Location and Population

There are an estimated four to five thousand speakers of Kamaru living in the villages of Suandala, Wonco, Siribatam, Raba, Kamaru, Bonelalu, and Lasimbangi on the eastern coast of Buton Island (McDowell 2012:pers.comm.).

Classification

Among the first to report preliminary data on Kamaru was Anceaux (1978), who also recognized Kamaru’s close affiliation with Wolio, the language of the Sultanate at Baubau in southwestern Buton. Apart from information that can be gleaned from word lists, little is known to date about the Kamaru language.

References

Anceaux, J. C. 1978. The linguistic position of South-east Sulawesi: A preliminary outline. Second International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics: Proceedings, fascicle 1: Western Austronesian (Pacific Linguistics, C-61), edited by S. A. Würm and Lois Carrington, 275–283. Canberra: Australian National University.