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Matbat
Misool
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Misool, Raja Ampat islands
Native speakers	1,000–1,500 (2001)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian Eastern Malayo-Polynesian South Halmahera–West New Guinea Halmahera Sea Maya–Matbat Matbat
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xmt
Glottolog	matb1237
Matbat
Coordinates: 1°53′S 130°04′E / 1.88°S 130.07°E / -1.88; 130.07

Matbat is a heavily Papuan-influenced Austronesian language spoken in West Papua, Indonesia, on the island of Misool, Raja Ampat islands. Its dialects are Magey and Tomolol. Similar to the neighboring Ma'ya language, Matbat is one of a handful of Austronesian languages with true lexical tone rather than a pitch-accent system or complete lack of phonemic tonal contrasts as with most other Austronesian languages.

Distribution

Matbat is spoken in the following locations within Raja Ampat Regency:

• Misool Timur District: Tumolol, Lenmalas, Lenmalas Timur Barat, Audam, Foley, and Eduai villages
• Misool Utara District: Atkari and Salafen villages
• Misool Barat District: Magei village

Phonology

The phonology of the Matbat language is summarized below:

/j/ can be heard freely as or in word-initial position.

Tones

Matbat has five lexical tones: high falling ˥˩ 41, high ˦ 3, low rising ˩˨ 12, low level ˩ 1, and low falling ˨˩ 21, which in open syllables has a peaking allophone, ˩˨˩ 121. Most Matbat words are monosyllabic; additional syllables in polysyllabic words are often weak and toneless, though a few words do have two tonic syllables. Examples of some of the longer monomorphemic words are /kamow˩˨/ 'star', /wuj˦te/ 'sea shore', /sapu˥˩luj˩˨/ 'round', /bim˦bom˩˨˩pu/ 'butterfly'.

Evolution

Tonogenesis in Matbat remains unclear. Some Matbat reflexes of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) proto-forms are listed below.

• PMP *bunuq > Mayá bu³n 'kill'
• PMP *penuq > fo¹²n 'full'
• PMP *salaq > sa³l 'error'
• PMP *qateluR (> *teluR) > to¹²l 'egg'
• PMP *matay > ma¹²t 'die'
• PMP *kutu > u³t 'louse'

References

1. ^ Remijsen, A. C. L. (2002). Word-Prosodic Systems of Raja Ampat Languages. Leiden: Leiden University.
2. Kamholz, David (2014). Austronesians in Papua: Diversification and Change in South Halmahera–West New Guinea (Ph.D. thesis). University of California, Berkeley.
3. ^ Blust, Robert (2013). The Austronesian Languages (Revised ed.). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. hdl:1885/10191. ISBN 978-1-922185-07-5.
4. Ronsumbre, Adolof (2020). Ensiklopedia Suku Bangsa di Provinsi Papua Barat. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kepel Press. ISBN 978-602-356-318-0.
5. Remijsen, Bert (2010). Nouns and Verbs in Magey Matbat. Michael C. Ewing and Marian Klamer (eds.), East Nusantara: typological and areal analyses: Australian National University. pp. 281–311.

Further reading

• Remijsen, Bert (2001). "A Second Ra Tone Language: Matbat". Word-Prosodic Systems of Raja Ampat Languages (PDF). Leiden University. pp. 89–104. ISBN 90-76864-09-8.

• South Halmahera–West New Guinea languages
• Languages of Western New Guinea
• Tonal languages in non-tonal families