Sika language
The Sika language or Sikanese, also known as Sikka,[2] is spoken by around 180,000 people of the Sika ethnic group on Flores island in East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It is a member of the Central Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family.
| Sika | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Flores |
| Ethnicity | Sika |
Native speakers | (180,000 cited 1995)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ski |
| Glottolog | sika1262 |
Sika is notable for being one of the few languages which contain a non-allophonic labiodental flap. Like many other languages in eastern Indonesia, it shows evidence of having a Papuan (non-Austronesian) substratum. It has been hypothesized that the Austronesian languages in that area could be descendants of a creole language, resulting from the intrusion of Austronesian languages into eastern Indonesia.[3]
Sika has at least three recognized dialects:
- Sikka Natar, which is generally perceived in the region to be the most refined and most prestigious of the Sika speech varieties.
- Sara Krowe, spoken in the central hills of Sika speaking people.
- Ata Tana 'Ai or Sara Tana 'Ai, used by both outsiders and insiders to refer to the people and language of the region and it is also used as a ritual language.[2]
References
- Sika at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- Tryon, Darrell T. (1995). Comparative Austronesian Dictionary: An Introduction to Austronesian Studies. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-1108-8401-1.
- Gil, David (2015). "The Mekong-Mamberamo linguistic area". In N. J. Enfield; Bernard Comrie (eds.). Languages of Mainland Southeast Asia: The State of the Art. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 334. ISBN 978-1-5015-0168-5.
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