Aputai

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A language of Indonesia

Alternate Names
Ilputih, Opotai, Tutunohan
User Population

150 (Hinton 2000).

Location

Maluku province: Maluku Barat Daya regency; Wetar island, Banda Sea coast, Ilputih village; Wetar strait coast, Lurang village.

Language Status

8b (Nearly extinct).

Dialects

Ilputih, Lurang, Welemur. Welemur dialect has no remaining speakers. Lexical similarity: 93% among dialects, 79% with Perai [wet], 74% with Tugun [tzn], 69% with Ili’uun [ilu], 57% with Galolen [gal].

Language Use

Influence from Galolen [gal] and Indonesian [ind] (Wurm 2007). Many shifted to Galolen [gal], especially Ilputih dialect speakers. Many shifted to Indonesian [ind]. Also use Ambonese Malay [abs].

Writing

Unwritten [Qaax].

Other Comments

Christian.