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Tombonuwo (Tambonuo) is a Paitanic language spoken in the Pitas and Labuk-Sugut Districts of northwest Sabah, Malaysia.

Phonology

Consonants

The phonemes /p, t, k, s, ʔ/ are voiceless. All other expressions are voiced.

Vowels

/o/ is often pronounced as unrounded .

/a/ is neutralized to in a pre-stressed syllable.

Morphology

Focus

Sabahan languages are characterized by "focus" morphology, which marks a syntactic relationship between the predicate of a clause and the "focused" noun phrase of the clause (see Austronesian alignment).

Tombonuwo has four focus categories, conventionally labelled "actor", "patient", "referent" and "theme". Focus is marked by affixation on the verb.

• Actor: -um- / m(u)-
• Patient: -on (Present tense) / -∅ (Past tense)
• Referent: -an
• Theme: i-

Tense and aspect

The only marked tense in Tombonuwo is past tense.

• Past tense: n- (-in-)
• Stative: o-
• Perfective: ko-
• Non-volitional past tense: n-o-
• Accomplishment: n-o-ko-

Demonstratives

• Near the speaker: itu
• Far from the speaker: iri
• Medium distance from the speaker: ono

References

1. ^ Tombonuo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. King, Julie (1984). The Paitanic language family. Canberra: Australian National University. pp. 146. ISBN 0858832976. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
3. Lobel, Jason William (2013). Philippine and North Bornean languages: issues in description, subgrouping and reconstruction (PDF) (PHD dissertation). Manoa: University of Hawai'i. p. 370.
4. King, John Wayne (1993). Tombonuwo phonemics. Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Museum. pp. 97–106. ISBN 9789839638059. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
5. Boutin, Michael (1988). Problems in analyzing focus in the languages of Sabah. Dallas: SIL. p. 54. ISBN 0883122146. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
6. ^ King, John Wayne; Levinsohn, Stephen (1991). Participant reference in Tombonuo. Canberra: Australian National University. p. 76. ISBN 0-85883-406-5. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

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