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Tambora language

Tambora
Native to Indonesia
Region Sumbawa
Ethnicity Tambora culture
Extinct soon after 1815
unclassified, probably Papuan based on existing basic vocabulary
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog tamb1257
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Tambora is the poorly attested non-Austronesian (Papuan) language of the Tambora culture of central Sumbawa, in what is now Indonesia, which was wiped out by the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora. This was the westernmost known Papuan language (Donohue 2007), and was relatively unusual among such languages in being the language of a maritime trading state, though contemporary Papuan trading states were also found off Halmahera in Ternate and Tidore.

One word list was collected prior to the eruption, published as Raffles (1817, 1830). It is clear from this that the language is not Austronesian; indeed, there are only a few Austronesian loans.

In the list below (Donohue 2007), it is presumed that ⟨ng'⟩ transcribes [ŋ] and ⟨dj⟩ []. Hyphen is possibly a glottal stop [ʔ]. Two words are clearly Malay loans. Zollinger (1850) identified several possible loans from other Austronesian languages; Tambora was a regional trading power, so a number of loans might be expected. The connection with Timor, if not coincidence, would presumably be genetic, not a loan.

Donohue (2007) notes that word lists of this size from other Indonesian languages with relatively small consonant inventories typically succeed in recording all consonants, so the same might be expected here, apart from consonants which could not be transcribed with Malay orthographic conventions, such as the implosives found in the region. P only occurs after m, and may be a reflex of h, as in other languages of the area. Overall, the phonemic profile is consistent with many languages of eastern Indonesia: that is, to the east but not to the west of Tambora.

Hok-hok 'sit' suggests verbal reduplication, but the only other verb, makan, is an obvious Malay loan.


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