Lisela language

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title: "Lisela language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["central-maluku-languages", "languages-of-the-maluku-islands"] description: "Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisela_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Lisela
nativename	Li Enyorot
region	Buru Island
states	Indonesia, Maluku
speakers
date	1989
ref	e18
familycolor	Austronesian
fam2	Malayo-Polynesian
fam3	Central–Eastern
fam4	Central Maluku
fam5	Sula–Buru
fam6	Buru
script	none
iso3	lcl
glotto	lise1239
glottorefname	Lisela
::

|name=Lisela |nativename=Li Enyorot |region=Buru Island |states= Indonesia, Maluku |speakers= |date=1989 |ref = e18 |familycolor=Austronesian |fam2=Malayo-Polynesian |fam3=Central–Eastern |fam4=Central Maluku |fam5=Sula–Buru |fam6=Buru |script=none |iso3=lcl |glotto=lise1239 |glottorefname=Lisela

Lisela (), also called Li Enyorot, is an Austronesian language; in 1989 it was spoken by about 11,900 Lisela people mostly living in the northern part of Indonesian island Buru (). It is also preserved among the small Lisela community on the Ambon Island.

The language belongs to the Sula–Buru group of Central Maluku branch of Malayo-Polynesian languages. It has two dialects, major Lisela and minor Tagalisa, the latter is used by the inhabitants of the north-east coast of Buru. The language is dying as most Lisela people switch either to the national language of Indonesia, Indonesian, or to the Ambonese variety of the Malay language (Melayu Ambon). The latter is widely used in the Maluku Islands as a lingua franca and is a local form of Malay with additions of the local lexicon.

The language most closely related to Lisela is Buru, especially its dialect Masarete – their lexical similarity is 68%. Thus many sources regard Lisela as a dialect, though the most diverging, of Buru. Lisela had also borrowed much from the Sula language, as a result of the interaction between the Lisela and Sula people living together as the northern Buru coast. The language has no writing system. The most detailed study of Lisela language was conducted in the 1980s by Charles E. Grimes and Barbara Dix Grimes – Australian missionaries and ethnographers, active members of SIL International (they should not be confused with Joseph E. Grimes and Barbara F. Grimes, Charles' parents, also known Australian ethnographers).

References

References

1. (1994). "Language Contact and Change in the Austronesian World". Walter de Gruyter.
2. "Languages of Indonesia (Maluku)".
3. [[Ethnologue]]: Languages of the World. "Lisela: A language of Indonesia (Maluku)".
4. "Buru Island 6 Tribes".
5. Grimes, Barbara Dix. (2006). "Sharing the Earth, Dividing the Land: Land and territory in the Austronesian world". ANU Press.
6. "Publications by Barbara Dix Grimes". SIL International.
7. "Publications by Charles E. Grimes". SIL International.
8. "Chuck & Barbara Grimes, Wycliffe Bible Translators". Bethel Grove Bible Church.

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