Balantak (wurung Balantak)

Balantak is a member of the Celebic branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language family. It is spoken by about 30,000 people in Province of Central Sulawesi in Indonesia, particularly in the Balantak, Balantak Selatan, Lamala and Masam subdistricts of the Banggai Regency. It is spoken by people of all ages, including children, most of whom only speak Balantak until they start school, where they are taught in Indonesian.

Balantak is known as Bahasa Balantak in Indonesian, and the native name is wurung Balantak. It used to be knosn as kosian.

Balantak is written with the Latin alphabet, and there is some written material in the language, including a dictionary, collections of folk tales and recipes, and translations of parts of the Bible.

Balantak alphabet

Download an Balantak alphabet chart (Excel)

Sample text

Gii-gii' diim kani'i, malia' bolianionna i raaya'a. Kalu sa'angu' mian boo monuur, kabai se' mo'ale'kon muur, ia tio momboliani diimna nuur kutung. Tumbe-tumbe mian iya'a tio mansambong siok sa'angu', bone diimna nuur. Siok men nisambong kani'i, ngaanon soili na diimna nuur.

Source: Tutuo'na lipu' Balantak (Life in Balantak : a compilation of Balantak cultural texts), by Paulus Naram

Sample videos in Balantak

Information about Balantak | Numbers

Links

Information about the Balantak language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balantak_language
https://www.sil.org/resources/search/language/blz
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/blz/
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/bala1315

Celebic languages

Banggai, Balantak, Bungku, Cia-Cia, Kodeoha, Kulisusu, Moma, Mori Atas, Mori Bawah, Moronene, Muna, Pendau, Tajio, Tolaki, Tukang Besi, Wolio

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 11.05.23. Last modified: 11.05.23

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