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Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Asia > Indonesia (Maluku) > Sawai

Sawai

A language of Indonesia (Maluku)

ISO 639-3: szw

Population	12,000 (2000 SIL), increasing. Few monolinguals.
Region	North Maluku, Gane Timur and Weda districts, Halmahera, south and southeast peninsula coasts. 13 villages.
Language map	Indonesia, Northern Maluku
Alternate names	Weda, Weda-Sawai, Were
Dialects	Weda, Sawai, Kobe, Faya-Mafa, Messa-Dote. Lexical similarity: 64% with North Nuaulu [nni].
Classification	Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, South Halmahera-West New Guinea, South Halmahera, Southeast
Language use	Some domains, local commerce. Younger generation is taught Indonesian [ind] first and learns to understand Sawai. Positive attitude. Also use North Moluccan Malay [max], Tidore [tvo], Ternate [tft], Tobelo [tlb], Patani [ptn], Buli [bzq], Maba [mqa], Gane Timor, or Indonesian [ind].
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: field: 5,000 can read, 1,000 can write. Literacy rate in L2: 25%–50%. 5,000 can read it, 1,000 can write it. Bible portions: 1994.
Writing system	Latin script.
Comments	Different from Saleman [sau]. Agriculturalists: cocoa; growing coconut; fishermen. Muslim, Christian.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

WHISLER, Jacqueline; WHISLER, Ronald, authors. 1995. "Sawai: introduction and wordlist."

WHISLER, Ronald, author. 1992. "Phonology of Sawai."

Vernacular Publications

Ade i ré ni dele ne (Ade dan temannya). 1998.

Ani ta nkolakola (Si Ani yang cerdik). 1998.

Bébé nfapeke bón guraci (Angsa bertelur emas). 1998.

Bémbém koko ta nfasenge i nje (Kura-kura yang sombong). 1998.

Kulene nje nese i (Belanga ajaib). 1998.

Mane ntu nje nese i (Anak ayam yang aneh). 1998.

Memumen Sawai. 1990.

Mepine mya ta ndadi tófel i nje (Gadis patung). 1998.

Puruparake nje nfan po pnuw ta npelóye (Katak hendak ke kota). 1998.

Tina réneten fie (Tina bisa berhitung). 1998.