Selaru language

Selaru
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Tanimbar Islands
Native speakers	8,000 (2001)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Central–Eastern Selaru languages Selaru
Language codes
ISO 639-3	slu
Glottolog	sela1259

Selaru is an Austronesian language of Selaru and Yamdena, in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. Linguistically it is not close to Seluwasan, its nearest relative.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Dorsal	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless		t	k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	(ɡ)
Fricative		f	s		h
Nasal		m	n
Trill			r
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

• /h/ can be heard as [x] before velar stops.
• /k/ can be heard as [ɡ] within voiced environments.
• Consonants preceding glide sounds are heard as either palatalized or labialized [ʲ, ʷ].^[2]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

References

1. Selaru at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Coward, David F. (2005). An Introduction to the Grammar of Selaru (PDF). SIL International.

Further reading

• Drabbe, P. (1932). Beknopte Spraakkunst en Korte Woordenlijst der Slaroeëesche Taal [Concise Grammar and Short Glossary of the Slaru language] (in Dutch). Bandung: A. C. Nix.
• Coward, D.; Coward, N. (2000). "A phonological sketch of the Selaru language". In Grimes, C. E. (ed.). Spices from the East: Papers in Languages of Eastern Indonesia. Pacific Linguistics No. 503. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 9–54. doi:10.15144/PL-503.9. hdl:1885/146101.
• Coward, D. F. (2005). An Introduction to the Grammar of Selaru (PDF) (version 2 ed.). SIL International.