Saluan language

Saluan, or Loinang after one of its dialects, is the main language of the eastern peninsula of the island of Sulawesi.

Saluan
Loinang
Region	Sulawesi
Native speakers	(76,000 cited 1978)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Celebic Saluan–Banggai Saluanic Saluan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	loe
Glottolog	salu1253
ELP	Saluan

Phonology

Consonants^[2]

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t		k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	dʒ	ɡ
Fricative			s			h
Rhotic			r
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

In some dialects, the distinction between /l/, /r/ and /n/ is neutralized to /n/ in word-final position, as in putan 'rope' (putal in most dialects).^[3]

Vowels^[2]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	(ə)	o
Open		a

The central vowel [ə] is restricted to certain dialects.

In final position, there is a phonemic distinction between long and short vowels, e.g. /ikuː/ 'tail' vs. /siku/ 'elbow'.^[3]

References

1. Saluan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Pamolango, Valantino (2012). Geografi Dialek Bahasa Saluan. Manado: Universitas Sam Ratulangi.
3. Mead, David and Edy Pasanda (2015). An Initial Appreciation of the Dialect Situation in Saluan and Batui (Eastern Sulawesi, Indonesia). SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2015-013. SIL International.