Tobilung

Print

Primary tabs

A language of Malaysia

ISO 639-3
tgb
Alternate Names
Momogun, Tabilong, Tebilung, Tobilang
Autonym
Tobilung
User Population

4,000 (2015 G. Buck), decreasing. 1,500 monolinguals (2015 G. Buck). Ethnic population: 10,000 (2015 G. Buck).

Location

Sabah state: Kota Belud, Kota Marudu, and Kudat districts; Kota Kinabalu, Inanam and other towns.

Language Maps
Language Status

6b (Threatened).

Classification
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, North Borneo, Sabahan, Dusunic, Dusun
Dialects

Moderate intelligibility with the Central Dusun dialect of Kadazan Dusun [dtp], Kimaragang [kqr] and Rungus [drg].

Typology

VSO; prepositions; 17 consonants and 5 vowels; non-tonal language; vowel harmony (O is the neutral vowel) and neutralization.

Language Use

Stronger in villages in the interior. Half of the children are learning the language or using it at home. Mixed use: Home, Friends, Religion, Work. Some young people, all adults. Mixed attitudes. Most also use Sabah Malay [msi].

Language Development

Literacy rate in L2: 60%–70% in Standard Malay [zsm]. The current spelling system is not widely known, but anyone who is literate in L2 (Standard Malay [zsm]) can read and write in Tobilung. Literature. Videos. Dictionary. Texts.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Tobilung
Writing

Latin script [Latn], developed in about 2004.

Other Comments

Christian, Muslim, traditional religion.