Muna–Buton languages

The Muna–Buton languages are a group of languages spoken on the islands of Muna and Buton off the coast of South East Sulawesi province, Indonesia. They belong to the Celebic subgroup of the Austronesian family.

Internal classification

The Ethnologue classifies the Muna–Buton languages as follows, based on van den Berg and Donohue :

Nuclear Muna–Buton
*Buton
**East Buton: Lasalimu, Kumbewaha
**West Buton: Cia-Cia
*Munan
**Busoa
**Munic
***Kaimbulawa
***Western Munic: Liabuku, Muna, Pancana, Kioko
Tukangbesi–Bonerate: Tukang Besi, Bonerate

In earlier classifications, Wolio, spoken in the city of Baubau and its immediate surroundings, and Laiyolo, spoken in the southern part of Selayar Island, were also included in the Muna–Buton group, but Donohue has shown that they form a distinct subgroup of their own, Wotu–Wolio, which also includes Wotu, spoken at the northern shore of the Bone Gulf.

Reconstruction

Proto-Muna–Buton has been reconstructed by van den Berg.

Vocabulary

Van den Berg proposes around 30 lexical innovations for Proto-Muna–Buton, e.g., *ɓeka 'cat', *kaɓi 'throw away', *kenta 'fish', *kompa 'eel', *potu 'head', *weŋke 'split open ', *woru 'under'.