Batuley (Gwatle lir) is a language spoken on the Aru Islands 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.
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) Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Nasal Plosive Fricative Rhotic Lateral Semivowel
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)
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Further reading