A Grammar of Abui

Book excerpt: This work contains the first comprehensive description of Abui, a language of the Trans New Guinea family spoken approximately by 16,000 speakers in the central part of the Alor Island in Eastern Indonesia. The description focuses on the northern dialect of Abui as spoken in the village Takalelang. This study is based on primary data collected by the author on Alor. With Pantar island, Alor Island is the western-most area where Papuan languages are spoken. Abui syntax is characterized by rigid head-final word order. The language presents a number of typologically interesting features such as semantic alignment. Characteristic for Abui is the extensive use of generic verbs. Generic verbs appear as parts of complex verbs or in serial verb constructions. This grammar covers the phonology, morphology and basic syntax of Abui. The appendix contains several Abui texts and word lists. Not being written against any particular theoretical background, this book is of interest to scholars of both Papuan and Austronesian languages, as well as linguistic typology.