Duriankari language explained

Duriankari
States:Indonesia
Region:Salawati, Sorong Regency, Southwest Papua
Pushpin Map:Indonesia Southwest Papua
Coordinates:-1.36°N 130.94°W
Extinct:By the 1990s?
Familycolor:Papuan
Fam1:? South Bird's Head
Fam2:Inanwatan–Duriankere
Iso3:dbn
Glotto:duri1243
Glottorefname:Duriankere

Duriankari, or Duriankere, is a possibly extinct Papuan language (or dialect) of Indonesian Papua. It is associated with the village of Duriankari at the southern tip of the island of Salawati, which is part of the Raja Ampat Archipelago and is adjacent to the Bird's Head Peninsula of the West Papuan mainland.

It was observed in the 1950s that its speakers were shifting to the Moi language. Duriankari was reported in the 1980s to have had about 100 speakers, but by the 1990s it was said to be extinct. It was listed as a separate language by, but conclude that not enough is known about it to determine whether it is a separate language or a dialect of Inanwatan. The Inanwatan language is spoken in a few villages over 150 kilometres to the east (as well as by a smaller community across the Sele Strait from Duriankari in the village of Seget). The Inanwatan people there regard the Duriankari as descendants of Inanwatans who were carried away so far west by a mythical flood.

A list of words in the language collected by J.C. Anceaux is available in and .

Bibliography