Native to Indonesia, Maluku Native speakers (12,000 cited 1989) ISO 639-3 lcl | Region Buru Island Writing system none | |
Language family Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian (MP)
Nuclear MP
Central–Eastern MP
Central Maluku
Sula–Buru
Buru
Lisela | ||
Lisela (Indonesian: Bahasa Lisela), also called Li Enyorot, is an Austronesian language; in 1989 it was spoken by about 11,900 Lisela people mostly living in the northern part of Indonesian island Buru (Indonesian: Pulau Buru). It is also preserved among the small Lisela community on the Ambon Island.
The language belongs to the Sula–Buru group of Central Maluku branch of Malayo-Polynesian languages. It has two dialect, major Lisela and minor Tagalisa, the latter is used by the inhabitants of the north-east coast of Buru. The language is dying as most Lisela people switch either to the national language of Indonesia, Indonesian, or to the Ambon dialect of Malay language (Melayu Ambon). The latter is widely used in the Maluku Islands as a second language and is a simplified form of Indonesian language with additions of the local lexicon.
The most closely related to Lisela is Buru language, especially its dialect Masarete – their lexical similarity is 68%. Thus many sources regard Lisela as a dialect, though the most diverging, of Buru. Lisela had also borrowed much from the Sula language, as a result of the interaction between the Lisela and Sula people living together as the northern Buru coast. The language has no writing system. The most detailed study of Lisela language was conducted in the 1980s by Charles E. Grimes and Barbara Dix Grimes – Australian missionaries and ethnographers, active members of SIL International (they should not be confused with Joseph E. Grimes and Barbara F. Grimes, Charles' parents, also known Australian ethnographers).