Ethnicity Bajau | ||
Native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines Region coastal areas of the Sulu Sea, Sabah, Sulawesi, and the Maluku Islands Native speakers 260,000 (2000–2011)
(may be ethnic population) Language family Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian
Sama–Bajaw
Bajaw ISO 639-3 Variously:
bdl – Sulawesi
bdr – Sabah West Coast
sjm – Mapun |
Bajaw is the language of the Bajaw 'Sea Gypsies' of Maritime Southeast Asia. Differences exist between the language's varieties in western Sabah, Cagayan in the southern Philippines (= Mapun Bajaw/Sama), eastern Sabah, and Sulawesi/Maluku, but it is not clear how many languages these would be based on mutual intelligibility.
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Distribution
West Coast Bajau is distributed in the following locations of Sabah, Malaysia (Ethnologue).
Indonesian Bajau is widely distributed throughout Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara. It is also located throughout Maluku Utara Province in the Bacan Islands, Obi Islands, Kayoa, and Sula Islands, which are located to the southwest of Halmahera Island (Ethnologue).
Mapun is spoken on Cagayan de Sulu (Mapun) island, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines.
Population
Ethnologue lists the following population statistics for Bajaw.
Dialects
Ethnologue lists the following Bajaw dialects. Locations and demographics are from Palleson (1985).
Together, West Coast Bajau, Indonesian Bajau, and Mapun comprise a Borneo Coast Bajaw branch in Ethnologue.