Native to Indonesia ISO 639-3 gor Writing system Latin script | ISO 639-2 gor Glottolog goro1259 Region Gorontalo | |
Native speakers 1 million (2000 census) Language family Austronesian languages, Malayo-Polynesian languages, Philippine languages | ||
The Gorontaloan language (also called Hulontalo) is a language spoken in Gorontalo Province (Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia, southern coast) by the Gorontaloan people. Dialects of Gorontalo are East Gorontalo, Gorontalo Kota, Tilamuta, Suwawa, and West Gorontalo.
Phonology
Consonant sequences include NC (homorganic nasal–plosive), where C may be /b d t d̠ ɟ ɡ k/. Elsewhere, /b d/ are relatively rare and only occur before high vowels. /d̠/, written ⟨ḓ⟩ in the literature, is a laminal post-alveoral coronal stop that is indeterminate as to voicing. The phonemic status of [ʔ] is unclear; if [VʔV] is interpreted as vowel sequences /VV/, then this contrasts with long vowels (where the two V's are the same) and vowel sequences separated by linking glides (where the two V's are different).