An introduction to the grammar of Selaru (Version 2)

This volume provides an overview of the grammar of Selaru, an Austronesian language spoken in southeastern Maluku, Indonesia. It begins with a brief phonological sketch and a short discussion of the morphological behavior of Selaru glides. It then gives an in-depth syntactic description of the noun phrase, clause, relative clause, and sentence constructions. These topics constitute the bulk of the study. The thesis finishes with a fairly detailed look into clause ranking, text cohesion, and peak features in a Selaru narrative. Some interesting characteristics of Selaru are that Selaru differentiates possession of food from general possession, something unusual for Moluccan languages but characteristic of Oceanic languages. Selaru has five clause types grouped into verbal and non-verbal predications. Verbal clauses are conjugated as to subject. Tense is not grammatically marked; aspect is the major sentence modifier.