Taliabo language

Not to be confused with Kadai languages.

"Talo language" redirects here. For Talo (Tallau) dialect of Sudan, see Logorik language.

Taliabo
Taliabu
Native to	Indonesia, Maluku
Region	Taliabu Island
Native speakers	(4,900 cited 2000)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Celebic Saluan–Banggai[2] Taliabo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: tlv – Taliabo kzd – Kadai
Glottolog	tali1261
ELP	Kadai

Taliabo (Taliabu) is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken on the island of the same name in the Moluccas of Indonesia.

Dialects are:

• Kadai
• Padang (Samala)
• Mananga
• Mangei (Soboyo)

There are two linguistic strata in Taliabo, Central Maluku and Celebic, and it is not yet clear which group it belongs to.

The Soboyo dialect of Taliabo is notable for preserving Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *h, but only in word-initial position.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	tʃ	k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	dʒ	ɡ
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Fricative		f	s	ʃ		h
Trill			r
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

All stop sounds (except for /ʔ/) and fricatives /s, ʃ/, may also be prenasalized in both word-initial and word-medial positions as /ᵐb, ⁿd, ᶮdʒ, ᵑɡ/.^[3][4]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

References

1. Taliabo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Kadai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Charles Grimes & Owen Edwards (in process) Wallacean subgroups: unravelling the prehistory and classification of the Austronesian languages of eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste. Summary presentation at the 15th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics.
3. Ridwan, Farida M.; Mulae, Sunaidin O.; Asriyani, Sherly (2020). Phonological Variation of Taliabu Language Dialects. Retorika Jurnal Bahasa Sastra dan Pengajarannya.
4. Blust, Robert (1981). The Soboyo Reflexes of Proto-Austronesian *S. Historical Linguistics in Indonesia, Part 1. pp. 21–30.

Further reading

• Fortgens, J. (1921). Bijdrage tot de kennis van het Sobojo (eiland Taliabo, Soela-groep) [Contribution to knowledge of Sobojo, on Taliabo, Sula islands] (in Dutch). Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff.