Blagar is a Papuan language of Pantar island in the Alor archipelago of Indonesia. The Tereweng dialect spoken on Tereweng Island off the southeast coast of Pantar[2] is sometimes considered a separate language.[3]

The increasing prominence of Indonesian has been putting pressure on the Blagar language although the language is still used by all age groups.[4] By the 1970s Indonesian replaced Blagar as the language of churches and mosques, and in the early 2000s the spread of Indonesian was furthered by the introduction of electricity on Pura Island.[4]

Phonology

Vowels

Blagar has five vowels, with a sharp contrast between short and long vowels.[5]

[5]
Front Back
Close /i/
/i:/ 		/u/
/u:/
Mid /e/
/e:/ 		/o/
/o:/
Open /a/
/a:/

Consonants

[6]
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p   b t̪   d k   g ʔ
Implosive ɓ
Fricative s   z h
Nasal m n ŋ
Trill r
Lateral l
Approximant j

Grammar

The morphological typology of Blagar is categorized as isolating.[7]

Writing system

Blagar uses the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet, and has two digraphs: ⟨ng⟩ and ⟨sy⟩.

[3]
Uppercase letters A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Lowercase letters a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
IPA /a/ /b/ /t͡ʃ/ /d/ /e/ /f/ /g/ /h/ /i/ /d͡ʒ/ /k/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /o/ /p/ /k/, /q/ /r/~/ɾ/ /s/ /t/ /u/ /f/, /v/ /w/ /ks/ /j/ /s/, /z/
[3]
Digraphs ng sy
IPA /ŋ/ /ʃ/

⟨c⟩, ⟨q⟩, ⟨x⟩, ⟨z⟩ and ⟨sy⟩ are only used in foreign place names and loanwords.[3]

Another writing system is also used, which is phonemic and is similar to the writing system of Indonesian.[8]

Letters a b b’ d e g h i j k l m n ng o p q r t u v y
IPA /a/ /b/ /ɓ/ /d/ /e/ /g/ /h/ /i/ /ɟ/, /ɟ͡ʝ/ /k/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ /o/ /p/ /ʔ/ /r/ /t/ /u/ /w/ /j/

References

  1. ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
  2. ^ "Tereweng". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  3. ^ a b c d "Blagar alphabet, pronunciation [sic] and language". Omniglot. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  4. ^ a b Steinhauer 2014, p. 149.
  5. ^ a b Steinhauer 2014, p. 150.
  6. ^ Steinhauer 2014, p. 152.
  7. ^ Steinhauer 1977, p. 39.
  8. ^ Steinhauer & Gomang 2016, pp. xix–xx.

Bibliography

  • Steinhauer, Hein (1977). ""Going" and "Coming" in the Blagar of Dolap (Pura--Alor--Indonesia) 1)" (PDF). SEAlang. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  • Steinhauer, Hein (2014). "Blagar". In Schapper, Antoinette (ed.). The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar: Volume 1: Sketch Grammars. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 147–219. ISBN 9781614515241.
  • Steinhauer, Hein; Gomang, Hendrik D.R. (2016). Kamus Blagar-Indonesia-Inggris: Blagar-Indonesian-English Dictionary. ISBN 978-602-433-356-0.

External links