Suabo (nidáibo)

Suabo is a member of the South Bird's Head group of Trans-New Guinea languages. It is spoken by about 800 people in the South Sorong and Sorong regencies in Southwest Papua Province in eastern Indonesia. In particular, it is spoken in the Inanwatan District on the south coast of the Bird's Head Peninsula in the South Sorong Regency, and also in Seget, a village in the Sorong Regency on the western tip of the Bird's Head Peninusla.

The majority of Suabo speakers are over 50 years old, and few younger people speak the language. As a result, it is considered endangered.

Suabo is also known as Suabau, Bira, Iagu, Mirabo or Inanwatan, after the main village where it's spoken. Suabo speakers call their language nidáibo ('our language'). It is closely related to the Durianari language.

Suabo alphabet

Download an alphabet chart for Suabo (Excel)

Notes

In unstressed syllables, a and e are pronounced [ə]
Between vowels, n is pronounced [r] or [ɾ]
f is pronounced [w] between any vowel and o or u, and [β] between any vowel and a, e or i
Stresed syllables can be indicate with an acute accent (á)

Sample text

Séro-wai mé-qe-re íso-we-rego-re sówato-go baru otau-wai mó-u-ge mé-iqo-re-re bidó iro we-qúgo-re fúgido we-sée-re mógo-we-reqa-re Múguro néwago má-wai mé-ra-ra baru owáqepo egéqiro mé-soro-re owáqepo-wai gábo-go mé-itoqo-re.

Translation

They spoke thus and organized it well and they felled sago trees, removed the bark, butchered a pig, cut bananas and brought it to the Mugur harbor, constructed a bridge and decorated it.

Source: A Short Grammar of Inanwatan

Sample video in Suabo

Information about Suabo | Numbers

Links

Information about Suabo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suabo_language
https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahasa_Suabo
http://www.language-archives.org/language/szp
https://research.vu.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/42055086/AShortGrammarofInanwatanPL_560.pdf

Trans-New Guinea languages

Amele, Awara, Barai, Beami, Bimin, Binumarien, Blagar, Borong, Burum, Dadibi, Daga, Hamtai, Huli, Kanasi, Ketengban, Meriam Mir, Nobonob, Sawila, Suabo, Tairoa, Teiwa, Wantoat

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 09.09.25. Last modified: 10.09.25

[top]

You can support this site by Buying Me A Coffee, and if you like what you see on this page, you can use the buttons below to share it with people you know.

Conversations - learn languages through stories

If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.

Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.

[top]