Sumba–Flores languages

The Sumba–Flores languages, which correspond to the traditional "Bima–Sumba" subgroup minus Bima, are a proposed group of Austronesian languages (geographically Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages) spoken on and around the islands of Sumba and western–central Flores in the Lesser Sundas. The main languages are Manggarai, which has half a million speakers on the western third of Flores, and Kambera, with a quarter million speakers on the eastern half of Sumba Island.

The Hawu language of Savu Island is suspected of having a non-Austronesian substratum, but perhaps not to any greater extent than the languages of central and eastern Flores, such as Sika, or indeed of Central Malayo-Polynesian languages in general.

Classification[]

Blust (2008)^[1] finds moderate support for linking the languages of western and central Flores with Sumba–Hawu.

• Sumba–Flores
  • Sumba–Hawu
    • Hawu–Dhao
    • Sumba languages (see)
  • Western Flores
    • Manggarai–Rembong: Komodo, Manggarai, Riung, Rembong, Rajong, Kepo', Wae Rana
    • Central Flores–Palu'e
      • Palu'e
      • Central Flores
        • Ende–Lio: a dialect cluster of Ende, Lio, Nage, Ke'o
        • Ngada: Ngad'a, Rongga, So'a (dialect cluster)

See also[]

• Sumba languages
• Central Flores languages

References[]

Further reading[]

• Gasser, Emily. 2014. Subgrouping in Nusa Tenggara: The case of Bima-Sumba. In Jeffrey Connor-Linton and Luke Wander Amoroso (eds.), Measured Language: Quantitative Studies of Acquisition, Assessment, and Variation, 63-78. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

External links[]

• LexiRumah (part of the Lesser Sunda linguistic databases)
• Reconstructing the past through languages of the present: the Lesser Sunda Islands