Page Type: languageDobel | Ethnologue

KVO ISO 639-3

Dobel

Dobel Autonym

A language of Indonesia

ISO 639
kvo
Alternate Names
Doibel, Kobro’or, Kobroor, Sersifar Tannin
Autonym
Dobel
Population
5,680 (2011 SIL), increasing.
Location:
Maluku province: Kepulauan Aru regency, Aru islands; Kobror island central and east coast, 18 villages; southeast Wokam island, 1 village; 4 villages in east Barakai strait on Kobror and Koba islands; 2 villages south of Beding Warlai town; many in Dobo; some in Ambon.
Language Status
5 (Developing).
Classification
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Aru
Dialects
Northern Dobel (Doibel), Straits Dobel (Dobel), Southeast Dobel (Dobel). At least 3 dialects. 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. Some Chinese merchants who speak Dobo Malay dialect of Ambonese Malay [abs] and older Hokkien [nan] learn Dobel. All domains. Used by all. Positive attitudes. Also use Ambonese Malay [abs], specifically the Dobo Malay dialect. Nearly all school-age speakers of Dobel are bilingual in this variety. Also use Indonesian [ind]. Also use Manombai [woo]. Used as L2 by Lorang [lrn], Manombai [woo].
Language Development
Literacy rate in L1: 60%. Literature. Bible portions: 1991–2009.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Dobel
Writing
Latin script [Latn].
Other Comments
Christian, Muslim.

Also Spoken in

Map

Location: Maluku province: Kepulauan Aru regency, Aru islands; Kobror island central and east coast, 18 villages; southeast Wokam island, 1 village; 4 villages in east Barakai strait on Kobror and Koba islands; 2 villages south of Beding Warlai town; many in Dobo; some in Ambon.