Blagar

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

Blagar is spoken by perhaps 10,000 people (mid-1970's) living on Pura and Tereweng islands in the Pantar Strait, in northeast Pantar across the strait from Pura and further south on Pantar across the strait from Tereweng. The term “Blagar” refers to a kingdom, Balagur, which once ruled northeast Pantar and the Pantar Strait islands. Speakers call their language Pi Abang Hur /pi abaŋ hur/, meaning “our village language.” Blagar's closest relative is Retta, also spoken on Pura as well as Ternate island to the north, with which it shares a 65-85% lexicostatistical relationship (Stokhof 1975: 10, Steinhauer 1995: 265-266, 2014: 116-117.)

Steinhauer (1995: 266, q.v. p. 285) divides Blagar dialects into two primary subgroups as follows:

Blagar

Northeast Pantar hinterlands (including Bakulabang a.k.a. Bakalang village)

Pantar Strait islands

Tereweng island and Nuhavala village across the strait on southeast coast of Pantar

Melangvala village on west point of Pura and across the strait on northeast coast of Pantar (including Bakalang village)

South Pura (Malaqal and Dengva villages)

Northeast Pura (incuding Limarahing village)

Northwest Pura (including Dolabang vilage)

According to Steinhauer's informants, the Northeast Pantar hinterlands dialect can be further subdivided into northern and southern varieties.

Stokhof (1975: 37-38, 41-42) 117 comparative terms for Blagar of Bakalang (i.e. Bakulabang, a.k.a. Doborat, Tentulli) Limarahing, Apuri and Tereweng villages

Steinhauer (1977) Blagar motion verbs (unobtained)

Steinhauer (1990) Blagar demonstratives

Steinhauer (1993) (unobtained)

Steinhauer (1993) Blagar kin terms (unobtained)

Steinhauer (1995) comparison of Bukalabang (Bakalang,) Dolabang and Limarahing dialects of Blagar

Steinhauer (2014) grammar of Blagar of Dolabang (Dolap) village

Steinhauer (n.d.) dictionary of Blagar (unobtained)

Wakidi, Tarno, Hayon and Mandaru (1989) grammar of Blagar (unobtained)

Holton, Klamer, Kratochvíl, Robinson and Schapper (2012) proto-Alor-Pantar includes Blagar reflexes

Holton and Robinson (2014) proto-Alor-Pantar includes Blagar reflexes

Schapper, Huber and van Engelhoven (2014) proto-Alor-Pantar includes Blagar reflexes

Fox (n.d.) (unobtained)

[under construction]

Steinhauer (2014: 117-129) gives 16 or 17 consonants and 5 vowel qualities distinguished by length for Blagar of Dolabang as follows:

Bilabial implosive stop /ɓ/ does not occur finally.

Voiced velar stop /g/ does not occur finally.

Apical nasal /n/ does not occur finally.

Glottal stop /ʔ/ does not occur finally.

… /z/ does not occur finally.

Blagar of Bukalabang (Bakalang) differs somewhat from that of Dolabang, with 15 or 16 consonants as follows (Steinhauer 1995: 267-268):

…

…

…

Steinhauer (2014: 143-145, 145-151, 151-156) gives Blagar free pronouns in four case forms alongside one prefixed set as follows:

Inalienable possessors are also used to indicate the undergoers of verbs as well as the causative objects of adjectives. Where a prefixed stem begins with a consonant, a copy of the first vowel in the stem is added between the personal prefix and the stem. Reciprocal /t-/ is used in verbs to indicate a first person inclusive referring to the speaker, the hearer and everyone else concerned. The person Steinhauer glosses as /m-/ “insulting” is found on only two nominals, /al/ “penis” and /ar/ “vagina” (p. 144) and is not used with verbs.

Besides pronominal prefixes given in the preceding section (above,) Blagar has almost no verbal morphology besides serial constructions. A suffix /-t/ is found on vowel-final verbs with a series of meanings suggesting a perfective sense. Additionaly, a suffix /-ŋ/, or /-naŋ/ following monosyllabic stems, is used in conjunction with a personal prefix to indicate a causative (Steinhauer 2014: 151-154, 156-158)