Uma (known natively as Pipikoro) is an Austronesian language spoken in Central and South Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Phonology
Consonants
Notes:
- /h/ acts as a nasal in some respects and causes the nasalization of non-front vowels (e.g., [hampulu'] 'ten'→/haᵐpuluʔ/ with nasal vowels).
- /l/ is realized as retroflex [ɭ] contiguous to non-front vowels.
- /ʔ/ is neutralized word-initially, and is the only consonant that can occur in the coda or word-finally.
- In the Lincio variety of Central Uma, /ⁿtʃ/ is pronounced /ns/.
- The semivowel [j] is rare, found mainly in loan words.
- The affricate /tʃ/ is found only following /n/, i.e., in the prenasalized stop /ⁿtʃ/.
Orthographic notes:
- /β/ is 'w'
- /ɲ/ is 'ny'
- /ŋ/ is 'ng'
- /j/ is 'y'
- /dʒ/ is 'j'
- /tʃ/ is 'c'
- /ʔ/ is an apostrophe or simply 'ʔ'
Vowels
Pronouns
Notes:
- ABS refers to pronominals in the absolutive case, while ERG refers to the ergative and GEN to the genitive.
- 1P means 'first person,' 2P means 'second person,' and 3P means 'third person.'
- (SG) means 'singular' and (PL) means 'plural.' (PL.ex) means 'plural exclusive' and (PL.in) means 'plural inclusive.'
- [∅-] means that ∅ is a proclitic.
- [-∅] means that ∅ is an enclitic.
- In the Tobaku, Tolee', and Winatu dialects, the possessives [-nu] and [-ni] are [-mu] and [-mi] respectively.
- In the Tolee' and Winatu dialects, the absolutives [-kai] and [-koi] are [-kami] and [-komi] respectively. The free forms [kaiʔ] and [koiʔ] are [kamiʔ] and [komiʔ] respectively.
Numerals
The cardinal numbers from 1 to 10 are:
- isaʔ
- dua
- tolu
- opoʔ
- lima
- ono
- pitu
- walu
- sio
- hampuluʔ
Classification of Uma varieties
Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013) recognizes seven dialects of Uma.
- Bana
- Benggaulu (= Bingkolu)
- Kantewu (= Central Uma)
- Aria (= Southern Uma)
- Tobaku (= Ompa, Dompa, Western Uma)
- Tolee' (= Eastern Uma)
- Winatu (= Northern Uma)
Martens (2014) recognized six major dialects of Uma, noting that the Tori'untu dialect is nearly extinct due to the encroachment of the Kantewu dialect and non-Uma languages.
- Kantewu (= Central)
- Southern
- Tolee'
- Tobaku
- Winatu
- Tori'untu
Martens also identifies two dialects closely related to Uma spoken in the Pasangkayu Regency.
- Sarudu
- Benggaulu (= Bingkolu)
References
Bibliography



