Serua language

Last updated
Serua
Native to Indonesia
Region Seram Island
Extinct (date missing) [1]
Austronesian
Language codes
ISO 639-3 srw
srw.html
Glottolog seru1245

Serua is an extinct Austronesian language originally spoken on Serua Island in Maluku, Indonesia. Speakers were relocated to Seram due to volcanic activity on Serua. The language continues in communities in Waipia in Seram, where the islanders were resettled, along with those also from Nila and Teun. Here, the older generation retained the island language as a strong form of identity. It was found to be extinct in 2024. [2]

Contents

At the end of WWII, many Seruans were relocated to the Netherlands. Having fought on the side of the Dutch during Indonesian independence, they became part of the KNIL resettlement. The TNS (Teun Nila Serua) groups maintain an island community in the Netherlands, but the language is not maintained.

Phrases

Noko may – 'How are you?'

Mel melleh taroʼoh – 'I am well'

Kupna – 'Money'

Kupna tell tella waitna – 'I have no money'

Wauka – 'whisper'

Ternosri. Am salalu metoranowa – 'Farewell till later, I will always wait for you.'

A song of heave-ho to accompany pulling boats to shore: Wauka, wauke; Tiki lowati, Sapi lowati; Timore; Timotei; Wateo [3]

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Geser is an Austronesian language of the east end of Seram and the Gorom Islands, Indonesia. It is closely related to Watubela.

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Bati is an Austronesian language of eastern Seram Island, Indonesia. It is closely related to Geser and Watubela.

Teun is an Austronesian language originally spoken on Teun Island and Nila Island in Maluku, Indonesia. Speakers were relocated to Seram due to volcanic activity on Teun.

Nila is an extinct Austronesian language originally spoken on Nila Island in Maluku, Indonesia. Speakers were relocated to Seram due to volcanic activity on Nila.

Kamarian is an extinct Austronesian language. It was spoken at the southwestern coast of Seram Island in the Moluccas in eastern Indonesia.

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Boano Island is an island in West Seram Regency, Maluku Province, Indonesia. It is located off the northern coast of the Hoamoal Peninsula at the western end of Seram Island, across the Boano Strait. The inhabitants speak the Boano and Luhu languages, as well as Indonesian and Ambonese Malay.

References

  1. Serua at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. "11 Indigenous Languages Declared Extinct: Education Ministry". Jakarta Globe. 8 March 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. Taber, Mark (1993). "Toward a better understanding of the Indigenous Languages of Southwestern Maluku". Oceanic Linguistics. 32 (2): 389–441. JSTOR   3623199.

Further reading

M. A. Chlenov and Chlenova, Svetlana. 2000. Serua, a vanishing language in Eastern Indonesia. In Nataliya F. Alieva (ed.), Malaysko-indoneziyskiye issledovaniya, XVI, 265-299. Moscow.