Savu languages


The Savu languages, Hawu and Dhao, are spoken on Savu and Ndao Islands in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia.

Classification

Cappell noted a large amount of non-Austronesian vocabulary and grammatical features in the Central Malayo-Polynesian languages of East Nusa Tenggara and Maluku, notably in Hawu. While he generally spoke of a non-Austronesian substratum, Hawu is so divergent from Austronesian norms that he classified it as a non-Austronesian language. He says,
However, it is now generally accepted that Savu is no more divergent than the other Central Malayo-Polynesian languages, all of which display a non-Austronesian component that defines Melanesian languages.

Phonology

The Savu languages have the same vowels and stress rules. They share implosive consonants with the Bima–Sumba languages and with languages of Flores and Sulawesi further north, such Wolio, and languages of Flores such as Ngad'a have rather similar lengthening of consonants after schwa. Dhao has the larger inventory, but even where the languages have the same consonants, there is often not a one-to-one correspondence. Apart from Hawu, Dhao is more conservative. Hawu *s, *c shifted to in historical times. Non-obvious correlations are:
DhaoHawuexamplegloss
tʃhtʃaʔe ~ haʔeclimb
shrisi ~ rihimore
hhhəba ~ həɓamouth
hvhahi ~ vavipig
ɖʐdmaɖʐe ~ madedead
dɗməda ~ məɗaniɡht
ɗɗloɗosun, day
bβbbβəni ~ bəniwoman
bɓhəba ~ həɓamouth
ɓɓsaɓa ~ haɓa effort
#dʒ#ʄ, #jdʒaʔa ~ ʄaa / jaaI, me
.dʒ.dʒpadʒuu ~ pedʒuu command
ʄʄaʄutree

For initial in Dhao, there is dialectical variation between and in Hawu. Most other consonants have a one-to-one correspondence, but a few are not well-enough attested to be certain.

Pronouns

Independent personal pronouns are similar.
DhaoHawu
Idʒaʔaʄaa
thouəuəu
s/henəŋunoo
we əɖʐidii
we dʒiʔiʄii
y'allmiumuu
theyrəŋuraa

Parenthetical forms in Hawu are dialectical.

Footnotes