Ambel | |
---|---|
Waigeo | |
Native to | Indonesia |
Region | Waigeo |
Native speakers | 1,600 (2018)[1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | wgo |
Glottolog | waig1244 |
Coordinates: 0°11′S 130°55′E / 0.18°S 130.92°E |
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]
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:[4]
Ambel speakers live alongside Biak speakers in the three villages of Warsamdin, Kabare, and Andey.[5]
Ambel is spoken in the following locations within Raja Ampat Regency:[6]
The sounds of the Ambel language are as follows:[7]
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.
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
Close | i | u |
Mid | e | o |
Open | a |
Arnold (2018) reconstructs two tonemes for proto-Ambel, high /3/ and rising /12/, which is similar to the tonal system of Ma'ya.[8]
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.[8]
gloss | Proto-Ambel | Matbat | Ma'ya |
---|---|---|---|
'betel leaf' | *nyan | na¹n | ˈnya¹²n |
'breast' | – | su³ | ˈsu³s |
'canoe' | *wan | wa³ŋ | ˈwa¹²k |
'come' | – | bo³t | ˈbo³t |
'die' | *mna³t | ma¹²t | ˈma¹²t |
'eight' | *wa³l | -wa³l | ˈwa³l |
'enter' | *sun | hu³ŋ | ˈsu³n |
'fire' | *lap | ya³p | ˈla¹²p |
'fish' | *dun | – | ˈdo³n |
'five' | *lim | li³m | ˈli³m |
'four' | *fa³t | fa³t | ˈfa¹²t |
'full' | *fon | fo³n | ˈfo¹²n |
'give' | *bi | be²¹ | ˈbe (Misool) |
'good' | *fi | fi³ | ˈfi³ |
'green/blue' | *bya³w | bla¹²w | – |
'ground, earth' | *ba³t | ba³t | ˈba¹²t |
'hear' | – | no⁴¹ŋ | ˈdo¹²n |
'kill' | *bun | bu³n | ˈbu³n |
'know' | *un | -u²¹n | -ˈun (Misool) |
'louse' | *o¹²wt | wu³t | ˈu³t |
'man' | *ma³n | (wa³y)ma²¹n | ˈma¹²n (Misool) |
'mother' | *ne³n | ne³n | ˈne¹²n |
'mountain' | *i³l | he³l | ˈye³l |
'mouth' | – | ga²¹l | ˈgal |
'much' | – | to¹² | ˈmo¹²t |
'needle' | *yam | la¹m | – |
'night' | *gam | ka¹m | – |
'person' | *me³t | ma³t | ˈmat |
'rice' | *fa | fa³s | ˈfa¹²s |
'rise, ascend' | *sa | ha³ | ˈsa³ |
'sago' | *bi¹² | – | ˈbi³ |
'sand' | *layn | ye³n | ˈle¹²n |
'sea turtle' | *fi³n | fe³n | ˈfe³n |
'seawards' | – | lo³l | ˈlo³l |
'see' | *e³m | -ɛ³ŋ | -ˈe¹²m |
'shoot' | – | -a¹n | ˈfa¹²n |
'snake' | *kok | ko³k | ˈko¹²k |
'swim' | *la³ | la³s | -ˈa¹²s (Misool) |
'three' | *tu³l | to³l | ˈto³l |
'tree, wood' | *a³y | ha³y | ˈai |
'two' | *lu | lu³ | ˈlu³ |
'village' | *nu 'house' | nu³ | ˈpnu³ |
'walk' | *ta³n | – | ˈdak (Misool) |
'white' | *bus | bu³ | ˈbu³s |
'woman' | *bin | (wa¹t)bi³n 'kind of mangrove' |
ˈpi³n |