Page 194 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

the valley and the Sahu language speakers who stayed at the bottom of the valley. Further
research by Visser (1984) indicated that Waioli speakers came from the surrounding area
of Onu Mountain, located between Sa’u which is now spelled Sahu and Gamkonora. Onu
Mountain is also called Waioli Mountain. So Waioli speakers possibly live around Onu
mountain above the Ake Lamo river. In addition, the Waioli language and Gamkonora
language in Gamsungi (and not between Waioli language and Gamkonora language in
general) also have /r/ similar sound. The sound of /r/ for the speakers of Gamkonora in
three other villages is not recognized and therefore replaced by the sound of /l/. This shows
a close relationship between the speakers of Gamkonora language of Waioli village and
Waioli speakers.
Thirdly, the closeness of speakers of Waioli and Gamkonora language from Gamsungi
village can be traced through their origin myths. The speakers of Gamkonora from
Talaga village, Gamkonora, and Tahafo village both believe that they are native people of
Gamkonora who originally lived in Gamkonora village and later spread to the four villages.
Meanwhile, the origin of Gamkonora speakers according to people in Gamsungi village
is different from three other villages. The speakers from Gamsungi village believed that they
originated from Sembilan Mountain in the north of Jailolo. According to an informant from
Waioli who believed they had lived at the foot of Sembilan Mountain since the time of his
ancestors said that the Sembilan Mountain was the place for Waioli people to earn a living
by hunting. Then, they, and the Gamkonora people living in the Gamsungi village, started
the plantation at the foot of this mountain because the Gamkonora people were also from
Sembilan Mountain and both lived in the foothills of Sembilan Mountain. Meanwhile, the
other version did not recognize that Gamkonora speakers came from Sembilan Mountain
because there was a ceremonial house in Sembilan Mountain used for holding ceremonies
by slaughtering pigs something that could not be done by the Muslim Gamkonora.
Fourth, the relatedness of Waioli and Gamsungi was supported by stories originating
from Gamsungi village in which it was described that Sangaji Gamkonora and Sangaji Tosoa
were brothers. They are of the same mother but different religion because his brother was
Christianized by the Portuguese. Under the guidance of Darwis, Tosoa converted to Islam
and changed his name to Abdurrachim and his tomb was the tomb of Islam that used a
headstone. Thus, it is clear that the closeness of language in this case between Gamkonora
speakers who lived in Gamsungi village and Waioli speakers can be explained by non-
linguistic factors. Even in reality, the language relatedness is supported by non-linguistic
factors such as politics. Political reasons could be clearly tracked even through mythology.

194 Chapter 4

MELANESIA BOOK FA LAYOUT 051216.indd 194 2/10/17 2:10 PM