Lamaholot, also known as Solor or Solorese, is a
Central Malayo-Polynesian
The Central Malayo-Polynesian languages (CMP) are a proposed branch in the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. The languages are spoken in the Lesser Sunda and Maluku Islands of the Banda Sea, in an area corresponding ...
dialect cluster
A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...
of
Flores
Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. The area is 14,250 km2. Including Komodo and Rinca islands ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
. The varieties may not be all mutually intelligible; Keraf (1978) reports that there are 18 languages under the name.
The Lamaholot language shows evidence of a
Papuan (non-Austronesian) substratum, with about 50 percent of the lexicon being non-Austronesian.
Various Lamaholot dialects are presented as independent languages by ''Ethnologue''. For example,
Lewotobi is presented as a separate language by Ethnologue and Grimes (1997). disputes this, classifying it instead as a dialect of Lamaholot.
An additional dialect of Lamaholot not found in ''Ethnologue'', Muhang, is spoken by the Ata Tana 'Ai people living in
Sikka Regency
Sikka is a regency within East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, on the island of Flores. It is bordered to the west by Ende Regency and to the east by East Flores Regency. It covers an area of 1,675.36 km2 and had a population of 300,301 ...
. The first children's book in Muhang, ''Walde Nenang Uran Wair'', was published in 2022.
Lamaholot is similar to
Sika to the west and
Kedang to the east. Lamaholot dialects are often divided into three groupings: western (Flores), central (east Flores, Adonara, and Solor) and eastern (Lembata).
Alorese (parts of the coast of northern Pantar and western Alor) is partially intelligible with Lamaholot and is often considered to be a dialect of it.
Phonology
Consonants
Phonemes in parentheses are used in loanwords.
Vowels
References
Bibliography
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{{Languages of Indonesia
Flores-Lembata languages
Languages of Indonesia