General introduction 1 Phonology 15 Words and word classes 41 Verbal inflection 50

Contents Preface xii Conventions xiv Maps xvi Map 1. Indonesia xvi Map 2. Muna-Buton area xvii

1. General introduction 1

1.1. Muna: the island, the people

1 1.1.1. Location 1

1.1.2. Ecology

2 1.1.3. Demography 3

1.1.4. Housing and economy

4 1.1.5. Social organization 4

1.1.6. Religion

4 1.1.7. History 5

1.2. The language

6 1.2.1. Previous studies 6

1.2.2. Language boundaries and dialects

6 1.2.3. Subgrouping 8

1.2.4. Literature and language use

8 1.3. Methodology and framework 9

1.3.1. Fieldwork

9 1.3.2. Framework 10 Illustrations 11

2. Phonology 15

2.1. Phonemes: inventory and description

15 2.1.1. Phoneme inventory 16

2.1.2. Phonetic description

16 2.2. List of contrasts 21

2.3. Phoneme frequency

22 2.4. Syllable and root structure 23

2.4.1. Syllable structure

24 2.4.2. Root structure 24 vi CONTENTS

2.5. Stress

25 2.6. Vowel sequences 25

2.7. Phonotactics

27 2.8. Morphophonemics 32

2.8.1. -um- allomorphy

32 2.8.2. Nasal accretion 35

2.8.3. Possessive suffix -ndo-do

36 2.8.4. Allomorphy of -Ci and -Cao 36

2.9. Adaptation of loanwords

37

3. Words and word classes 41

3.1. Words, affixes, clitics

41 3.1.1. Words 41

3.1.2. Affixes

42 3.1.3. Inflection and derivation 42

3.1.4. Clitics and cliticization

42 3.2. Word classes 43

3.3. Individual discussion of word classes

44 3.3.1. Noun 44

3.3.2. Verb

45 3.3.3. Pronoun 47

3.3.4. Numeral

47 3.3.5. Quantifier 47

3.3.6. Adverb

47 3.3.7. Preposition 47

3.3.8. Conjunction

47 3.3.9. Particle 48

3.3.10. Interjection

48 3.4. Word-class changes and double membership 48

3.5. Conclusion

49

4. Verbal inflection 50

4.1. Subject inflection

50 4.2. Agreement 52

4.3. The three verb classes

52 4.4. Membership of the three verb classes 54

4.5. Realis and irrealis

57 4.6. The definiteness shift 59

4.6.1. Definition and illustration

59 4.6.2. Derived transitivity and the definiteness shift 63

4.6.3. Exceptions to the definiteness shift

65 4.7. Minor verb class changes 66

4.8. Direct and indirect object inflection

67 4.8.1. Direct object inflection 69

4.8.2. Indirect object inflection

70 4.8.3. The missing first person inclusive 71

4.8.4. The form -kaeta

72 4.9. Inflection and derived constructions 73

5. The nominal phrase 76