Taliabo language

Taliabo
Taliabu
Native toIndonesia, Maluku
RegionTaliabu Island
Native speakers
4,900 (2000)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
tlv – Taliabo
kzd – Kadai
Glottologtali1261
ELPKadai
Not to be confused with Kadai languages.
"Talo language" redirects here. For Talo (Tallau) dialect of Sudan, see Logorik language.

Taliabo (Taliabu) is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken on the island of the same name in the Moluccas of Indonesia.

Dialects are:

  • Kadai
  • Padang (Samala)
  • Mananga
  • Mangei (Soboyo)

There are two linguistic strata in Taliabo, Central Maluku and Celebic, and it is not yet clear which group it belongs to.

The Soboyo dialect of Taliabo is notable for preserving Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *h, but only in word-initial position.

  1. ^ Taliabo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Kadai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Charles Grimes & Owen Edwards (in process) Wallacean subgroups: unravelling the prehistory and classification of the Austronesian languages of eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste. Summary presentation at the 15th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics.