Documentation of Western Pantar (an endangered language of Pantar Island, Indonesia)

FAIN: FN-50006-06

Gary Holton
University of Hawaii (Fairbanks, AK 99775-7500)

During this fellowship, the Principal Investigator will carry out latter stages of linguistic documentation for Western Pantar, an endangered Papuan language spoken on Pantar Island, Indonesia. Materials to be produced include: a short lexicon; a reference grammar; aligned texts and audio; and a media corpus. The reference grammar will be written in a clear and accessible style, avoiding theory-internal explanations of grammatical phenomena. The use of aligned text and audio and the publication of a media corpus will ensure that future researchers have maximal access to original field data. All field data will be archived digitally at the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures, following best practice recommendations of the Electronic Metastructure for Endangered Languages Data project. The Pantar region remains one of the least documented linguistic areas in Indonesia, and almost no documentary information is available for Western Pantar and many of the other non-Austronesian languages of Pantar. (Edited by staff)

Associated Products

Kamus Pengantar Bahasa Pantar Barat (Book)
Title: Kamus Pengantar Bahasa Pantar Barat
Author: Mahalalel Lamma Koly
Author: Gary Holton
Abstract: Practical dictionary of the Western Pantar language (ISO 693-3: lev), also known as Lamma or Pantar Barat, with introductory material including a sketch grammar. Western Pantar to Indonesian, with an Indonesian index. Coverage of all three dialects: Tubbe, Mauta, Lamma. In Indonesian.
Year: 2008
Primary URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6905
Primary URL Description: Link to institutional repository
Access Model: open access
Publisher: Unit Bahasa dan Budaya GMIT
Type: Multi-author monograph
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Western Pantar (Book Section)
Title: Western Pantar
Author: Gary Holton
Editor: Antoinette Schapper
Abstract: Western Pantar (ISO 639-3 code lev) is spoken by an estimated 10,804 people on the southwestern portion of Pantar, west of the Sirung volcanic massif. The dry region of western Pantar is separated from the northern peninsula of the island by a physical barrier consisting of a number of steep-walled canyons. No road yet connects the northern peninsula with the western part of the island. In most of the academic literature the language is referred to as Lamma, though that name more properly refers to only a single dialect of the language. This description is based on first-hand field work by the author between 2004 and 2010.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6906
Primary URL Description: Chapter copy available open access in institutional repository
Access Model: book for sale
Publisher: Mouton
Book Title: The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar: Volume 1. Sketch Grammars
ISBN: 978-1-61451-52

The historical relation of the Papuan languages of Alor and Pantar (Article)
Title: The historical relation of the Papuan languages of Alor and Pantar
Author: Gary Holton
Author: Marian Klamer
Author: František Kratochvíl
Author: Laura C. Robinson
Author: Antoinette Schapper
Abstract: The historical relations of the Papuan languages scattered across the islands of the Alor archipelago, Timor, and Kisar in southeast Indonesia have remained largely conjectural. This paper makes a first step toward demonstrating that the languages of Alor and Pantar form a single genealogical group. Applying the comparative method to primary lexical data from twelve languages sam- pled across the islands of the Alor-Pantar archipelago, we use form-meaning pairings in basic cognate sets to establish regular sound correspondences that support the view that these languages are genetically related. We reconstruct 97 Proto Alor-Pantar vocabulary items and propose an internal subgrouping based on shared innovations. Finally, we compare Alor-Pantar with Papuan languages of Timor and with Trans-New Guinea languages, concluding that there is no lexical evidence supporting the inclusion of Alor-Pantar languages in the Trans-New Guinea family.
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/article/480006
Primary URL Description: Project Muse
Access Model: Project muse
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Oceanic Linguistics

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