Wolio

Wolio is a Celebic language spoken by about 65,000 people in the province of Southeast Sulawesi in Indonesia, mainly in and around the city of Baubau on the southwest coast of Buton island. In rural areas near Baubau it is spoken by people of all ages. In Baubau city, Wolio children are more likely to speak Indonesian. There are also speakers of Wolio on the islands of Muna and Pulau Makasar.

Wolio is also known as Baubau, Buton, Butonese or Butung. It is closely related to Cia-Cia, which is spoken in the same area. Wolio was once the court language of the Baubau Sultanate, and is now used as a lingua franca between several different tribes on Buton island, including the Lowito, Pancana and Laiwu.

Wolio was written with a version of the Arabic alphabet in the past, and Wolio vocabulary includes words borrowed from Arabic. It was also sometimes written with the Lontara / Makassar, and is now written with the Latin alphabet.

Latin alphabet for Wolio

Latin alphabet for Wolio

Notes

Download an alphabet chart for Wolio (Excel)

Sample text

Translation

The Wolio Language: Outline of Grammatical Description and Texts

Sample videos in Wolio

Links

Information about Wolio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolio_language
https://bertumbuh.xyz/belajar-bahasa-wolio/
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/wlo
https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/c2c8b95b-3beb-4076-81e4-a2b6335abdf7/613386.pdf

Celebic languages

Banggai, Balantak, Bungku, Cia-Cia, Kodeoha, Kulisusu, Moma, Mori Atas, Mori Bawah, Moronene, Muna, Pendau, Tajio, Tolaki, Tukang Besi, Wolio

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 12.10.21. Last modified: 12.10.21

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