1 Introduction
The primary purpose of this paper is to make Bonggi wordlists more widely available. Section 1.1 provides background information on the language and its speakers, while §1.2 recounts the history of
Bonggi wordlists. Section 2 discusses various features of the wordlists which are found in §3. Section 2.1 provides a
list of phonemes and discusses phonetic and phonological features in the data, while §2.2 discusses the morphological and morphophonemic processes found in the wordlists. Section 2.3 explains the Bonggi
orthographic conventions used, and §4 concludes by answering the question – how many dialects of Bonggi are there?
1.1 The language and its speakers
Bonggi is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by approximately 1,500 people on Banggi and Balambangan islands in the Kudat District of Sabah, Malaysia. Banggi Island is the largest island in
Sabah, and the third largest island in Malaysia. It is separated from Borneo by the Banggi South Channel. Banggi Island is located approximately 44 kilometers north of Kudat. Since the turn of the 21st
century, a daily ferry has been in operation between Kudat on the mainland and Karakit on the southeastern end of Banggi. Banggi is separated from Balabac, the southernmost island of the Philippine
Archipelago, by the 69 km wide Balabac Strait. Balambangan Island is separated from Banggi by a strait 4.8 km wide.
1
In July 1764, the Sultan of Sulu gave the British East India Company the rights to both Banggi and Balambangan Tarling 1978:20. However, it was not until 1773 that the British established a settlement
on Balambangan. In early 1775, their garrison was attacked and they were forced to leave Balambangan. The Bonggi are subsistence farmers and fishers. Bonggi agriculture is based on cassava; other crops
are maize, bananas, coconuts, papaya, sugar cane, tobacco, tuba Derris elliptica, areca palms, and betel vine. Most farming is done on an individual household basis, while fishing is a more social activity.
Many Bonggi live in small villages of dispersed houses with around 100–150 people per village.
2
Bonggi is one of six Malayo-Polynesian minority languages spoken on Banggi, Balambangan, and the surrounding islands. The other five language groups are Suluk, who are referred to as Tausug in the
Philippines; Ubian, which is referred to as Sama South Ubihan in Pallesen 1985:3; Kagayan, who migrated from Cagayan de Sulu in the Philippines where they are called Jama Mapun; Balabak, who
migrated from Balabac and Ramos islands where they are called Molbog; and Bajau, who are called Sama Boutin and Boutin 1985:90. The Bonggi refer to their language and themselves as Bonggi. The word
banggi in their language means ‘corpse’. Although outsiders normally refer to them by the term banggi, because this is a derogatory term, we use the term Bonggi to refer to the people and the language and
reserve Banggi to refer to the island.
1.2 History of Bonggi wordlists
