Kedang language

Kédang (Kdang, Dang, Kedangese) is a language of Lembata Island, east of Flores, in Indonesia. The language belongs to the Austronesian family and its sub-family, Malayo-Polynesian.[3] More specifically, the language is within the Flores-Lembata sub-group.[3]

Kedang
Native toIndonesia
Regioneastern Lembata
Native speakers
30,000 (2008 census)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3ksx
Glottologkeda1252[2]

The name of the language is also the name of the region where the language is spoken, Kedang.[4] The region ranges to about 266 square kilometres including two administrative areas - Omesuri and Buyaqsuri.[4] As of today, there are approximately about 30,000 speakers of the language.[3] The majority of the speakers is engaged in agricultural productions which are mainly farming and fishing.[4]

Vowels

Kédang has a total of twelve vowels in its language, separated into two sets evenly with six vowels per set.[5] One set is composed of modal vowels or also known as normal vowels while the other set is breathy vowels.[5] The vowels can be distinct by two different methods: by the word initial position and by the pitch. Modal vowels (normal vowels) occur in the middle and the final position while breathy vowels do not.[5] While the breathy vowels are pronounced at a lower pitch.[5]

Consonants

There are twenty consonants in the Kédang alphabet.[6] The consonants display different manners of articulation including plosives, nasals, lateral, flap, trill, fricatives and continuant.[6]

Word Classes

Kédang developed its word classes to include nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, numerals, prepositions, interjections, conjunctions and classifiers.[7]

Nouns

Nouns are formed when affixes are added to the verbs. Kédang’s affixes are the nominalizing prefix N-, the nominalizing infix -an-, the suffix -n and the free form wala.[8]

  • The nominalizing prefix N- replaces the initial consonant.[8] For examples:
    • t → n tadaq “to advise” → nadaq “advice”[8]
    • k → n kariq “to speak” → nariq “language”[8]
  • The nominalizing infix -an- is added after the initial consonant.[9] For examples:
    • kawang “to flow” → kanawang “current”[9]
    • tangul “to cover a pot with a lid" → tanangul “lid”[9]
  • The suffix -n is added to verbs and adjectives at the end of the words.[10] For examples:
    • dei “to follow” → dein “offspring”[10]
    • mate “dead” → maten “corpse”[10]
  • The free form wala follows after a verb to indicate the person who is acting out the verb.[10] For examples:
    • durung “to sell” → durung wala “seller”[10]
    • huang “to play” → huang wala “player”[10]

Pronouns

Kédang's pronouns follow the three-way system of singular-dual-plural. They are divided into seven categories: personal, emphatic, possessive, emphatic-possessive, adessive, agent focus and action focus.[11]

Personal Emphatic Possessive Emphatic-Possessive Adessive Agent Focus Action Focus
Subjective Objective Subjective Objective
Person
1st singular >ei, >eqi >eqi ko koq koqo koqi >eko eti èrèg
2nd singular o o mo moq moqo meqi omo oti mèrèq
3rd singular nuo, ni nuo ne neq neqe neqi nene neti nèrèq
1st plural exclusive

(exclude the addressee(s))

 e, ke e ke keq keqe keqi eke keti mèrèq
1st plural inclusive

(include the addressee(s))

 te te te teq teqe teqi tete teti tèrèq
2nd plural me me me meq meqe meqi meme meti mèrèq
3rd plural suo, se suo se seq seqe seqi sese seti sèrèq

Adjectives

Kédang adjectives are divided into two functions: predicative and attributive.[12] In order to distinguish these two functions, a suffix -n is added after the end vowel of a predicative adjective for it to become attributive.[12] If the adjective ends with a consonant, there will be no change.[12]

Predicative Attributive
"wet" baha bahan
"alive" bita bitan
"sour" kiru kirun
"new" werun werun
"red" korong korong
"shy" iwiq iwiq

Verbs

There is only one verb tense in Kédang that is fully developed - future tense.[13] The other tenses usually require an adverb that indicates time (past, present or future) to support the content along with the verb used.[13]

Future Tense ('will')
Singular Plural
Person
1st exclusive

(exclude addressee(s))

 ena kena
1st inclusive

(including addressee(s))

 tena
2nd ona mena
3rd nena sena

Notes
  1. Kedang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Kedang". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. "Kedang". Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  4. Samely 1991, p. 1
  5. Samely 1991, p. 11
  6. Samely 1991, p. 36
  7. Samely 1991, p. 63
  8. Samely 1991, p. 65
  9. Samely 1991, p. 66
  10. Samely 1991, p. 67
  11. Samely 1991, p. 68
  12. Samely 1991, p. 84
  13. Samely 1991, p. 87
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References
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