title: Sawai language
text: # Sawai language
  
  The Sawai language (also Weda) is a South Halmahera language of the Austronesian language family spoken in the Weda and Gane Timor districts of southern Halmahera, northern Maluku Province, Indonesia. There are approximately 12,000 speakers.
  
  ## Sounds
  
  Below is a description of the Kobe dialect of Sawai spoken in the villages of Lelilef Woyebulan and Kobe Peplis, as well as from Whistler (1995).
  
  ### Consonants
  
  Sawai has 15 consonants:
  
  | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Stop | p b | t d | | k ɡ |
  | Fricative | f | s | | |
  | Nasal | m | n | | ŋ |
  | Semivowel | w | | j | |
  | Liquid | | l ɾ | | |
  
  ### Vowels
  
  Sawai has eight vowels:
  
  | | Front | Central | Back |
  | - | - | - | - |
  | High | i | | u |
  | High-Mid | e | ə | o |
  | Low-Mid | ɛ | | ɔ |
  | Low | | a | |
  
  ### Syllable
  
  Sawai has the following syllable structure:
  
      (C)(C)V(C)
  
  Examples:
  
  | word | gloss | syllable type |
  | - | - | - |
  | /i/ | 's/he/it' | V |
  | /in/ | 'fish' | VC |
  | /wo/ | 'alcoholic drink' | CV |
  | /npo/ | 's/he/it gives' | CCV |
  | /kot/ | 'magic statue' | CVC |
  | /nfan/ | 's/he/it goes' | CCVC |
  