Central Maluku languages

Central Maluku
Geographic distribution:	Maluku Islands (Indonesia)
Linguistic classification:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Nuclear MP (Central–Eastern) Central Maluku
Subdivisions:	Teor-Kur West East
Glottolog:	cent2254

The Central Maluku languages are a putative group of fifty Austronesian languages (geographically Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages) spoken principally on the Seram, Buru, Ambon, Kei, and the Sula Islands. None of the languages have as many as fifty thousand speakers, and several are extinct.

Classification

The traditional components of Central Maluku are the Sula, Buru, and East Central Maluku languages, plus the Ambelau isolate.

Collins (1983)

The following classification of the Central Maluku languages below is from Collins (1983:20, 22) and (1986).

• Teor-Kur
• West Central Maluku
  • Ambelau
  • Buru–Sula–Taliabo (see)
• East Central Maluku (around Seram and Aru)
  • Banda–Geser
    • Banda
    • Geser: Bati, Geser, Watubela
  • East Seram
    • Bobot–Masiwang
    • Setic: Hoti, Benggoi, Salas, Liana-Seti
  • Nunusaku (see)

References

• Collins, James T. 1983. The historical relationships of the languages of Central Maluku, Indonesia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.