Sama-Bajaw languages
| Sama–Bajaw | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution |
Sulu Archipelago and Biliran, between the Philippines and Borneo |
| Linguistic classification |
Austronesian
|
| Glottolog | sama1302 |
The Sama–Bajaw languages are a well established group of languages spoken by the Bajau and Sama peoples of the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. They are mainly spoken on Borneo and the Sulu Archipelago between Borneo and Mindanao.
Grimes (2003) identifies nine Sama–Bajaw languages.
The first six are spoken in the Sulu region of the Southern Philippines. Indonesian Bajaw is spoken mainly in Sulawesi and West Coast Bajaw in Sabah, Borneo. Several dialects of the languages can be identified.
Blust (2006) states that lexical evidence indicates that Sama–Bajaw originated in the Barito region of southeast Borneo, though not from any established group of Barito languages. Ethnologue has followed, calling the resulting group 'Greater Barito'.
Pallesen (1985:18) classifies the Sama-Bajaw languages as follows.
Western Austronesian languages are characterised by symmetrical voice alternations. These differ from asymmetrical voice alternations, such as active and passive, since the voices can be considered equally transitive. Hence, the terms Actor Voice and Undergoer Voice are sometimes used.
The voice construction is signalled through morphological marking on the verb.
Western Austronesian languages are typically subdivided into Philippine-type and Indonesian-type languages on the basis of the voice system:
The voice alternations in Sama–Bajaw languages have some characteristics of Philippine-type languages and some characteristics of Indonesian-type languages.
Miller (2014) says that there are three main voice alternations in Sama-Bajaw:
In many Philippine languages, the UV construction is said to be basic. This has led people to analyse the languages as syntactically ergative. This analysis has been proposed for Sama Southern (Trick 2006); Yakan (Brainard & Behrens 2002); Sama Bangingi’ (Gault 1999) and Sama Pangutaran (Walton 1986). These languages are said to have Philippine-type voice systems.
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