View source for Social:Tambora language

{{Short description|Language of the lost Tambora culture of Sumbawa, present-day Indonesia}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Tambora
| states           = Indonesia
| region           = Sumbawa
| pushpin_map      = Indonesia
| coordinates      = {{coords|-8.25|118}}
| ethnicity        = Tambora culture
| extinct          = Soon after [[Earth:1815 eruption of Mount Tambora|1815]]
| familycolor      = Papuan
| family           = Unclassified; non-[[Social:Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] based on existing basic vocabulary
| iso3             = xxt
| glotto           = tamb1257
| glottorefname    = Tambora
| notice           = IPA
}}
'''Tambora''' is the poorly attested non-[[Social:Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] (Papuan) language of the Tambora culture of central Sumbawa, in what is now Indonesia, that was made extinct by the [[Earth:1815 eruption of Mount Tambora|1815 eruption]] of Mount Tambora. It was the westernmost known Papuan language<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Donohue|first=Mark|date=2008-01-03|title=The Papuan Language of Tambora|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/228921|journal=Oceanic Linguistics|volume=46|issue=2|pages=520–537|doi=10.1353/ol.2008.0014|s2cid=26310439|issn=1527-9421}}</ref> and was relatively unusual among such languages in being the language of a maritime trading state, though contemporary Papuan trading states were also found off Halmahera in Ternate and Tidore.<ref>{{citation |first = Peter |last = Bellwood |title = First Islanders: Prehistory and Human Migration in Island Southeast Asia |year = 2017 |access-date = 2022-12-29 |isbn = 978-1-119-25154-5 |location = Hoboken |publisher = John Wiley & Sons |pages = 211–212 |oclc = 976434720 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SmBGDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA211 |language = en}}</ref>

==Vocabulary==
[[File:The history of Java (page 576 crop) - Comparative vocabulary of the Bugis, Makasar, Mandhar, Buton, Sasak, Bima, Sembawa (Sumbawa), Tembora (Tambora), Ende languages.jpg|thumb|300px|Comparative vocabulary including Tambora words, from Raffles' ''The History of Java'']]
One word list was collected prior to the eruption, published as Raffles (1817, 1830). It is clear from this that the language is not [[Social:Austronesian languages|Austronesian]]; indeed, there are only a few Austronesian loans.<ref name=":0" />

In the list below,<ref name=":0" /> it is presumed that {{angle bracket|ng'}} transcribes {{IPAblink|ŋ}} and {{angle bracket|dj}} {{IPAblink|dʒ}}. Hyphen is possibly a glottal stop {{IPAblink|ʔ}}. Two words, ''búlu'' and ''mákan'', are clearly [[Social:Malay language|Malay]] loans. Zollinger (1850) identified several possible loans from other Austronesian languages; Tambora was a regional trading power, so a number of loans might be expected. The connection of ''taintu'' with the Papuan [[Social:Timor–Alor–Pantar languages|Timor–Alor–Pantar languages]], if not coincidence, would presumably be genetic, not a loan.<ref name=":0" /> However, [[Biography:Harald Hammarström|Harald Hammarström]] considers it to be a [[Social:Language isolate|language isolate]].<ref>{{Citation |editor-first = Lyle |editor-last = Campbell |chapter = Language isolates in the New Guinea region |first = Harald |last = Hammarström |title = Language Isolates |year = 2018 |location = Abingdon–New York |series = Routledge Language Family Series |isbn = 978-1-317-61091-5 |oclc = 1000447105 |doi = 10.4324/9781315750026-11 |publisher = Routledge |pages = 287–322 |language = en }}</ref>

