Central Sama

Central Sama (ISO code sml) is spoken in the Philippines throughout the Sulu Archipelago and the Sibuguey Gulf to the north, and in many scattered communities as far north as Manila Bay. In Sabah, Malaysia, it is spoken primarily in the districts of Semporna and Kunak. For more information regarding the classification of this language within Austronesian, see Gordon (2005).

‘Central’ is not an indigenous label for the language; it simply reflects the central position of the language relative to other members of the Sama-Bajaw subgroup. Most native speakers of the language identify themselves as Sama, and the language they speak as Sinama. They are also known by numerous other names, a fact that has given rise to some confusion both in regard to identity and demographic information. Among these names are: Sama Dilaut (meaning ‘ocean-going Sama’, some semi-nomadic); Sama Pala'u (meaning ‘boat-based Sama’, semi-nomadic); Sama Jengen (meaning ‘house-boat Sama’), found in the Bongao district of the Philippines; Sama Lipid (meaning ‘land-based Sama’), a culturally distinct group of Central Sama speakers found in the Siasi municipality of the Philippines; Sama Pagung and Sama Paosol (meaning ‘floating Sama’ and ‘house-building Sama’, respectively); Badjaw (a sometimes pejorative exonym in the Philippines for migrant Sama Dilaut, but a more positive one for Central Sama speakers in Sabah, Malaysia). In addition, many Central Sama, though few of them own or live on land, choose – like other Sama – to identify themselves by a place name. For example, Sama Siasi, Sama Sitangkai, Sama Kabingaˈan, Sama Ubian, and Sama Olutangga.

In Sabah, Malaysia, in addition to the names above, these people are known as Bajau Laut, Sama Laut, Sama Mandelaut, and Bajau Pela'u. English terms used to refer to this people group include both Sea Bajau and Sea Gypsies.¹ In the year 2000, population estimate for the Central Sama in Sabah was 15,000 (Soderberg forthcoming). Gordon (2005) estimates the population of Central Sama in the Philippines to be 90,000.

The ‘North Wind and the Sun’ text was translated and read by Ruth Biral, an unmarried female speaker of Central Sama, 29 years of age at the time of the recording. Ms Biral was born and raised in Siasi, a municipality of Sulu Province in the Philippines. Both her parents are Central Sama. Besides her native Sama, Ms Biral also speaks English, and the Philippine languages Cebuano, Tagalog, Tausug, and Ilonggo.

Consonants

Central Sama has 17 consonant phonemes.

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Central Sama has three voiced plosives /bdg/, each of which has a fricative allophone [β ɾ ɣ] when it occurs between vowels, either within a word or at word boundaries.

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It has three voiceless plosives /ptk/, which are unreleased as [p˺

˺ k˺] in syllable-final position.

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The lateral approximant /l/ has a retroflexed allophone [ḷ] before a pause or before a consonant other than [l].

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The phonemes /j/ and /ɲ/ are uncommon in word-initial position. Out of a corpus of 10,000 words, only five begin with /j/ and six with /ɲ/. The phoneme /j/ occurs frequently word-medially and word-finally.

Geminate consonants

This section includes notes on the status of the 13 lengthened consonants of Central Sama, in response to suggestions from a colleague that the observed length might be conditioned by a preceding schwa, and therefore not phonemic.

All consonants other than /h ʔ ɲ w/ occur as geminate clusters, word-medially in both stressed and unstressed syllables. They form the coda of the foregoing syllable and the onset of the following one, and are represented orthographically as sequences of two identical consonants.

In the examples below, the schwa is not written orthographically when it occurs word-initially, this being the preference of native speakers. We interpret the cluster [ddʒ] in [ˈbuddʒäŋ] ‘maiden’ as a geminate, with the fricative component lost between the two plosives, perhaps for articulatory reasons. The orthographic representation of the word as budjang is the preference of native speakers.

Geminate consonant examples:

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We interpret these lengthened consonants as true phonemic geminates for the following reasons:

(i) They occur after each of the six phonemic vowels, not merely after schwa.

Geminate consonants after the six phonemic vowels:

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(ii) The lengthened consonant is retained even in those Sama-Bajaw languages which have replaced the reconstructed schwa of Proto Sama-Bajaw with a different vowel.

The examples in the following table are phonemic representations. Geminate consonants in Sama-Bajaw languages:

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(iii) Geminate clusters are consistent with (a) the occurrence of consonant clusters at syllable boundaries, e.g. /dag.mit/ ‘do briefly’, /bul.bul/ ‘feather’, /am.bat/ ‘do completely’, /anak.bi/ ‘your (plural) child’; and (b) the occurrence of /ə/ preceding consonant clusters other than the proposed geminates, e.g. /kəmbal/ ‘twin’, /dənda/ ‘woman’, /səŋggal/ ‘wedge’; /tənton/ ‘fishing technique’ /pənsot/ ‘navel’.

(iv) Minimal and near-minimal pairs display a contrast between lengthened consonants and those of normal length, e.g. /agal-agal/ ‘seaweed’ and /aggal/ ‘reluctant’; /bida/ ‘to pull’ and /biddaʔ/ ‘difference’; /kasaʔ/ ‘shroud-cloth’ and /kassaʔ/ ‘glass’; /sabut/ understand’ and /sabbut/ ‘invoke by name’; /tagal/ ‘excuse’ and /taggal/ ‘support’.

