasalized counterparts which act as separate phonemes.

IPA|/b/ only appears in loanwords, though it contrasts with IPA|/ɓ/. IPA| [d] and IPA| [z] are not phonemic and appear only as allophones of IPA|/dʒ/ which appears only in loanwords.

External links

* [http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellmd/TkB.html The Tukang Besi papers] - A collection of various scientific papers on Tukang Besi
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=khc Ethnologue report for northern Tukang Besi]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=bhq Ethnologue report for southern Tukang Besi]