{| class=wikitable
!Tambora||gloss||Tambora||gloss
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|seena}} (AN?) || 'one' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|maimpo}} ||'foot'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|kálae}} || 'two' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|kiro}} || 'blood'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|nih}} || 'three' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|kóngkong}} || 'day'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|kude-in}} || 'four' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|tádung}} || 'night'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|kutélin}} || 'five' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|kidjum}} || 'sleep'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|báta-in}} || 'six' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|sílam}} || 'dead'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|kúmba}} || 'seven' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|si-yang}} (Z: Malay?) || 'white'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|koného}} || 'eight' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|naido}} || 'black'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|láli}} || 'nine' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|sámar}} || 'good'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|saróne}} || 'ten' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|gonóre}} || 'bad'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|sisaróne}} || 'twenty' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|maing'aing}} || 'fire'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|simári}} || 'one hundred' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|naino}} (Z: Madura) || 'water'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|doh}} (Bima) || 'person' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|gónong}} (Z: Malay?) || 'earth'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|sia-in}} (Z: Sangar) || 'man' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|ilah}} || 'stone'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|óna-yit}} || 'woman' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|kíwu}} || 'pig'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|homóri}} || 'father' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|kilaíngkong}} || 'bird'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|yelai}} || 'mother' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|andik}} (Z: [[Social:Javanese language|Javanese]]) || 'egg'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|kokóre}} || 'head' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|karáyi}} || 'fish'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|saing'óre}} || 'eye' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|ingkong}} || 'sun'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|saing kóme}} || 'nose' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|mang'ong}} || 'moon'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|búlu}} (Malay: ''bulu'') || 'hair' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|kingkong}} || 'star'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|sóntong}} || 'teeth' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|mákan}} (Malay: ''makan'') || 'eat'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|sumóre}} || 'belly' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|hok-hok}} (Z: [[Social:German language|German]]?) || 'sit'
|-
|{{wikt-lang|xxt|taintu}} (Timor?) || 'hand' || {{wikt-lang|xxt|moríhoh}} ([[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]]?) || 'God'
|}

==Analysis==
Donohue notes that word lists of this size from other Indonesian languages with relatively small consonant inventories typically succeed in recording all consonants, so the same might be expected here, apart from consonants which could not be transcribed with [[Social:Malay language|Malay]] orthographic conventions, such as the implosives found in the region. ''P'' only occurs after ''m'', and may be a reflex of ''h'', as in other languages of the area. Overall, the phonemic profile is consistent with many languages of eastern Indonesia: that is, to the east but not to the west of Tambora.<ref name=":0" />

''Hok-hok'' 'sit' suggests verbal reduplication, but the only other verb, ''makan'', is an obvious Malay loan.<ref name=":0" />

''Saing'óre'' 'eye', ''saing kóme'' 'nose', ''sóntong'' 'teeth', ''sumóre'' 'belly' all begin similarly, suggesting a prefix, possibly a possessive prefix, with a nasal ''-ng' ''that assimilates to a following consonant, and with ''sumóre'' 'belly' presumably from *more or *pore.<ref name=":0" />

Several of the numbers begin with ''sV-'', a common pattern in Austronesian languages where 'one' is reduced to a prefix. Indeed, ''seena'' 'one' is a possible Austronesian loan. Donohue suggests that ''sarone'' 'ten' ~ ''sisarone'' 'twenty' may reflect an earlier [[Vigesimal|vigesimal]] system, possibly from ''sa-'' 'one' ''doh'' 'person' ''-ne'' (suffix), a common way of counting 'twenty' in the region. 'Twenty' might then have shifted to meaning 'ten' under the influence of decimal trading partners.<ref name=":0" />

The word ''moríhoh'' 'God' reflects a common term in the area, of uncertain but perhaps Sanskrit derivation. In Tambora, however, it also resembles ''homóri'' 'father', suggesting that neither word can be assumed to be native.<ref name=":0" />

Donohue notes one word, ''taintu'' 'hand', which is plausibly connected to other Papuan languages, those of [[Social:Timor–Alor–Pantar languages|Timor and Alor]] to the east: Abui ''taŋ'', Oirata ''tana'', Kui ''tan''. This leaves the ''-tu'' as a possible suffix, and the similar shape of ''maimpo'' 'foot' suggests to Donohue that these may derive from ''tayn'' and ''maym'' plus a suffix ''-ho'' or ''-hu'' which assimilates to the preceding consonant.<ref name=":0" />

A number of words end in ''-(k)ong'' and ''-ore'', and the former are semantically similar (''ingkong'' 'sun', ''kóngkong'' 'day', ''mang'ong'' 'moon', ''kingkong'' 'star'), suggesting possible suffixes, though they might simply be coincidence.<ref name=":0" />

==See also==
*Tambora culture

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Stamford Raffles, 1817, 1830. ''History of Java,'' vol. 2, app. F, 198–199.


[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]

{{Sourceattribution|Tambora language}}