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