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 Waigeo is an island in Southwest Papua province of eastern Indonesia. The island is also known as Amberi, or Waigiu. It is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat Islands Raja Ampat, or the ''Four Kings'', is an archipelago loc ...

in the

Raja Ampat ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...

archipelago near the northwestern tip of West Papua, Indonesia. It is spoken by approximately 1,600 people. It is

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

, as the population is shifting to

Papuan Malay Papuan Malay or Irian Malay is a Malay-based creole language spoken in the Indonesian part of New Guinea. It emerged as a contact language among tribes in Indonesian New Guinea (now Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, and West ...

and few people born after the year 2000 have any knowledge of the language.

Dialects

Ambel is spoken by approximately 1,600 people on

, an island in the Raja Ampat archipelago near the northwestern tip of West Papua, Indonesia. There are two dialects of Ambel: *''Metsam'' Ambel, spoken in the two villages of Warsamdin and Kalitoko on

Island *''Metnyo'' Ambel, spoken in the nine villages of Warimak, Waifoi, Kabilo, Go, Kapadiri, Kabare, Bonsayor, Darumbab, and Andey on Waigeo Island Ambel speakers live alongside

Biak Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua (province), Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and c ...

speakers in the three villages of Warsamdin, Kabare, and Andey.

Distribution

Ambel is spoken in the following locations within

Raja Ampat Regency Raja Ampat Regency is a regency of Southwest Papua Province of Indonesia. The regency, which was formed based on the Law 26 of 2002, was inaugurated on 12 April 2003, and consists of a number of groups of islands situated off the north-west end of ...

: *Waigeo Utara District: Kabare and Kapadiri villages. *Teluk Manyalibit District: Kabilol, Go, Waifoy, Warimak, Kalitoko and Warsamdin villages.

Phonology

The sounds of the Ambel language are as follows: // can be heard as [] or [] in free variation.

Proto-language

Arnold (2018) reconstructs two tonemes for proto-Ambel, high /3/ and rising /12/, which is similar to the tonal system of Ma'ya. Below are some monosyllabic proto-Ambel reconstructed lexical forms that have cognates with Matbat language, Matbat and Ma'ya. The

Misool Misool, formerly spelled Mysol (Dutch: Misoöl) or Misol, is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua, Indonesia. Its area is 2,034 km2. The highest point is 561 m and the main towns are Waigama, located ...

dialect is given for some Ma'ya forms. :

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Deposit of Ambel-language materials at the Endangered Languages Archive
{{Austronesian languages South Halmahera–West New Guinea languages Languages of western New Guinea Tonal languages in non-tonal families