(v) There appears to be no set of phonological phenomenon conditioning all the lengthened consonants.

Vowels

Central Sama has six vowel phonemes, /ie ə aou/.

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Three of these vowels, /iau/, exhibit allophonic variation: the tense allophone occurs in stressed syllables, while the lax allophone occurs in unstressed syllables. Vowels displaying allophonic variation:

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All vowels except /ə/ have a lengthened counterpart. We interpret these as sequences of two syllabic vowels because minimal and near-minimal pairs show a semantic contrast between lengthened and unlengthened vowels. Examples:

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Central Sama phonology demonstrates harmony between front and back vowels in bisyllabic roots. If one vowel is closed, both will be closed, as the examples below demonstrate. Front and back vowel harmony:

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Stress

Primary stress in Central Sama is not phonemic and falls on the penultimate syllable. When a stem is suffixed, the primary stress shifts so that penultimate stress is maintained, as in the examples below. In words of four syllables or more, secondary stress falls on the syllable two syllables prior to the penultimate. In this section of the paper and in the phonetic transcription which follows, primary stress is marked with [ˈ] while secondary stress is marked with [ˌ]. Structural pauses are marked with /.

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Recorded passage

Phonetic transcription

nadäˈkajʊʔ ˈlːäwmägˌkälʊˈkasːä sihäˈbaɣä˺ ˈmakä si ˈlːäw / japägˌkälʊkäˈsːahän ˈsɪɣäːmbaŋ saɪ ˈkonoʔ äˈkosogmɪn ˈsiɣaːm ˌkärʊˈwaŋän / päˈsaläʔ äˈnijäʔ däˈkajʊʔ ˌbɪjäˈhero ˌmäɪˈnaʔän ˈaŋkän ˈsɪɣaːmmägˈsulʊbaŋ saɪ ˈkonoʔ ˌmäkäpähʊˈrusän ˈsәmːek ˌbɪjäˈhero ɪˈnaːn / ˈijä ja ˌäŋänˈdaʔʊg / mänˈjarɪ päˈräˈhuː nasihäˈbaɣä˺ ˌämäˈluwäskoˈsognä boʔ ˈijä äˈnijʊppäˈkosog / ˌpɪnʊsˈpusanoʔˈoŋän ˈheʔnä koˈsognä ˈsaɣoʔ ˈjampä na ˈijä äˈnijʊppäˈkosoggom ˈpaʔɪnna ɪˈsaːb äŋˈәmːos ˈdinä ˌbijäˈhero ˈinaːn / na ˈpagkä ˈhaläm ˌkähʊˈrusäneʔ sihäˈbaɣä ˈsәmːek ˌbɪjäˈhero ɪˈnaːn / ˌpɪnäˈsәlːeʔ ˈeʔnä si ˈlːäw ˌämäˈluwäskoˈsognä / napäˈsiläkmägˈʊːjsi ˈlːäw ˌämʊsˈpusänpäˈsuʔnä / ˈlandʊʔ oʔˈoŋän äˈpasʊʔ ˈsampäj ˈmbaläˈsandäleʔ ˌbɪjäˈhero ɪˈnaːn ˈaŋkän ˈijä ˌäŋʊˈrusän ˈsәmːeknä ˈɪnʊ˺ˈinʊ˺ / mä käˌäpʊˈsannä ˈpagkä mbälna ˌkäsänˈdalän ˈpasʊʔ ɪˈnaːn / äˈnanäŋ ˌbɪjaˈhero ɪˈuː boʔ päˈkuppä ni ˈigbäwjabaj ˌmäɪˈnaʔän äˈsaːlmaläˈbajän / häˈinä äˈhaːp ˈlaɣɪʔ ˈkiä ˌähäˈnunʊ˺ min äˈmoɣos

The current orthography is a work in progress, with the full impact of Tagalog (effectively the national language) and growing literacy yet to be felt. We acknowledge that the use of the symbol [’] for both glottal stop and schwa is not an elegant solution to the problem of representing two non-standard phonemes without resorting to the use of diacritics. In its defence as an interim orthography, however, we note that native speakers of Central Sama who have been previously taught to read Tagalog and English, read material in this orthography with no further instruction.

Orthographic transcription

Na, dakayu’ llaw, magkalukassa si Habagat maka si Llaw. Ya pagkalukassahan sigām bang sai kono’ akosog min sigām karuwangan. Pasalta’ aniya’ dakayu’ biyahero maina'an angkan sigām magsulut bang sai kono’ makapahurusan s'mmek biyahero inān, iya ya anganda'ug. Manjari parahū na si Habagat amaluwas kosogna bo’ iya aniyup pakosog. Pinuspusan to'ongan he'na kosogna sago’ yampa na iya aniyup pakosog, gom pa'in na isab ang'mmos di-na biyahero inān. Na, pagka halam kahurusan e’ si Habagat s'mmek biyahero inān, pinas'lle’ e'na si Llaw amaluwas kosogna. Na, pasilak magtūy si Llaw, amuspusan pasu'na. Landu’ to'ongan apasu’ sampay mbal tasandal e’ biyahero inān.

Angkan iya angurusan s'mmekna inut-inut. Ma katapusanna, pagka mbal na kasandalan pasu’ inān, anantang biyahero itū bo’ pakuppa ni tigbaw ya bay maina'an asal ma labayan. Hatina, ahāp lagi’ kita ahanunut min amogos.