The genetic relationship between Alune, Lisabata, Luhu, and Wemale (Western Seram, Indonesia): a historical-comparative linguistics approach

Figures & data

Map 1. The territorial extent of the Western Seram Regency.

Map 2. Groups of languages spoken on the Western Seram (Collins, 2018, p. 98).

Figure 1. Subgrouping of ‘Three Rivers’ in Western Seram (Collins, 1982, p. 37).

Figure 2. The construction of Genetic tree model (Schleicher, 1983).

Table 1. Language kinship parameter (Keraf, 1996, p. 135).

Levels	Split times (in millenia or centuries)	Cognate percentages (%)
Language	0–5	100–81
Family	5–25	81–36
Stock/Phylum	25–50	36–12
Microphylum	50–75	12–4
Mesophylum	75–100	4–1
Macrophylum	100 and above	1 less than 1

Table 2. Sets of language kinship between the Alune, Lisabata, Luhu, and Wemale.

No	Gloss	Alune	Lisabata	Luhu	Wemale
1.	I	au	a’u	a’une	yau
2.	wind	-	anin	anine	yaline
3.	dog	asu	asu	asu	yasu
4.	you	ale	ane	alene	yale
5.	dig	kali	kasi	kasi	ali
6.	nose	inubata	inu	ninu	niru
7.	wife	bina	mahina	mahinae	dapina

Table 3. Sets of identical words shown by the Alune, Lisabata, Luhu, and Wemale.

No	Gloss	Alune	Lisabata	Luhu	Wemale
1	father	ama	ama	ama	ama
2	mountain	ulate	ulate	ulate	ulate
3	mother	ina	ina	ina	ina
4	louse	utu	utu	utu	utu
5	die	mata	mata	mata	mata

Table 4. Sets of different words shown by the Alune, Lisabata, Luhu, and Wemale.

No	Gloss	Alune	Lisabata	Luhu	Wemale
1	worm	tilatinɛ	lɛlaɛ	wale	latupote
2	and	kai	te	duwe	tuna
3	near	tɛyanɛ	masu	waiway	mati
4	dirty	nalɔpɔ	cammarɛ	asasini	ma?inini
5	short	rɔkɔnɛ	noto	etey	tupe?i
6	think	nɔwakɛ	alae?e	hanaluwe	pikir
7	a little	ɛputi	sila?a	lahune	toto?o

Table 5. The percentage of language kinship (cognates) among Alune, Lisabata, Luhu, and Wemale.

	Alune	Wemale	Lisabata	Luhu
Alune		49%	58%	57%
Wemale			45%	47,5%
Lisabata				64%
Luhu

Shading shows that there is no comparison between same languages 

Figure 3. Situation encountered during interviews with indigenous residents as respondents (researchers’ self-documentation, 2022).

Figure 4. Cladistic (tree-based) representation of the Western Seram language group’s diversification based on a lexicostatistical approach.

Figure 5. The development of Nunusaku language groups based on their time separation estimation.

Table

Tutu ya hei leta, hei lete o	‘(This is the) verdict from the top, from the top.’
Hei lete Nunusaku o, Nunusaku o	‘From the peak of Nunusaku, Nunusaku.’
Nunusaku samapela o, samapela o	‘Nunusaku has distributed (us), has distributed (us).’
Sama pela waila telu o, waila telu o	‘allotted (us) into Three Trunks of Water, into Three Trunks of Water.’

Table 6. Phonemic correspondences within /ø/∼/y/#_ rule.

No	Gloss	Alune	Lisabata	Luhu	Wemale	Phoneme correspondence
1.	I	au	a?u	a?unɛ	yau	/ø/∼/y/#_
2.	dog	asu	ana	aninɛ	yasu
3.	fire	au^wɛ	anin	asu	yahu
4.	you	alɛ	asu	au	yale
5.	we	ami (itɛ)	ane	alɛnɛ	yami

Table 7. Phonemic correspondences within /b/∼/h/#_, /b/∼/h/V_V# rules.

No	Gloss	Alune	Lisabata	Luhu	Phoneme correspondence
1.	stone	batu	hatu	hatu	/b/∼/ h /#_
2.	fruit	bu^wai	huwa’i	hu^wa
3.	moon	bulanɛ	hulan	hulane
4.	kill	bunu	hunu	hunu
5.	wife	bina	mahina	mahinaɛ
6.	fly	ribu	rihu	ripu	/b/∼/h/V_V#

Table 8. Phonemic correspondences within /k/∼/ø/#_ rule.

No	Gloss	Alune	Lisabata	Luhu	Wemale	Phoneme correspondence
1.	stand	kɛlɛ	kene	ɛlɛ	ele	/k/∼/ø/#_
2.	dig	kali	kasi	kasi	ali
3.	nip	kɛtɛ	kiki	ki’i	ete
4.	eat	kanɛ	ka:	–	ane
5.	river	kwɛlɛ	–	–	waele
6.	drink	kinu	inu	–	–
7.	know	rɛkwa	rewa	–	–	/k/∼/ø/V_K#

Table 9. Phonemic correspondences within /ø/∼/h/#_ and /h/∼/ø/#_ rules.

No	Gloss	Alune	Lisabata	Wemale	Phoneme correspondence
1.	how	ila	-	hai	/ø/∼/h/#_
2.	kill	bunu	hunu	punuh
3.	foot	-	ai	hai	/h/∼/ ø /#_
4.	drink	-	inu	hinu
5.	tie	-	eta	heta

Table 10. Phonemic correspondences within /l/∼/n/#, /l/∼/n/_V#, /l/∼/n/V_V#_ rules.

No	Gloss	Alune	Lisabata	Wemale	Phoneme correspondence
1.	two	luwa	nua	luwa	/l/∼/n/#_
2.	light	lanitɛ	nanite	lante
3.	five	lima	nima	lima
4.	sun	lematai	niamatai	liyamatai
5.	land	tapɛlɛ	ta:pen	-	/l/∼/n/_V#
6.	laugh	mali	mani	-	/l/∼/n/V_V#
7.	three	tɛlu	tenu	tɛlu
8.	bone	lulini	nuni	luli
9.	wind	-	anin	yaline
10.	you	ale	ane	yale
11.	rain	ulanɛ	unan	ulane
12.	head	ulu bu^wa	unu	ulu	/l/∼/n/V_

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