// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Uma language say to its student? "You're speaking my tongue.

This article is about the Austronesian language. For the Muskogean language known as Houma, see Houma language.

Uma
Pipikoro
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Sulawesi
Native speakers	(20,000 cited 1990)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Celebic Kaili–Pamona Southern Uma
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ppk
Glottolog	umaa1242

Uma (known natively as Pipikoro) is an Austronesian language spoken in Central and South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant inventory

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato- (alveolar)	Retroflex	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ		ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t			k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	dʒ		g
	prenasalized	ᵐp	ⁿt	ⁿtʃ		ᵑk
Fricative		β	s				h
Trill			r
Approximant			l	j	(ɭ)

Notes:

• /h/ acts as a nasal in some respects and causes the nasalization of non-front vowels (e.g., [hampulu'] 'ten'→/haᵐpuluʔ/ with nasal vowels).
• /l/ is realized as retroflex [ɭ] contiguous to non-front vowels.
• /ʔ/ is neutralized word-initially, and is the only consonant that can occur in the coda or word-finally.
• In the Lincio variety of Central Uma, /ⁿtʃ/ is pronounced /ns/.
• The semivowel [j] is rare, found mainly in loan words.
• The affricate /tʃ/ is found only following /n/, i.e., in the prenasalized stop /ⁿtʃ/.

Orthographic notes:

• /β/ is 'w'
• /ɲ/ is 'ny'
• /ŋ/ is 'ng'
• /j/ is 'y'
• /dʒ/ is 'j'
• /tʃ/ is 'c'
• /ʔ/ is an apostrophe or simply 'ʔ'

Vowels

Vowel inventory

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-Mid	e		o
Open		a

Pronouns

Pronominals

	Free		ABS		ERG		GEN
1P (SG)	akuʔ		-a		ku-		-ku
1P (PL.ex)	kaiʔ		-kai		ki-		-kai
1P (PL.in)	kitaʔ		-ta		ta-		-ta
2P (SG)	iko		-ko		nu-		-nu
2P (PL)	koiʔ		-koi		ni-		-ni
3P (SG)	hiʔa		-i		na-		-na
3P (PL)	hiraʔ		-ra		ra-		-ra

Notes:

• ABS refers to pronominals in the absolutive case, while ERG refers to the ergative and GEN to the genitive.
• 1P means 'first person,' 2P means 'second person,' and 3P means 'third person.'
• (SG) means 'singular' and (PL) means 'plural.' (PL.ex) means 'plural exclusive' and (PL.in) means 'plural inclusive.'
• [∅-] means that ∅ is a proclitic.
• [-∅] means that ∅ is an enclitic.
• In the Tobaku, Tolee', and Winatu dialects, the possessives [-nu] and [-ni] are [-mu] and [-mi] respectively.
• In the Tolee' and Winatu dialects, the absolutives [-kai] and [-koi] are [-kami] and [-komi] respectively. The free forms [kaiʔ] and [koiʔ] are [kamiʔ] and [komiʔ] respectively.

Numerals

The cardinal numbers from 1 to 10 are:

1. isaʔ
2. dua
3. tolu
4. opoʔ
5. lima
6. ono
7. pitu
8. walu
9. sio
10. hampuluʔ

Classification of Uma varieties

Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013) recognizes seven dialects of Uma.

• Bana
• Benggaulu (= Bingkolu)
• Kantewu (= Central Uma)
• Aria (= Southern Uma)
• Tobaku (= Ompa, Dompa, Western Uma)
• Tolee' (= Eastern Uma)
• Winatu (= Northern Uma)

Martens (2014) recognized six major dialects of Uma, noting that the Tori'untu dialect is nearly extinct due to the encroachment of the Kantewu dialect and non-Uma languages.

• Kantewu (= Central)
• Southern
• Tolee'
• Tobaku
• Winatu
• Tori'untu

Martens also identifies two dialects closely related to Uma spoken in the Pasangkayu Regency.

• Sarudu
• Benggaulu (= Bingkolu)

Bibliography

• Martens, Michael (1988a). "Notes on Uma Verbs". In Steinhauer, H. (ed.). Papers in Western Austronesian Linguistics No. 4. Pacific Linguistics Series A – No. 79. Canberra: The Australian National University. pp. 167–237. doi:10.15144/PL-A79.167. hdl:1885/145108. ISBN 0-85883-3832.
• Martens, Martha A.; Martens, Michael P. (1988). "Some Notes on the Inelegant Glottal: A Problem in Uma Phonology". In Steinhauer, H. (ed.). Papers in Western Austronesian Linguistics No. 4. Pacific Linguistics Series A – No. 79. Canberra: The Australian National University. pp. 279–281. doi:10.15144/PL-A79.279. hdl:1885/145108. ISBN 0-85883-3832.