Abui language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Abui Abui tanga |
||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Indonesia, | |
| Region: | Southeast Asia | |
| Total speakers: | 16,000+ | |
| Language family: | Papuan Trans-New Guinea languages South Bird's Head-Timor-Alor-Pantar Timor-Alor-Pantar Makasai-Alor-Pantar Alor Abui |
|
| Writing system: | Latin alphabet | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | abz | |
| ISO 639-2: | – | |
| ISO 639-3: | – | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Abui is a language of the Alor Archipelago. It belongs to the Trans New Guinea family spoken approximately by 16,000 speakers in the central part of the Alor Island in Eastern Indonesia, East Nusa Tenggara province. The native name is Abui tanga which literally translates as 'mountain language'.
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[edit] Abui ethnic group
The term ‘Abui’ is an Abui word that means ‘mountains’ or alternatively ‘enclosed place’. This word is also used in Alorese Malay to refer to Abui speakers who refer to their language as Abui tanga ‘mountain language’ and to themselves as Abui loku ‘the mountain people’.
According to Abui oral tradition, Abui people settled in Alor in ancient times and did not find other settlers there. Later some of them moved to the Kabola peninsula.[1]
The same tradition accounts that they dwelled in caves in the mountains in the Mainang area. In this area also some rock art is found. Abui refer to neighbouring tribes as ‘younger siblings’ or as ‘new arrivals’. However, the oral tradition in Alor serves too often as a political instrument. The oral tradition has not been verified by archaeological research yet.
[edit] Economy
Abui speakers are mainly farmers, just like other inhabitants of Alor. However, in mountainous areas hunting and gathering is also an important supplement to the staple diet of corn, cassava, and rice. In the coastal areas, which are less favourable for agriculture, many farmers have switched to fishing, the traditional activity of the Austronesian population. Traditional livestock are pigs and chicken. However, livestock seldom supplement the diet due to frequent swine fever and poultry diseases. Thus, the diet is not well balanced, often resulting in poor health conditions and anaemia, especially among children and women. In the mountainous areas the situation is better as traditional hunting provides a more balanced diet. The mountains also favour a number of important cash crops such as tamarind, coconuts, coffee, cloves, cocoa, cashew nuts, candlenuts, vanilla, almonds and tobacco. These provide the farmers with additional income, which results in generally better living standards than for people in the coastal areas.
[edit] Education
Educational facilities in the Abui area are limited to elementary and secondary schools in district capitals. The nearest university is in Kalabahi, which offers limited training in economy, law, English and computer science. The more significant educational institutions are found in Kupang, the provincial capital of NTT.
[edit] Linguistic situation
Abui has a number of dialects: Northern, Southern and Western. Northern dialects spoken around villages of Mainang, Masape, Takalelang and Atimelang have been subject of linguistic study. Southern dialects are spoken around Kelaisi and Apui; western dialects are spoken around Mataru, Fanating and Moru. These dialects remain unstudied.
Abui ethnic group has attracted the attention of foreign researchers since 1930's. American cultural anthropologist Cora DuBois lived between 1937-1939 in the village of Atimelang. Her research is documented in her monograph 'The People of Alor'.[2] Cora DuBois was accompanied by the Dutch sociologist Martha Margaretha Nicolspeyer who concucted a study of the social structure of Abui people.[3]
After the WWII, W.A.L. Stokhof and H. Steinhauer conducted a linguistic survey of Alor and Pantar.[4] Later, W.A.L. Stokhof published and analyzed one of the texts collected by Nicolspeyer.[5] Linguistic documentation efforts have been undertaken recently by Leiden University. As one of the results of the Alor and Pantar Project, a description of Abui grammar appeared.[6].
[edit] Language structure
Abui syntax is characterized by rigid head-final word order. The language presents a number of typologically interesting features such as semantic alignment. Characteristic for Abui is the extensive use of generic verbs. Generic verbs appear as parts of complex verbs or in serial verb constructions.
[edit] References
- ^ Djeki, J.J. 1986. Penelitian suku terasing di Kabupaten Alor Abui. Proyek inventarisasi dan dokumentasi kebudayaan daerah Nusa Tenggara Timur. Kupang.
Nicolspeyer, Martha Margaretha. 1940. De sociale structuur van een Aloreesche bevolkingsgroep. Rijswijk: Kramers. - ^ Du Bois, Cora Alice. 1960. The people of Alor; a social-psychological study of an East Indian island. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
- ^ Nicolspeyer, Martha Margaretha. 1940. De sociale structuur van een Aloreesche bevolkingsgroep. Rijswijk: Kramers
- ^ Stokhof, W. A. L. 1975. Preliminary notes on the Alor and Pantar languages (East Indonesia). Canberra: Pacific linguistics.
- ^ Stokhof, W. A. L. 1984. Annotations to a text in the Abui language (Alor). Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde 140:106-162.
- ^ Kratochvíl F. 2007. A grammar of Abui. Utrecht: LOT. click here to download 'A grammar of Abui'
