# Nias language

The Nias language is an Austronesian language spoken on Nias Island and the Batu Islands off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. It is known as Li Niha by its native speakers. It belongs to the Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands subgroup which also includes Mentawai and the Batak languages. It had about 770,000 speakers in 2000. There are three main dialects: northern, central and southern. It is an open-syllable language, which means there are no syllable-final consonants.

## Dialects

Nias is typically considered to have three dialects.
* Northern dialect: particularly the Gunungsitoli variety, Alasa and Lahewa area.
* South dialect: South Nias, Gomo Area, Telukdalam Area and Batu Islands.
* Central dialect: West Nias, particularly in Sirombu and Mandrehe areas.
Cognate percentage among the dialects of Nias is about 80%.
The northern variant is considered the prestige dialect. The only complete Bible translation is written in the northern dialect and is used by speakers of all dialects.

## Phonology

Nias has the following phonemes (sounds only found in the northern dialect are given in green, southern-only sounds are in red):
Vowels :
| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i | | u |
| Mid | e | ɤ ⟨ö⟩ | o |
| Open | | a | |
Consonants :
| | | Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Palato- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Stop/ Affricate | voiceless | | t | tʃ ⟨c⟩ | | k | ʔ ⟨'⟩ |
| Stop/ Affricate | voiced | b | d | dʒ ⟨z⟩ | | ɡ | |
| Stop/ Affricate | prenasalized / trilled | ᵐb /ʙ ⟨mb⟩ | ⁿdʳ /dʳ ⟨ndr⟩ | | | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | | | x ⟨kh⟩ | h |
| Fricative | voiced | v ⟨w⟩ | z | | | | |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | | ŋ ⟨ng⟩ | |
| Approximant | Approximant | ʋ /β ⟨w⟩ | l | | j ⟨y⟩ | w ⟨ŵ⟩ | |
| Trill | Trill | | r | | | | |
Phonetic descriptions of the sounds traditionally written as ⟨mb⟩ and ⟨ndr⟩ greatly vary. Sundermann (1913) and Halawa et al. (1983) describe them as prenasalized stop [ᵐb] and prenasalized trilled stop [ⁿdʳ] for the northern dialect, while Brown (2005) records them as trill [ʙ] and trilled stop [dʳ] for the southern dialect. In an acoustic study of Nias dialects from three locations, Yoder (2010) shows a complex pattern of four phonetic realizations of ⟨mb⟩ and ⟨ndr⟩: plain stop, prenasalized stop, stop with trilled release, stop with fricated release.
The status of initial [ʔ] is not determined; there are no phonetic vowel-initial words in Nias.
The contrast between [v] and [ʋ] (both written ⟨w⟩ in common spelling) is only observed in the southern dialect. Here, the fricative [v] only occurs in initial position in the mutated form (see §Noun case marking (mutation)) of nouns beginning with f, e.g. fakhe ~ wakhe [vaxe]. The approximant [ʋ] can appear in initial and medial position, and is in free variation with [v] for many speakers of the southern dialect. For the northern dialect, only fricative approximant [ʋ] is reported, corresponding to both sounds of southern Nias. The semivowel [w] is a distinct phoneme and is written ⟨ŵ⟩ in common spelling.

## Grammar

Nias has an ergative–absolutive alignment. It is the only known ergative–absolutive language in the world that has a "marked absolutive", which means that absolutive case is marked, whereas ergative case is unmarked.
There are no adjectives in Nias; words with that function are taken by verbs.

