Tombonuwo language

Tombonuwo (Tambonuo) is a Paitanic language spoken in the Pitas and Labuk-Sugut Districts of northwest Sabah, Malaysia.

== Phonology ==

Consonants
The phonemes are voiceless. All other expressions are voiced.

Vowels
is often pronounced as unrounded.

is neutralized to in a pre-stressed syllable.

Focus
Sabahan languages are characterized by "focus" morphology, which marks a syntactic relationship between the predicate of a clause and the "focused" noun phrase of the clause (see Austronesian alignment).

Tombonuwo has four focus categories, conventionally labelled "actor", "patient", "referent" and "theme". Focus is marked by affixation on the verb.
 * Actor: -um- / m(u)-
 * Patient: -on (Present tense) / -∅ (Past tense)
 * Referent: -an
 * Theme: i-

Tense and aspect
The only marked tense in Tombonuwo is past tense.
 * Past tense: n- (-in-)
 * Stative: o-
 * Perfective: ko-
 * Non-volitional past tense: n-o-
 * Accomplishment: n-o-ko-

Demonstratives

 * Near the speaker: itu
 * Far from the speaker: iri
 * Medium distance from the speaker: ono