Central Sama 2008 Edition

Central Sama 2008 Edition (SMLWBT)

Overview

The Central Sama 2008 Edition contains the New Testament and Old Testament portions in Central Sinama (also known as Central Sama), a language of the Sama-Bajau maritime peoples of the southern Philippines. [1] The translation was produced through the work of SIL members who have been involved in Central Sinama linguistic research and documentation since the 1950s and 1960s, initially capturing a snapshot of Sama language and culture in the Sulu Archipelago. [2] The printed edition, titled “Kitab Injil & Kitab Awal-Jaman,” includes color maps and covers 35 books of the Bible. [3] The Sama-Bajau are a traditionally seafaring people distributed across the Sulu Archipelago, Sibuguey Gulf, and as far north as Manila Bay, with communities also in Sabah (Malaysia) and parts of Borneo. [1]

Language and People

Central Sama (ISO 639-3: sml) is spoken by approximately 113,000 people in the Philippines and an additional 23,000 in Malaysia, for a total of roughly 136,000 speakers. [1] The language belongs to the Sama-Bajaw subgroup of the Austronesian language family and is written in Latin script. Speakers are distributed across the Sulu and Tawi-Tawi provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, as well as coastal areas of Basilan, Zamboanga, Davao City, and Palawan. [1] Central Sinama has several dialects corresponding to island communities, including Sama Laminusa, Sama Tabawan, Sama Sibaud, Sama Manubal, Sama Silumpak, and Sama Dilaut. [3] [Glottolog: cent2092]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Bible League International.

References