Central Maluku languages

Summary

The Central Maluku languages are a proposed subgroup of the Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family which comprises around fifty languages spoken principally on the Seram, Buru, Ambon, Kei, and the Sula Islands. None of the languages have as many as fifty thousand speakers, and several are extinct.

Central Maluku
Geographic
distribution
Maluku Islands, Indonesia
Linguistic classificationAustronesian
Subdivisions
  • West
  • East

Classification edit

The traditional components of Central Maluku are the Sula, Buru, and East Central Maluku languages, plus the Ambelau isolate.

Collins (1983) edit

The following classification of the Central Maluku languages below is from Collins (1983:20, 22) and (1986).[1][2]

References edit

  1. ^ Collins, James T. (1983). The Historical Relationships of the Languages of Central Maluku, Indonesia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  2. ^ Collins, J.T. (1986). "Eastern Seram: a subgrouping argument". In Geraghty, P., Carrington, L. and Wurm, S.A. eds, FOCAL II: Papers from the Fourth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics. C-94:123-146. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University.