Toraja-Saʼdan language

Toraja-Saʼdan (also Toraja, Saʼdan, South Toraja) is an Austronesian language spoken in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It shares the name Taeʼ with East Toraja. Most of the Toraja language mapping was done by Dutch missionaries working in Sulawesi, such as Nicolaus Adriani and Hendrik van der Veen.

Toraja-Saʼdan
Saʼdan
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Sulawesi
Native speakers	590,000 (2010 census)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian South Sulawesi Northern Toraja Toraja-Saʼdan
Dialects	Makale Rantepao West Toraja
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sda
Glottolog	tora1261

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

Consonants

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

Sounds [tʃ, dʒ] are heard from Indonesian loanwords. /h/ only rarely occurs.

In final position, only /n/, /ŋ/, /k/ and /ʔ/ can occur.^[2]

References

1. Toraja-Saʼdan at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
2. Sande, J. S.; Stokhof, W. A. L. (1977). "On the Phonology of the Toraja Kesuʔ Dialect" (PDF). In Ignatius Suharno (ed.). Miscellaneous Studies in Indonesian and Languages in Indonesia, Part IV. NUSA 5. Jakarta: Badan Penyelenggara Seri NUSA. pp. 19–34.

Further reading

• Waterson, Roxana (2012). "Flows of Words and Flows of Blessing: The Poetics of Invocatory Speech among the Sa'dan Toraja". Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 168 (4): 391–419. doi:10.1163/22134379-90003550. JSTOR 23339340. S2CID 145289982. Accessed 21 Jan. 2023.