Buru language

Not to be confused with Buru language (Nigeria).

Buru
Bahasa Buru
Native to	Indonesia, Maluku
Region	Buru Island
Native speakers	unknown (33,000 cited 1989)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Nuclear MP (Central–Eastern MP) Central Maluku Sula–Buru Buru Buru
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mhs
Glottolog	buru1303

Buru or Buruese (Indonesian: Bahasa Buru) is a Malayo-Polynesian languages of the Central Maluku branch. In 1991 it was spoken by approximately 45,000 Buru people who live on the Indonesian island of Buru (Indonesian: Pulau Buru). It is also preserved in the Buru communities on Ambon and some other Maluku Islands, as well as in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and in the Netherlands.

The most detailed study of Buru language was conducted in the 1980s by Charles E. Grimes and Barbara Dix Grimes – Australian missionaries and ethnographers, active members of SIL International (they should not be confused with Joseph E. Grimes and Barbara F. Grimes, Charles' parents, also known Australian ethnographers).

Dialects

Three dialects of Buru can be distinguished, each of which is used by its corresponding ethnic group on Buru island: Rana (named after the lake in the center of Buru; more than 14,000 speakers), Masarete (more than 9,500 speakers) and Wae Sama (more than 6,500 speakers). Some 3,000–5,000 of Rana people along with their main dialect use the so-called "secret dialect" Ligahan. The dialect of Fogi which once existed in the western area of the island is now extinct. Lexical differences between the dialects are relatively small: about 90% between Masarete and Wae Sama, 88% between Masarete and Rana and 80% between Wae Sama and Rana. Aside from native dialects, most Buru people, especially in the coastal regions and towns, have at least some understanding of the official language of the country, Indonesian. The coastal population also uses the Melayu Ambon, also known as Ambonese Malay

Naming and Taboo

Buru people, along with the Muslim or Christian names, also use traditional ones, the most common being Lesnussa, Latbual, Nurlatu, Lehalima, Wael and Sigmarlatu. The language has several sets of taboo words, which are both behavioral and linguistic. For example, relatives refer to each other by kin names, but not by proper names (i.e., father, but not Lesnussa). However, contrary to many other Austronesian cultures, Buru people do refer to the deceased relatives by name. Other restrictions apply to the objects of nature, harvest, hunting and fishing, for which certain words should be chosen depending on the island area. These taboos have explanations in associated myths of legends. In all cases, the words for taboo items are not omitted, but substituted by alternatives. All Buru dialects have loanwords. Many of them originated from Dutch and Portuguese during the Dutch colonization and referred to the objects not previously seen on the island. Other types of borrowed words came from Malayan languages as a result of inflow of people from the nearby island.

Phonology

The Buru Language has 5 vowels and 17 consonants. They are illustrated on the tables below:

Consonants

	Labial	Apical	Laminal	Dorsal
Stop	p  b	t  d	c  (j)	k  g
Fricative	f	s		h
Nasal	m	n		ng
Lateral		l
Trill		r
Semivowel	w		y

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

Writing System

Contrary to other indigenous languages of Buru and the nearby island of Ambelau (Lisela, Kayeli and Ambelau), Buru has a functional writing system based on the Latin alphabet. Buru Christians worship with a Bible written in their native language, the first translations of which were made back in 1904 by Dutch missionaries.

Grammar

The Buru language can be classified as an SVO language, prepositional, with modifiers following the head noun in a noun phrase, and the genitive occurring before the noun.

Pronouns and Person Markers

Free pronouns may be used equally for the subject and object of intransitive verbs (marking either actor or undergoer).

Free Pronouns

Person	Number
	Singular	Plural	Dual
1INC		kita
1EXCL	yako	kami
2	kae	kimi
3	rine/ringe	sira	sino

Examples:

(1)	Yako	paha	ringe
	1SG	hit	3SG
	"I hit him."

(2)	Ringe	paha	yako
	1SG	hit	1SG
	"He hit me."

(3)	Yako	iko
	1SG	go
	"I go."

(4)	Sira	oli
	3PL	return
	"They come back."

(5)	Yako	glada
	1SG	hunger
	"I am hungry."

(6)	Ringe	mata
	3SG	die
	"He died."

Pronominal Proclitics

Person	Number
	Singular	Plural
1INC		kam
1EXCL	yak/ya	kit
2	ku	kim
3	da	du

Examples:

(7)	Ya	paha	ringe
	1SG	hit	3SG
	"I hit him."

(8)	da	paha	yako
	3SG	hit	1SG
	"He hit me."

(9)	ya	iko
	1SG	go
	"I go."

(10)	Du	oli
	3PL	return
	"They come back."

(11)	Ya	glada
	1SG	hunger
	"I am hungry."

(12)	Da	mata
	3SG	die
	"He died."

Possession

Depending on its distribution a possessive word can behave verbally or nominally, or as the head of a predicative possessive construction or as the modifier of the possessive NP. The possessive word is the only word in the Buru language obligatorily inflected for person and number and behaves much like a verb in its affixing possibilities. All examples in this section have been taken from Grimes, 1991 chapter 14.
The basic structure of the constituent is SVO.

(1)	Yako	nango	huma	saa.
	1SG	1SGPOSS	house	one
	"I have/own a house." (p. 279)

Functional and distributional behaviour of the possessive construction:
Applicative /-k/ is used to indicate a definite pronominal object (an object that functions as a pronoun).

(2)	Todo	naa,	ya	nangu-k.
	machete	PROX	1SG	1SGPOSS-k
	"This machete, it is mine." (p. 280)

(3)	San	nake-k?
	who	3SGPOSS-k
	"Whose is it?." (p. 280)

The possessive word can also accept valence changing verbal prefixes however this is restricted to the third singular form 'nake'.

(4)	Petu	kami	rua	hai	em-nake-k	eta	dena	na	Rana.
	SEQ	1PLE	two	follow	STAT-3SGPOSS-k	until	arrive	PROX	lake
	"So the two of us followed as his companion-assistants until arriving here at Rana." (p. 280)

(5)	Geba-ro	kadu-k	pa	du	wana	em-nake-k	eta	lea.
	person-PL	come-k	REAL	3PL	awake	STAT-3SGPOSS-k	until	sun
	"People came and they stayed away at his disposal keeping him company until dawn." (p. 280)

People can be put at someone’s disposal through the combination of /ep-em-/.

(6)	Kawasan	p-em-nake-k	geba	rua	ute	ringe	eta	dena	la	masi.
	head	CAUS-STAT-3SGPOSS-k	person	two	DAT	3SG	until	arrive	downstream	sea
	"The village head put two people at his disposal until they should reach the coast." (p. 280/1)

The possessive word, with or without a proceeding cliticised free pronoun, functions as a possessive pronoun with a NP.

(7)	Da	kala-k	ya	nang	ama.
	3SG	call-k	[1SG	1SGPOSS	father]NP
	"He summoned my father." (p. 281)

(8)	Da	lata-h	tu	ya	nang	todo.
	3SG	cut-it	[with	1SG	1SGPOSS	machete]
	"He cut it with my machete." (p. 281)

Used with verbs of exchange, the possessive word can have the force of a dative argument.

(9)	Ego	nang	pawe	saa.
	Get	1SGPOSS	mango	one
	"Get me a mango/get a mango for me." (p. 281)