Tukang Besi language


Tukang Besi is an Austronesian language spoken in the Tukangbesi Islands in southeast Sulawesi in Indonesia by a quarter million speakers. A Tukang Besi pidgin is used in the area.

Phonology

The northern dialect of Tukang Besi has 25 consonant phonemes and a basic 5-vowel system. It features stress which is usually on the second-to-last syllable. The language has two implosive consonants, which are uncommon in the world's languages. The coronal plosives and have prenasalized counterparts which act as separate phonemes.
only appears in loanwords, but it contrasts with. and are not phonemic and appear only as allophones of which appears only in loanwords.