The Muna–Buton languages are a group of languages spoken on the islands of

Muna Muna may refer to: Places * Muna (Mikulovice), a World War II POW camp and ammunition factory in the Czech Republic * Muna, Estonia, village in Rõuge Parish, Võru County, Estonia * Muna, Iran, village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Mu ...

and

Buton Buton (also Butung, Boeton or Button) is an island in Indonesia located off the southeast peninsula of Sulawesi. It covers roughly 4,727 square kilometers in area, or about the size of Madura; it is the 129th largest island in the world and ...

off the coast of South East Sulawesi province,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. They belong to the Celebic subgroup of the Austronesian family.

Internal classification

The ''Ethnologue'' classifies the Muna–Buton languages as follows, based on van den Berg (2003) and Donohue (2004):Mark Donohue. (2004). "The pretenders to the Muna-Buton group". In John Bowden and Nikolaus Himmelmann (eds.), ''Papers in Austronesian subgrouping and dialectology'', 21-35. Canberra: Australian National University. *Nuclear Muna–Buton **Buton ***East Buton: Lasalimu, Kumbewaha ***West Buton:

Cia-Cia Cia-Cia (''Bahasa Ciacia'', ''바하사 찌아찌아'', ''بهاس چيا-چيا''), also known as Buton or Butonese, is an Austronesian language spoken principally around the city of Baubau on the southern tip of Buton Island off the southeas ...

**Munan *** Busoa ***Munic **** Kaimbulawa ****Western Munic: Liabuku,

(Wuna), Pancana, Kioko *Tukangbesi–Bonerate: Tukang Besi, Bonerate In earlier classifications, Wolio, spoken in the city of

Baubau Baubau is a city in Southeast Sulawesi province, Indonesia. The city is located on the southwest coast of Buton island. Baubau attained city status on 21 June 2001, based on Indonesian Law Number 13, for the year 2001. It covers an area of 294.9 ...

(seat of the court of the former Sultanate of Buton) and its immediate surroundings, and Laiyolo, spoken in the southern part of

Selayar Island Selayar is the main island of the Selayar Islands (''Kepulauan Selayar''). It lies off the coast of Cape Bira of South Sulawesi Province. The Selayar Straits separate it from the mainland of Sulawesi. Its main city is Benteng, towns to the so ...

, were also included in the Muna–Buton group, but Donohue (2004) has shown that they form a distinct subgroup of their own, Wotu–Wolio, which also includes

Wotu Wotu is an endangered Austronesian language of South Sulawesi, Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 isl ...

, spoken at the northern shore of the Bone Gulf.

Reconstruction

Proto-Muna–Buton has been reconstructed by van den Berg (2003).

Phonology

Vocabulary

Van den Berg proposes around 30 lexical innovations for Proto-Muna–Buton, e.g., 'cat', 'throw away', 'fish', 'eel', 'head', 'split open (fruit)', 'under'.

References

External links

"Muna-Buton"
at '' Ethnologue'' (23rd ed, 2020). {{DEFAULTSORT:Muna-Buton languages Celebic languages