MAPUN

 

The language of the JAMA MAPUN


  Mapun is a small volcanic island, about 43 square miles, in the province of Tawi-Tawi, Philippines. The Mapun language, spoken by the Jama Mapun (cir. 40,000 people), belongs to the Sama-Bajaw group of languages of the Austronesian language family. Close relatives include: Borneo Coast Bajaw, Indonesian Bajaw, West Coast Bajaw, and the Inner Sulu languages: Central Sama, Southern Sama, and Balangingi Sama.
 

  The Mapun alphabet employs 20 letters: A B D E G H I J K L M N O P (R) S T U W Y. Vowel length is designated with a macron over the vowel (not standardized). H is sometimes used to represent word-final glottal stop. Mapun words have predictable stress on the penultimate syllable. Unlike Tausug, with three contrastive vowels, Mapun have five contrastive vowels A E I O U, e.g. ku ‘I’ vs ko ‘you’. Certain morphophonemic alternations occur in the language, such as the assimilation of the nasal prefix N- as shown in Table 1:
 

  Few references are available in the Mapun language. All information from this page come from Collins et al (2001).

Table 1. Morphophonemic alternations with the N- prefix
Sound N- form Base Inflected Stem Meaning
p, b m- pipit mipit question thoroughly
t, s n- tuntut nuntut report
k, vowels ng- koso', anom ngoso', nganom wash, weave
g ngang- ganti' ngangganti' substitute, replace
d, j ngan- daran, janji' ngandaran, nganjanji' do often, promise
m, n, r, h, l, w, y nga-/ngu- lawe, walna' ngalawe, nguwalna' drool, decide

 

Pronouns:
 
 
 
Possessive
Non-focus
Focus
Emphatic
Oblique
1s
ku
ku/ta
ku
aku
niyaku
2s
nu
nu
ko
kau
ningkau
3s
na
na
ya
iya
niiya
1dual
ta
ta
kita
kita
ningkita
1p excl
kami
kami
kami
kami
ningkami
1p incl
tabi
tabi
kitabi
kitabi
ningkitabi
2p
bi
bi
kam
kaam
ningkaam
3p
da
da
sila
sila
ninsila

 

Examples:

 

Possessive: Indaman do’ ku koray nu. Lend me your knife.

Focus: Niya’ kam kasulutan. You (plural) weren’t pleased.
Non-focus: Buwatan ta ko lutu’. I will make you a lunch.
Emphatic: Aku, bay ku ntuu jaga luma’. Me, I’ve been here, the house guarder.

 

Verbs:
 

TA (Tense and Aspect Particles) bay vs. lay

  Bay ku saki. I was sick (now recovered)
  Lay ku saki. I became/began to be sick.
 

Focus:
 

Actor Focus: Soy bay malli daying? Whe bought some fish?

  affixes: n-, ma-, mag-, -um-, maka/ka-, si- (reciprocal), pa- (experiencer)

Beneficiary Focus: Bay ku ballihan na daying. He bought me some fish.

  affixes: 0, -an, pagsi- (two or more objects), pag-, ta- (non-volitional), ka- -an (emotive bases)

Object Focus: Bay balli na daying tuu. He bought this fish.

  0, -an (location, beneficiary), pag- -an (location)

 

Verbs and Mode:
 

Abilitative: maka-, ka-, ta-, e.g. ka-bilaw ‘able to make one go crazy’

Causative: pa-, ma-, e.g. madutai, pinadutai ‘cause/allow to get up on’
Imperative: -un, e.g. tigarun ‘chop it (rt. tigad)’
Non-volitional: -um-, e.g. tumande ‘accidentally capsize (rt. tande)’
 

Passivity:

  ni-, e.g. Ongoy ko bay pinabayad? Why were you charged; Kinaasean ya me’ ku. He is loved by me.

Stative verbs: 0, ka- -an, mag-
 
 

Basic Demonstratives and Particles

 
Demonstratives
Near Speaker
Near Hearer
Distant
Also related
Simple 
tuu ‘this’
naa ‘that’
looy ‘that’
 
Emphatic
ituu ‘this very’
inaa ‘that very’
ilooy ‘that very’
 
Locative
ntuu ‘here’
nnaa ‘there’
ndooy ‘there’
 
Particles
 
 
 
 
Referent
itu(tu)
ina(na)
ilay(lay)
 
Question
kitu
kina
kilay
ka
Certainty
situ
sina
silay
sa
Contra
bitu
bina
bilay
ba

 

Prepositions:  man ‘from’, pa ‘to/towards’, ni ‘by, on, at in’

Clause markers: ga, inaa; ma (relative clauses), bong (if, used before interrogatives in dependent clauses, like Tagalog kung)
Negators: niya’ ‘not’, niya’ gi ‘not yet; before’, ssa’ (NPs), daa (negative commands), sa’

 

Sample Sentences:
 

(1) Bandaan ta bohas si Eding mba’ karut. Let’s request one sack of Eding’s rice to be reserved.

(2) Bandingun do’ bong soy bana bitsala da. You judge as to who is telling the truth.
(3) Ballum bay sa_’ pabuwatan tabi, magbalmuwa na baw tabi buwat balik. If we made a mistake with our work, we will start over again from the beginning.
(4) Tud buwi ga jama looy sabap ya’ san bay kole’ daying san disu. Those people are really unlucky because they didn’t even catch one fish.
(5) Ya’ ku doman malli badju’ taha’ langngon na. I don’t want to buy a long-sleeved shirt.
(6) Ni kalami tabu’ looy, magsabud na pilak jama sitaan. That market was full of excitement, money was all over the place with people betting.
(7) Dangki’ ya sukat ku bay ballihan si Mma’ motol. He’s jealous just because Father bought me a motorcycle.
(8) Mas tanug halling agung man radju. The sound of a gong travels farther than the sound of a radio.
(9) Ya’ ku kapabuwat kelle bong ya’ luu batang ku. I can’t make a canoe if I don’t have a log.
(10) Bong amuhan nu jama dupang, tabe’ du ko me’ iya dupang. If you interact with a stupid person, you’ll end up like him being stupid as well.
(11) Bay ku pallun-pallunan na sukat lay takakan me’ sapi’ ku supang na. He scolded me harshly just because my cow happened to eat his young banana shoot.
(12) Tulihan ku guru naa mari ku pandoy nguli’. I’m going to sleep at that teacher’s house so I can learn how to heal people.
(13) Meka jama bay mme’ ngawin. Many people went to the wedding.

 

References:

Collins, M., V. Collins and S. Hashim. 2001. Mapun-English Dictionary. Manila: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

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