Matbat language

Matbat is a heavily Papuan-influenced Austronesian language spoken in West Papua on the island of Misool, Raja Ampat islands. Like neighboring Ma'ya, it is one of a handful of Austronesian languages with tone.

Matbat has five lexical tones: high falling ˥˩ 41, high ˦ 3, low rising ˩˨ 12, low level ˩ 1, and low falling ˨˩ 21, which in open syllables has a peaking allophone, ˩˨˩ 121. Most Matbat words are monosyllabic; additional syllables in polysyllabic words are often weak and toneless, though a few words do have two tonic syllables. Examples of some of the longer monomorphemic words are /kamow˩˨/ 'star', /wuy˦te/ 'sea shore', /sapu˥˩luy˩˨/ 'round', /bim˦bom˩˨˩pu/ 'butterfly'.