Sawai language

The Sawai language is a South Halmahera language of the Austronesian language family spoken in the Weda, Weda Selatan and Gane Timor districts of southern Halmahera, in North Maluku Province of Indonesia. There are approximately 12,000 speakers.

Sounds

Below is a description of the Kobe dialect of Sawai spoken in the villages of Lelilef Woyebulan and Kobe Peplis, as well as from Whistler.

Consonants

Sawai has 15 consonants:

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Stop
Fricative
Nasal
Semivowel
Liquid

Vowels

Sawai has eight vowels:

	Front	Central	Back
High
High-Mid
Low-Mid
Low

Syllable

Sawai has the following syllable structure:
Examples:

word	gloss	syllable type
	's/he/it'	V
	'fish'	VC
	'alcoholic drink'	CV
	's/he/it gives'	CCV
	'magic statue'	CVC
	's/he/it goes'	CCVC