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Dhao
Ndao
Pronunciation
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Lesser Sunda Islands
Native speakers	(5,000 cited 1997)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Sumba–Flores? Sumba–Hawu Savu Dhao
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nfa
Glottolog	dhao1237
ELP	Dhao
Ndao islandLocation of Ndao island, where Dhao is spoken.Show map of Lesser Sunda IslandsNdao islandNdao island (Indonesia)Show map of Indonesia
Coordinates: 10°49′S 122°40′E / 10.817°S 122.667°E / -10.817; 122.667
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The Dhao language, better known to outsiders by its Rotinese name Ndao (Ndaonese, Ndaundau), is the language of Ndao Island in Indonesia. Traditionally classified as a Sumba language in the Austronesian family, it may actually be a non-Austronesian (Papuan) language. It was once considered a dialect of Hawu, but is not mutually intelligible.

Phonology

Dhao phonology is similar to that of Hawu, but somewhat more complex in its consonants.

Consonants of the /n/ column are apical, those of the /ɲ/ column laminal. /f w j/ are found in Malay loan words. In a practical orthography developed for writing the language, implosives are written ⟨b' d' j' g'⟩, the affricates ⟨bh dh⟩ (the dh is slightly retroflex), and the voiced glottal onset as a double vowel. The /ʕ/ is sometimes silent, but contrasts with a glottal stop onset in vowel-initial words within a phrase. Its phonemic status is not clear. It has an "extremely limited distribution", linking noun phrases (/ʔiki/ 'small', /ʔana ʕiki/ 'small child') and clauses (/ʕaa/ 'and', /ʕoo/ 'also').

Vowels are /i u e ə o a/, with /ə/ written ⟨è⟩. Phonetic long vowels and diphthongs are vowel sequences. The penultimate syllable/vowel is stressed. (Every vowel constitutes a syllable.)

/ŋe/ 'this.OBJ', /neʔe/ 'this', /ŋaŋee/ 'thinking', /ŋali/ 'senile', /ŋəlu/ 'wind'.

A stressed schwa lengthens the following consonant: /meda/ 'yesterday', /məda/ 'night'.

Syllables are consonant-vowel or vowel-only.

f, q, v, w, x, y and z are only used in loanwords and foreign names.

Grammar

Dhao has a nominative–accusative subject–verb–object word order, unlike Hawu. Within noun phrases, modifiers follow the noun. There are a set of independent pronouns, and also a set of pronominal clitics.

When the clitics are used for objects, there are proximal forms in the third person, ne 'this one' and si 'these', the latter also for collective plurals. When used for subjects and the verb begins with a vowel, they drop their vowel with a few irregularities: keʔa meʔa neʔa teʔa ŋeʔa meʔa reʔa 'to know'. Many words that translate prepositions in English are verbs in Dhao, and inflect as such. Dhao also has a single 'intradirective' verb, laʔ 'to go', in which the clitics follow: laku lamu laʔa or laʔe lati (NA) lami lasi.

Demonstratives distinguish proximal (here, now, this), distal (there, then, that), and remote (yonder, yon).

Sample clauses (Grimes (2006)).

Lazarus

(name)

kako

walk

maɖʐutu

follow

nebβe

shore

ɖʐasi.

sea

Lazarus kako maɖʐutu nebβe ɖʐasi.

(name) walk follow shore sea

'Lazarus walked/was walking along the edge of the sea.'

həia

then

ra

they

kako

walk

taruu

cont.

asa

PATH

Baʔa.

Ba’a

həia ra kako taruu asa Baʔa.

then they walk cont. PATH Ba’a

'Then they continued walking/traveling towards Ba’a.' Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);

ropa

when

ra

they

poro

cut

r-are

they-PFV

kətu

head

na,

he/his

ropa ra poro r-are kətu na,

when they cut they-PFV head he/his

'When they had cut off his head,'

te ŋaa

but

ra

they

pa-maɖʐe

CAUS-die

ne.

this.one

{te ŋaa} ra pa-maɖʐe ne.

but they CAUS-die this.one

'But they killed him.'

laɖʐe

if/when

ama

father

na

he/his

maɖʐe,

die

laɖʐe ama na maɖʐe,

if/when father he/his die

'When his father dies,'

na

he

əra

strong

titu

very

kəna.

much

na əra titu kəna.

he strong very much

'He was incredibly strong.'

Notes

1. Dhao at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. See Savu languages for details.
3. Grimes (2006)
4. Grimes, Charles E. (1999). Dardjowidjojo, Soenjono; Nasanius, Yassir (eds.). Implikasi penelitian fonologis untuk cara menulis bahasa-bahasa daerah di Kawasan Timur Indonesia [Implications from phonological research for ways of writing vernacular languages in eastern Indonesia] (PDF). PELBBA 12: Pertemuan Linguistik (Pusat Kajian) Bahasa dan Budaya Atma Jaya Kedua Belas (in Indonesian). Yogyakarta: Kanisius. pp. 173–197.
5. Balukh (2020), p. 87
6. In some cases, the clitics in -u and sometimes in -i assimilate with the verb rather than just dropping. Ku-, mu-, and mi- (but not ti-) do this with aʔa 'to know' and are 'to take': koʔa moʔa taʔa miʔa; kore more tare mere. This does not happen with other initial vowels such as schwa, such as əti 'to see' (kəti məti ...).
7. Balukh (2020), p. 90
8. Compare the Hawu equivalents at Hawu language#Grammar.

References

• Grimes, Charles E. (2006). Hawu and Dhao in Eastern Indonesia: Revisiting Their Relationship (PDF).
• Balukh, J. I. (2020). A Grammar of Dhao: An Endangered Austronesian Language in Eastern Indonesia (PhD thesis). Leiden University. hdl:1887/136759.

External links

• Alphabet and pronunciation

• Savu languages
• Languages of Indonesia