title: Batuley language
text: # Batuley language
  
  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
  
  [ɪ] is an allophone of /i/ and /e/ (in different environments). [e] is an allophone of /a/ when it does not receive the primary stress. Furthermore, /e/ and /i/ may both be reduced to a schwa in fast speech in certain conditions.
  
  ### Consonants
  
  Daigle (2015)
  
  | | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | ŋ |
  | Plosive | voiceless | | t | | k |
  | Plosive | voiced | b | d | ʤ | ɡ |
  | Fricative | Fricative | ɸ | s | | |
  | Rhotic | Rhotic | | r | | |
  | Lateral | Lateral | | l | | |
  | Semivowel | Semivowel | | | j | w |
  
  ## Lexicon
  
  Daigle (2015)
  
  * gwayor: water, fresh water
  * gwari: island
  * keiran: sister; branch
  * lef: big house
  * kai: wood, tree
  * ban: chest, breast
  * fol gwayer: breast milk (fol: breast, gwayer: its water)
  * kaom: scorpion
  * gwarfagfag: small fresh-water turtle
  * kudomsai: cloud
  * ror: dance (n)
  * fulan: month
  * sapato, safato: shoe (borrowing)
  * solar: diesel fuel (borrowing)
  * nol: zero (borrowing)
  * fikir: think (borrowing)
  * fuis: cat (borrowing)
  * guru: teacher (borrowing)
  * kartas: paper (borrowing)
  * kasar: crack, split (borrowing)
  * kofi: hat (borrowing)
  * tata: older sibling (borrowing)
  * tempo: year (borrowing)
  * buku: book (borrowing)
  