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Wolio is an Austronesian language spoken in and around Baubau on Buton Island, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. It belongs to the Wotu–Wolio branch of the Celebic subgroup. Also known as Buton, it is a trade language and the former court language of the Sultan at Baubau. Today it is an official regional language; street signs are written in the Buri Wolio alphabet, based on the Arabic script.

Wolio has lexical borrowings from Malay, Arabic, and Dutch. Local languages of eastern Indonesia, such as Bugis, Makasar, and Ternate, have also been influential. The name "Buton", which also refers generically to various ethnic and linguistic groups of the Buton area, is said to be of Ternatese origin (butu, ‘market; marketplace’).

Phonology

The five vowels are /i e a o u/. The consonant system is characterized by the presence of prenasalized stops, which are treated as a single sound in Wolio.

/b, d, f/ are found in loans, mostly from Arabic.

Stress is on the penultimate syllable, and only open syllables are allowed.

Grammar

Wolio personal pronouns have one independent form, and three bound forms.

Number is not distinguished in third person. Optionally, plural number can be expressed by means of the plural-marker manga: manga incia 'they'.

See also

• Cia-Cia language
• List of loan words in Indonesian

References

1. Wolio at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Donohue (2004), p. 33.
3. Mead (2003), p. 135.
4. Anceaux (1988), pp. 1.
5. Anceaux, Grimes & van der Berg (1995), pp. 574. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFAnceauxGrimesvan_der_Berg1995 (help)
6. Anceaux, Grimes & van der Berg (1995), pp. 573. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFAnceauxGrimesvan_der_Berg1995 (help)
7. Visser, Leontine E. (2019), "The Historical Paths of Sahu Ceremonial Textiles", Archipel. Études interdisciplinaires sur le monde insulindien, 98: 121–150, doi:10.4000/archipel.1560, ISSN 0044-8613, OCLC 8599457798, The island was their "market" or butu in Ternate language. Thus the island became known as Buton.
8. Visser, Leontine E. (1989), "Foreign Textiles in Sahu Culture", in Gittinger, Mattiebelle (ed.), To Speak with Cloth: Studies in Indonesian Textiles, Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, University of California, pp. 80–90, ISBN 978-0-930741-17-4, OCLC 20970370, Because of its strategic geographical position, Buton served as a major stopping place for military and merchant vessels, whence it got the name of "market" after the Ternate word butu for marketplace.
9. Anceaux (1988), pp. 4–5.
10. Anceaux (1988), p. 6.
11. Anceaux (1988), p. 9.
12. Anceaux (1988), pp. 25, 27, 34, 36, 42.
13. Anceaux (1988), p. 36.

Bibliography

• Anceaux, Johannes Cornelis (1988). The Wolio Language. Leiden: Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004286320.
• Anceaux, Johannes Cornelis; Grimes, Charles E.; van den Berg, René (1995). "Wolio". In Tryon, Darrell T. (ed.). Comparative Austronesian Dictionary: An Introduction to Austronesian Studies. Trends in Linguistics. Documentation. Vol. 10. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 573–584. doi:10.1515/9783110884012.1.573. ISBN 978-3-11-088401-2. OCLC 896406022.
• Donohue, Mark (2004). "The pretenders to the Muna-Buton group". In Bowden, J.; Himmelmann, N. (eds.). Papers in Austronesian subgrouping and dialectology. Pacific Linguistics 563. Canberra: Australian National University. pp. 21–36. doi:10.15144/PL-563.21. hdl:1885/146183.
• Mead, David (2003). "Evidence for a Celebic supergroup". In Lynch, John (ed.). Issues in Austronesian historical phonology. Pacific Linguistics 550. Canberra: Australian National University. pp. 115–141. doi:10.15144/PL-550.115. hdl:1885/146173.

Further reading

• Wolio - Indonesian Dictionary https://repositori.kemdikbud.go.id/2958/1/kamus%20wolio%20indonesia%20%20%20%20%20205.pdf (Archive)
• Mead, David; Smith, Joanna. "The voice systems of Wotu, Barang-barang and Wolio: Synchronic and diachronic perspectives". In Malcolm D. Ross; I Wayan Arka (eds.). Language Change in Austronesian languages: papers from 12-ICAL, Volume 3. Asia-Pacific linguistics 018 / Studies on Austronesian languages 004. pp. 51–78. hdl:1885/13386.
• van den Berg, René (2008). "Notes on the historical phonology and classification of Wolio". In Yury A. Lander; Alexander K. Ogloblin (eds.). Language and Text in the Austronesian World: Studies in honor of Ülo Sirk. München: Lincom. pp. 89–113.

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• Wotu–Wolio languages
• Languages of Sulawesi
• Celebic language stubs