Samal language
| Sama | |
|---|---|
| Bajau | |
| Sinama | |
| Native to | Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia |
| Region | Tawi-Tawi and neighboring islands of the Sulu Archipelago (Sibutu, Siasi), Darvel Bay north coast of Sabah and some part of Indonesia |
| Ethnicity | Sama, Bajau |
|
Native speakers
|
410,000 (2000–2007) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously: |
| Glottolog | inne1244 |
The Sama language, Sinama (Sama + the infix -in-; also known as Bahasa Bajau), is the language of Sama people of the Sulu Archipelago the Bajau of Sabah, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Sama are one of the most widely dispersed peoples in Southeast Asia.
The Ethnologue divides Sinama into 7 languages based on mutual intelligibility. The 7 Sinama languages are Northern Sinama, Central Sinama, Southern Sinama, Sinama Pangutaran from the island of Pangutaran off of Jolo island, Mapun, Bajau West Coast of Sabah and Bajau Indonesia. Jama Mapun, a language from the island of Mapun, formerly known as Cagayan de Sulu, is a related language and sometimes also referred to as Sinama. These classifications are rarely recognized by Sama themselves who instead classify their Sinama by the village or island it originates from. The emic classification of a Sama person's language e.g. Silumpak, Laminusa, Tabawan generally form the different dialects of the 7 Sinama or Bajau languages.
The following list of Sama dialects is from Ethnologue, with some additions from Pallesen (1985) (individual languages with separately assigned ISO codes highlighted in bold; locations and speaker populations are from Palleson (1985:45-50)):
Ethnologue provides the following location information for various Sama languages.
Nothern Sama is located in western Mindanao, the Sulu archipelago northeast of Jolo, Zamboanga coast peninsula and islands, and Basilan island.
Central Sama is located in:
Southern Sama is located in Tawi-Tawi Island Province (in Tawi-Tawi, Simunul, Sibutu, and other major islands) and East Kalimantan (Berau)
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