Manggarai language

This article is about the Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia. For the Australian language, see Mangarrayi language.

The Manggarai language (tombo Manggarai, Indonesian: bahasa Manggarai) is the language of the Manggarai people from the western parts of the island of Flores, in East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia.

Manggarai
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Flores
Ethnicity	Manggarai
Native speakers	(undated figure of 900,000)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Central–Eastern MP Sumba–Flores Ende–Manggarai Manggarai
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mqy
Glottolog	mang1405  Manggarai

Location map of the regency of Greater Manggarai, which consists of three regencies: Manggarai Regency, West Manggarai Regency and East Manggarai Regency, on Flores island, in East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia

Background

Manggarai is the native language of the Manggarai people of Flores island in East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. Based on statistical data reported by the Central Agency on Statistics (BPS) in 2009, it is the native language of more than 730,000 people in the province of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia.

Outside Flores, there was once a small minority of Manggarai-speaking people in the village of Manggarai located in the eastern part of Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. Formerly a neighbourhood in the capital with a large concentration of transmigrant workers from the Greater Manggarai region of Nusa Tenggara Timur, the neighbourhood's populace today from the said area has been decreasing (due to factors such as return to their ancestral village, intermarriage with different ethnic groups, etc.) for it is now populated by the majority native Betawi ethnic group.

The Manggarai language is part of the Austronesian family, and is therefore related to Indonesian and other Malay varieties. Most speakers of Manggarai also speak Indonesian for official and commercial purposes and to communicate with non-Manggarai Indonesians (including citizens of the same province from different diverse ethnic groups). Riung is often considered a dialect of Maranggai or a separate language.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	tʃ	k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	dʒ	ɡ
	prenasal vl.	ᵐp	ⁿt	ⁿtʃ	ᵑk
	prenasal vd.	ᵐb	ⁿd	ⁿdʒ	ᵑɡ
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Fricative		v	s			h
Lateral			l
Trill			r
Approximant				j

Vowels

Vowel phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open		a

References

• Verheijen, J. A. J.; Grimes, C. E. (1995). "Manggarai". In Tryon, D.T. (ed.). Comparative Austronesian Dictionary: An Introduction to Austroneasian Studies. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 585–592.
• Burger, P. Adolf (1946). "Voorlopige Manggaraise Spraakkunst". Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië (in Dutch). 103 (1/2): 15–265. doi:10.1163/22134379-90001214. JSTOR 20770777.
• Semiun, Agustinus (2019). "A Study on the Address and Kinship Terms in Kempo Speech of Manggarai Language in West Flores Indonesia". 4: 108–117. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Verheijen, J.A.J. (1982). Dictionary of Manggarai Plant Names. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/pl-d43. hdl:1885/144388. ISBN 978-0-85883-273-2.