alune

Alune is a language spoken by the Alune people on the Indonesian island of Sumba in East Nusa Tenggara. It is part of the Austronesian language family, and linguists generally place it within the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup, though its precise internal classification varies among researchers. The language is used in everyday conversation, in traditional ceremonies, and in local storytelling.

Many Alune speakers are bilingual in Indonesian, the national language, and in neighboring Sumban languages such as Kambera, which is more widely spoken on Sumba. The level of language transmission to younger generations varies by locality, and language vitality has been influenced by Indonesian-language schooling and migration to urban centers. Alune coexists with several other languages on the island, and mutual intelligibility with these languages is typically limited.

Dialects and regional variation exist within Alune, reflecting geographic separation across Sumba. Phonologically, the language features phoneme inventories common to many Austronesian languages, with a tendency toward relatively simple consonant and vowel systems and CV-based syllable structure. There is no single widely adopted standard orthography for Alune; researchers have produced descriptive grammars and dictionaries to support linguistic documentation, education, and community literacy efforts.

In culture and oral tradition, Alune plays a role in myths, songs, and customary narratives that convey communal history and values. Ongoing documentation and fieldwork by linguists and local organizations aim to preserve linguistic knowledge, support language maintenance, and strengthen literacy initiatives in Alune communities.