In its broad sense, Mori is a cover term used to refer collectively to two languages of
Central Sulawesi
Central Sulawesi (Indonesian: ''Sulawesi Tengah'') is a province of Indonesia located at the centre of the island of Sulawesi. The administrative capital and largest city is located in Palu. The 2010 census recorded a population of 2,635,009 for ...
:
Mori Bawah and
Mori Atas. Sometimes a third language,
Padoe
Padoe is an Austronesian language of the Celebic branch. It was traditionally spoken in the rolling plains south of Lake Matano in South Sulawesi province. In the 1950s, a portion of the Padoe-speaking population fled to Central Sulawesi
...
, is also included.
History of the term
Originally the term ''Mori'' referred only to certain clans living on the upper course of the Laa River in Central Sulawesi, that is, today's Mori Atas or 'Upper Mori' people. After the imposition of Dutch colonial rule in the early twentieth century, the name was extended to include peoples living eastward along the lower course of the Laa and in the Tambalako watershed (today's Mori Bawah or 'Lower Mori'), and southward to peoples around Lake Matano (including the Padoe). Although the languages of these areas were different, the people shared a similar culture, and at that time had also been united under the powerful ruler
Marundu.
In the present day, the situation has been reversed. Today ''Mori'' in its narrow sense refers principally to the Mori Bawah language, and even more specifically to the Tinompo dialect thereof, which colonial authorities promoted as a standard throughout the area.
Classification and convergence
Using the
historical-comparative method of linguistics, Mead has demonstrated that there is an ancient language divide running through the Mori area. Mori Atas and Padoe are more closely related to the
Tolaki language than they are to Mori Bawah, while Mori Bawah shares its closest linguistic affinities with
Bungku
Bungku is a town and the administrative centre of the Regency of Morowali, in Central Sulawesi Province of Indonesia.
Bungku was originally not the capital of Morowali Regency. In 1999, the capital of Morowali Regency was Kolonodale. In 2004, t ...
and other languages of the eastern seaboard of Sulawesi, such as
Wawonii and
Kulisusu. These old associations are clear from patterns of shared sound change, and they are also apparent in pronoun sets.
For example, the following table lists the independent pronouns in five languages. From this table it can be seen that Mori Bawah independent pronouns closely resemble those of Bungku, while Mori Atas and Padoe pronouns are closer to those of Tolaki.
In light of such differences, it is improbable that the Mori Atas and Mori Bawah languages are inherently intelligible. However, because of cultural ties, commerce, and intermingling of their populations through local immigration, Mori Atas and Mori Bawah people are at least familiar with each other's languages, and the languages have been converging in terms of their wordstocks, as can be seen in relatively high percentages of shared lexical similarity.
[Mead, David. ''The Bungku Tolaki Languages of South-eastern Sulawesi, Indonesia'' (Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, 1999), pp. 35, 53.]
References
{{Languages of Indonesia
Bungku–Tolaki languages
Languages of Sulawesi