Batuley (Gwatle lir) is a language spoken on the

Aru Islands Aru or ARU may refer to: Education * Alpha Rho Upsilon, a defunct fraternity in the United States * Anglia Ruskin University, a university in England * Ardhi University, a Tanzanian public university Places * Aru Islands Regency, a group of i ...

of eastern Indonesia. It is close to Mariri; Hughes (1987) estimates that around 80% of lexical items are shared. The language's name comes from the Gwatle island (Batuley in Indonesian), which the Batuley consider their homeland (Daigle (2015)).

Geographical distribution

Batuley is spoken in eastern Indonesia across seven villages that Daigle (2015) lists in his thesis. Some of them are Kabalsiang on Aduar Island, Kumul in the identically-named island, and Gwaria (Waria) in the Island of

Gwari The Gbagyi or Gbari (plural - Agbagyi/Agbari) are an ethnic group found predominantly in Central Nigeria with an estimated population of 12 million spread in four states, including Abuja, and located in thirty local government areas. It is also t ...

Phonology

Vowels

Batuley has a simple five-vowel system with no vowel length distinction (Daigle 2015). *i *e *u *o *a is an allophone of and (in different environments). is an allophone of when it does not receive the primary stress. Furthermore, and may both be reduced to a schwa in fast speech in certain conditions.

Consonants

Daigle (2015)

Lexicon

Daigle (2015) * : water, fresh water * : island * : sister; branch * : big house * : wood, tree * : chest, breast * : breast milk (: breast, : its water) * : scorpion * : small fresh-water turtle * : cloud * : dance (n) * : month * : shoe (borrowing) * : diesel fuel (borrowing) * : zero (borrowing) * : think (borrowing) * : cat (borrowing) * : teacher (borrowing) * : paper (borrowing) * : crack, split (borrowing) * : hat (borrowing) * : older sibling (borrowing) * : year (borrowing) * : book (borrowing)

Geographical distribution

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Lexicon

References

Further reading