Pamona language

Austronesian language spoken in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Pamona (also Poso or Bare’e) is an Austronesian language spoken in Central and South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is part of the northern group of the Kaili–Pamona languages.

Dialects

Ethnologue lists the following as dialects: Laiwonu (Iba), Pamona (Poso), Rapangkaka (Aria), Taa (Topotaa, Wana), Tobau (Bare’e, Tobalo, Tobao), Tokondindi, Tomoni, and Topada.^[2]

The Poso dialect is the prestige dialect, specifically the variety spoken in the interior around Lake Poso. The coastal Poso variety (Poso Pesisir) – mostly spoken by Muslims in the trading hub Poso – does not differ significantly from the interior prestige variety (e.g. it uses the same negator bare'e as the interior variety), but has undergone some lexical influence from Buginese and the Parigi dialect of Kaili.^[3][4]

Phonology

Pamona has the following sound inventory:^[5]

References

1. Pamona at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Pamona at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
3. Adriani (1931), p. 9.
4. Mead, David (2012). Overview of Pamona dialects (per Nicolaus Adriani). Sulang Language Data and Working Papers: Survey Reports, no. 2. Sulawesi Language Alliance.
5. Adriani (1931), p. 17.

Bibliography

• Adriani, Nicolaus (1931). Spraakkunst der Bare'e-Taal. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, LXX. Bandung: A. C. Nix.