Gorontalo language

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The Gorontalo language (also called Hulontalo) is a language spoken in Gorontalo Province, Sulawesi, Indonesia by the Gorontalo people.^[2] With around one million speakers (2000 census), it is a major language of northern Sulawesi.^[3]

Considerable lexical influence comes from Malay, Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch,^[4] and the North Halmahera languages.^[4][5] The Gorontalo region used to be controlled by the Sultanate of Ternate.^[4] Manado Malay and Indonesian are also spoken in the area.^[4][6] Despite its relatively large number of speakers, Gorontalo is under much pressure from Malay varieties, especially in urban settings.^[3]

Sizable Gorontalo communities can be found in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi, as well as Jakarta.^[4]

Musa Kasim et al. (1981) give five main dialects of Gorontalo: east Gorontalo, Limboto, Gorontolo City, west Gorontalo, and Tilamuta.

Consonant sequences include NC (homorganic nasal–plosive), where C may be /b d t d̠ ɟ ɡ k/. Elsewhere, /b d/ are relatively rare and only occur before high vowels. /d̠/, written ⟨ḓ⟩ in linguistic materials, but not distinguished from ⟨d⟩ elsewhere, is a laminal post-alveolar coronal stop that is indeterminate as to voicing. The phonemic status of [ʔ] is unclear; if [VʔV] is interpreted as vowel sequences /VV/, then this contrasts with long vowels (where the two V's are the same) and vowel sequences separated by linking glides (where the two V's are different).

Gorontalo has five vowels.^[7]

Gorontalo edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia