Ambel language

Last updated
Ambel
Amber, Waigeo
galí Ambél, galí Mayá
Native to Indonesia
Region Waigeo
Native speakers
1,600 (2018) [1]
Dialects
  • Metnyo
  • Metsam
Language codes
ISO 639-3 wgo
Glottolog waig1244
Indonesia Maluku-Western New Guinea location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Ambel
Coordinates: 0°11′S130°55′E / 0.18°S 130.92°E / -0.18; 130.92

Ambel (Amber), also known as Waigeo after the island where it is primarily spoken, is a heavily Papuan-influenced Austronesian language spoken on the island of Waigeo in the Raja Ampat archipelago near the northwestern tip of West Papua, Indonesia. It is spoken by approximately 1,600 people. [2] It is endangered, as the population is shifting to Papuan Malay and few people born after the year 2000 have any knowledge of the language. [3]

Contents

Name

The name Ambel is probably derived from the Biak word amber, meaning "foreigner" or "stranger". It was adapted into the language itself, where the designation is galí Ambél. The alternative name Waigeo is named after the island. [4]

Speakers of Ambel consider themselves to be part of the Ma'ya tribe, hence the alternative designation galí Mayá, despite Ambel only being remotely related to Ma'ya via descent from Proto-Raja Ampat–South Halmahera. [5]

Dialects

Ambel is spoken by approximately 1,600 people on Waigeo, an island in the Raja Ampat archipelago near the northwestern tip of West Papua, Indonesia. There are two dialects of Ambel: [6]

Ambel speakers live alongside Biak speakers in the three villages of Warsamdin, Kabare, and Andey. [7]

Distribution

Ambel is spoken in the following locations within Raja Ampat Regency: [8]

Phonology

The sounds of the Ambel language are as follows: [9]

Consonant sounds
Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Palatal Velar
Plosive p b t̪ d k g
Fricative s h
Nasal m n
Rhotic r
Lateral l
Glide j w

/ h / can be heard as [ f ] or [ ɸ ] in free variation.

Vowel sounds
Front Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

Proto-language

Arnold (2018) reconstructs two tonemes for proto-Ambel, high /3/ and rising /12/, which is similar to the tonal system of Ma'ya. [10]

Below are some monosyllabic proto-Ambel reconstructed lexical forms that have cognates with Matbat and Ma'ya. The Misool dialect is given for some Ma'ya forms; they are otherwise from the Salawati dialect. [10]

glossProto-Ambel Matbat Ma'ya
'betel leaf'*nyanna¹nˈnya¹²n
'breast'–su³ˈsu³s
'canoe'*wanwa³ŋˈwa¹²k
'come'–bo³tˈbo³t
'die'*mna³tma¹²tˈma¹²t
'eight'*wa³l-wa³lˈwa³l
'enter'*sunhu³ŋˈsu³n
'fire'*lapya³pˈla¹²p
'fish'*dun–ˈdo³n
'five'*limli³mˈli³m
'four'*fa³tfa³tˈfa¹²t
'full'*fonfo³nˈfo¹²n
'give'*bibe²¹ˈbe (Misool)
'good'*fifi³ˈfi³
'green/blue'*bya³wbla¹²w–
'ground, earth'*ba³tba³tˈba¹²t
'hear'–no⁴¹ŋˈdo¹²n
'kill'*bunbu³nˈbu³n
'know'*un-u²¹n-ˈun (Misool)
'louse'*o¹²wtwu³tˈu³t
'man'*ma³n(wa³y)ma²¹nˈma¹²n (Misool)
'mother'*ne³nne³nˈne¹²n
'mountain'*i³lhe³lˈye³l
'mouth'–ga²¹lˈgal
'much'–to¹²ˈmo¹²t
'needle'*yamla¹m–
'night'*gamka¹m–
'person'*me³tma³tˈmat
'rice'*fafa³sˈfa¹²s
'rise, ascend'*saha³ˈsa³
'sago'*bi¹²–ˈbi³
'sand'*laynye³nˈle¹²n
'sea turtle'*fi³nfe³nˈfe³n
'seawards'–lo³lˈlo³l
'see'*e³m-ɛ³ŋ-ˈe¹²m
'shoot'–-a¹nˈfa¹²n
'snake'*kokko³kˈko¹²k
'swim'*la³la³s-ˈa¹²s (Misool)
'three'*tu³lto³lˈto³l
'tree, wood'*a³yha³yˈai
'two'*lulu³ˈlu³
'village'*nu 'house'nu³ˈpnu³
'walk'*ta³n–ˈdak (Misool)
'white'*busbu³ˈbu³s
'woman'*bin(wa¹t)bi³n
'kind of mangrove'		ˈpi³n

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ Ambel at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. ↑ Arnold 2018, p. 12.
  3. ↑ Arnold 2018, pp. 9–10.
  4. ↑ Arnold 2018 , p. 1
  5. ↑ Arnold 2018 , p. 1
  6. ↑ Arnold 2018 , p. 6
  7. ↑ Arnold 2018
  8. ↑ Ronsumbre, Adolof (2020). Ensiklopedia Suku Bangsa di Provinsi Papua Barat. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kepel Press. ISBN   978-602-356-318-0.
  9. ↑ Arnold 2018.
  10. 1 2 Arnold, Laura (2018c). "A preliminary archaeology of tone in Raja Ampat". In Antoinette Schapper (ed.). Contact and substrate in the languages of Wallacea, Part 2. NUSA. Vol. 64. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. pp. 7–37. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1450778. hdl:10108/92289.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.