| Ambel | |
| States: | Indonesia |
| Region: | Waigeo |
| Pushpin Map: | Indonesia Maluku and Western New Guinea |
| Coordinates: | -0.18°N 130.92°W |
| Speakers: | 1,600 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam2: | Malayo-Polynesian |
| Fam3: | Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian |
| Fam4: | Eastern Malayo-Polynesian |
| Fam5: | South Halmahera–West New Guinea |
| Fam6: | Halmahera Sea |
| Fam7: | Ambel–Biga |
| Iso3: | wgo |
| Glotto: | waig1244 |
| Glottorefname: | Waigeo |
Ambel (Amber), also known as Waigeo after the island where it is primarily spoken, is a heavily Papuan-influenced Austronesian language spoken on the island of Waigeo in the Raja Ampat archipelago near the northwestern tip of West Papua, Indonesia. It is spoken by approximately 1,600 people. It is endangered, as the population is shifting to Papuan Malay and few people born after the year 2000 have any knowledge of the language.
Ambel is spoken by approximately 1,600 people on Waigeo, an island in the Raja Ampat archipelago near the northwestern tip of West Papua, Indonesia. There are two dialects of Ambel:
Ambel speakers live alongside Biak speakers in the three villages of Warsamdin, Kabare, and Andey.
Ambel is spoken in the following locations within Raja Ampat Regency:[1]
The sounds of the Ambel language are as follows:
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Rhotic | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Glide | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ |
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | ||
Arnold (2018) reconstructs two tonemes for proto-Ambel, high /3/ and rising /12/, which is similar to the tonal system of Ma'ya.
Below are some monosyllabic proto-Ambel reconstructed lexical forms that have cognates with Matbat and Ma'ya. The Misool dialect is given for some Ma'ya forms; they are otherwise from the Salawati dialect.[2]
| gloss | Proto-Ambel | Ma'ya | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 'betel leaf' | Uncoded languages: *nyan | na¹n | ˈnya¹²n | |
| 'breast' | – | su³ | ˈsu³s | |
| 'canoe' | Uncoded languages: *wan | wa³ŋ | ˈwa¹²k | |
| 'come' | – | bo³t | ˈbo³t | |
| 'die' | Uncoded languages: *mna³t | ma¹²t | ˈma¹²t | |
| 'eight' | Uncoded languages: *wa³l | -wa³l | ˈwa³l | |
| 'enter' | Uncoded languages: *sun | hu³ŋ | ˈsu³n | |
| 'fire' | Uncoded languages: *lap | ya³p | ˈla¹²p | |
| 'fish' | Uncoded languages: *dun | – | ˈdo³n | |
| 'five' | Uncoded languages: *lim | li³m | ˈli³m | |
| 'four' | Uncoded languages: *fa³t | fa³t | ˈfa¹²t | |
| 'full' | Uncoded languages: *fon | fo³n | ˈfo¹²n | |
| 'give' | Uncoded languages: *bi | be²¹ | ˈbe (Misool) | |
| 'good' | Uncoded languages: *fi | fi³ | ˈfi³ | |
| 'green/blue' | Uncoded languages: *bya³w | bla¹²w | – | |
| 'ground, earth' | Uncoded languages: *ba³t | ba³t | ˈba¹²t | |
| 'hear' | – | no⁴¹ŋ | ˈdo¹²n | |
| 'kill' | Uncoded languages: *bun | bu³n | ˈbu³n | |
| 'know' | Uncoded languages: *un | -u²¹n | -ˈun (Misool) | |
| 'louse' | Uncoded languages: *o¹²wt | wu³t | ˈu³t | |
| 'man' | Uncoded languages: *ma³n | (wa³y)ma²¹n | ˈma¹²n (Misool) | |
| 'mother' | Uncoded languages: *ne³n | ne³n | ˈne¹²n | |
| 'mountain' | Uncoded languages: *i³l | he³l | ˈye³l | |
| 'mouth' | – | ga²¹l | ˈgal | |
| 'much' | – | to¹² | ˈmo¹²t | |
| 'needle' | Uncoded languages: *yam | la¹m | – | |
| 'night' | Uncoded languages: *gam | ka¹m | – | |
| 'person' | Uncoded languages: *me³t | ma³t | ˈmat | |
| 'rice' | Uncoded languages: *fa | fa³s | ˈfa¹²s | |
| 'rise, ascend' | Uncoded languages: *sa | ha³ | ˈsa³ | |
| 'sago' | Uncoded languages: *bi¹² | – | ˈbi³ | |
| 'sand' | Uncoded languages: *layn | ye³n | ˈle¹²n | |
| 'sea turtle' | Uncoded languages: *fi³n | fe³n | ˈfe³n | |
| 'seawards' | – | lo³l | ˈlo³l | |
| 'see' | Uncoded languages: *e³m | -ɛ³ŋ | -ˈe¹²m | |
| 'shoot' | – | -a¹n | ˈfa¹²n | |
| 'snake' | Uncoded languages: *kok | ko³k | ˈko¹²k | |
| 'swim' | Uncoded languages: *la³ | la³s | -ˈa¹²s (Misool) | |
| 'three' | Uncoded languages: *tu³l | to³l | ˈto³l | |
| 'tree, wood' | Uncoded languages: *a³y | ha³y | ˈai | |
| 'two' | Uncoded languages: *lu | lu³ | ˈlu³ | |
| 'village' | Uncoded languages: *nu 'house' | nu³ | ˈpnu³ | |
| 'walk' | Uncoded languages: *ta³n | – | ˈdak (Misool) | |
| 'white' | Uncoded languages: *bus | bu³ | ˈbu³s | |
| 'woman' | Uncoded languages: *bin | (wa¹t)bi³n 'kind of mangrove' | ˈpi³n |