### Pronouns

The following table lists the free and bound pronouns of Nias (green = only used in the northern dialect, red = only used in the southern dialect):
Independent pronouns are used:
* as the predicate in nominal clauses
Ya'o
1SG.IND
zia'a
first.born:MUT
(southern dialect)
Ya'o zia'a
1SG.IND first.born:MUT
'I am the first-born.'
* as the P argument of transitive verbs in dependent (including relative and nominalized) clauses
Andrehe'e
DIST
nasu
dog:MUT
si-usu
REL-bite
ya'o
1SG.IND
(southern dialect)
Andrehe'e nasu si-usu ya'o
DIST dog:MUT REL-bite 1SG.IND
'That's the dog that bit me.'
* following certain prepositions and ha 'only'
* in fronted (topicalized) position
Absolutive pronouns are used:
* as the S argument of independent intransitive and nominal clauses (in the southern dialect, only in realis mood)
Mofökhö
sick
ndra'o
1SG.ABS
(northern dialect)
Mofökhö ndra'o
sick 1SG.ABS
'I am sick.'
* as the P argument of transitive verbs in independent clauses
I-tegu
3SG.ERG-scold
ndra'o
1SG.ABS
ama-gu
father-1SG.GEN
(northern dialect)
I-tegu ndra'o ama-gu
3SG.ERG-scold 1SG.ABS father-1SG.GEN
'My father scolds me.'
* as the stimulus with intransitive verbs expressing emotions or states of mind
Ata'u
afraid
nasu
dog:MUT
ndrao
1SG.ABS
(southern dialect)
Ata'u nasu ndrao
afraid dog:MUT 1SG.ABS
'The dog is afraid of me.'
Genitive pronouns are used:
* as possessor, e.g. ama-gu 'my father'
* following certain prepositions, e.g. khö-gu 'to me'
* as the S argument in nominalized intransitive clauses
Löna
not
ahono
calm
ve-mörö-nia
NR:MUT-sleep-3SG.GEN
(southern dialect)
Löna ahono ve-mörö-nia
not calm NR:MUT-sleep-3SG.GEN
'Her sleep was not restful.'
* as the A argument in nominalized transitive clauses
La-faigi
3PL.ERG-see
vamaoso-ra
NR:MUT:IPF:raise-3PL.GEN
(southern dialect)
La-faigi vamaoso-ra
3PL.ERG-see NR:MUT:IPF:raise-3PL.GEN
'They watched them raise [it].'
* as the A argument in relative clauses with the P argument of a transitive verb as head
U-fake
1SG.ERG-use
zekhula
coconut:MUT
ni-rökhi-nia
PASS-grate-3SG.GEN
(southern dialect)
U-fake zekhula ni-rökhi-nia
1SG.ERG-use coconut:MUT PASS-grate-3SG.GEN
'I used the coconut which she grated.'
Ergative (realis) pronouns are used:
* as the A argument in independent transitive clauses (in the southern dialect, only in realis mood)
I-tataba
3SG.ERG-cut
geu
wood:MUT
(southern dialect)
I-tataba geu
3SG.ERG-cut wood:MUT
'He cut up the wood.'
Irrealis pronouns are used in the southern dialect:
* as the S argument in independent intransitive clauses in irrealis mood
Gu-möi
1SG.IRR-go
ba
LOC
fasa
market
mahemolu
tomorrow
(southern dialect)
Gu-möi ba fasa mahemolu
1SG.IRR-go LOC market tomorrow
'I want to go to the market tomorrow.'
* as the A argument in independent transitive clauses in irrealis mood
Gu-moturagö
1SG.IRR-IRR:tell.about
ndraugö
2SG.ABS
khö-ra
DAT-3PL.GEN
(southern dialect)
Gu-moturagö ndraugö khö-ra
1SG.IRR-IRR:tell.about 2SG.ABS DAT-3PL.GEN
'I'm going to tell them about you.'
In the northern dialect, the irrealis pronouns are restricted to third person, and are employed in what Sundermann (1913) calls "jussive" mood.
Ya-mu-'ohe
3SG.JUSS-JUSS-bring
(northern dialect)
Ya-mu-'ohe
3SG.JUSS-JUSS-bring
'He shall bring it.'

### Noun case marking (mutation)

Case marking of nouns is indicated in Nias by mutation of the initial consonant. Several consonants are subject to mutation as shown in the table below. Where a word begins in a vowel, either n or g is added before the vowel; the choice of n or g is lexically conditioned. (For example, öri ~ nöri is 'village federation', öri ~ göri is 'bracelet'.)
Other consonants do not change.

#### Unmutated case

The unmutated case form is used in citation. It further appears in all functions described above for independent pronouns:
* as the predicate in nominal clauses
* as the P argument of transitive verbs in dependent (including relative and nominalized) clauses
* following certain prepositions and ha 'only'
* in fronted (topicalized) position
Additionally, A arguments in independent transitive clauses appear in unmutated case, cross-referenced by the corresponding ergative or irrealis pronoun.
I-rino
3SG.ERG
vakhe
rice:MUT
ina-gu
mother-1SG.GEN
(southern dialect)
I-rino vakhe ina-gu
3SG.ERG rice:MUT mother-1SG.GEN
'My mother cooked rice.'

#### Mutated case

The mutated case form of the noun corresponds in function to both the absolutive and the genitive pronouns:
* as the S argument of independent intransitive and nominal clauses
Mate
die
zibaya-nia
uncle:MUT-3SG.GEN
meneßi
yesterday
(southern dialect; unmutated: sibaya)
Mate zibaya-nia meneßi
die uncle:MUT-3SG.GEN yesterday
'His uncle died yesterday.'
* as the P argument of transitive verbs in independent clauses
I-rino
3SG.ERG
vakhe
rice:MUT
ina-gu
mother-1SG.GEN
(southern dialect; unmutated: fakhe)
I-rino vakhe ina-gu
3SG.ERG rice:MUT mother-1SG.GEN
'My mother cooked rice.'
* as the stimulus with intransitive verbs expressing emotions or states of mind
* as possessor
omo
house
ga'a-gu
older.sibling:MUT-1SG.GEN
(southern dialect; unmutated: ka'a)
omo ga'a-gu
house older.sibling:MUT-1SG.GEN
'my brother's house'
* following certain prepositions
* as the S argument in nominalized intransitive clauses
* as the A argument in nominalized transitive clauses
* as the A argument in relative clauses with the P argument of a transitive verb as head