Dobel

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A language of Indonesia

ISO 639-3
kvo
Alternate Names
Doibel, Kobroor, Kobro’or, Sersifar Tannin
Population

5,680 (2011 SIL), increasing. 6,500 plus 1,500 outside the area; 2,700 in Northern Dobel, 1,800 in Straits Dobel, 1,400 in Southeast Dobel.

Location

Southeast Maluku Province, Aru islands, entire east coast of Kobror island, 1 village in southeast Wokam island, 4 villages eastern half of Barakai strait (Kobror and Koba islands), 2 villages in central Kobror island. 18 villages; many in Dobo; some in Ambon.

Language Maps
Language Status

5 (Developing).

Classification
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Aru
Dialects

Northern Dobel, Southeast Dobel, Straits Dobel. At least 3 dialects. Related to Lola [lcd] and Lorang [lrn]. Lexical similarity: 78%–86% with Koba [kpd].

Typology

SVO; prepositions; no adjectives; noun head initial; active verbs and stative verbs; complex reduplication system; 14 consonant phonemes and 5 vowel phonemes; CVC, CV, with CiCiVC, CiCiV patterns occurring only as stressed syllable of a phonological word, when that word is reduplicated; not tonal

Language Use

Vigorous. All Lorang use Dobel as L2. Some Chinese merchants who speak Dobo Malay dialect of Ambonese Malay [abs] and older Hokkien [nan] learn Dobel. All domains. All ages. Positive attitudes. Also use Dobo Malay, a dialect of Ambonese Malay [abs]. Some also speak Manombai [woo]. Few use Indonesian [ind].

Language Development
Literacy rate in L1: 60%. Bible portions: 1991–2009.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Dobel
Writing
Latin script.
Other Comments

Christian, Muslim.