Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 30, 2026

Lio language

Lio is an Austronesian language spoken in the central part of Flores, one of the Lesser Sunda Islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. It belongs to the Central Flores subgroup.

Last revised
Jun 30, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
173 w
Citations
4
Source
Lio
Li'o
Sara Li'o
Pronunciation[lio]
Native toIndonesia
RegionCentral Flores
EthnicityLio
Native speakers
220,000 (2009 census)1
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3ljl
Glottologlioo1240

Lio (also erroneously spelled Li'o) is an Austronesian language spoken in the central part of Flores, one of the Lesser Sunda Islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. It belongs to the Central Flores subgroup.2

Phonology

Consonants2
Labial/
labiodental
Dental/
alveolar
Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive voiceless p k ʔ ⟨'⟩
voiced b d ɡ
prenasalized ᵐb ⟨mb⟩ ⁿd ⟨nd⟩ ᵑɡ ⟨ngg⟩
implosive ɓ ⟨bh⟩ ɗ ⟨dh⟩
Affricate d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩
Fricative f s (ɣ) (h)
Trill r
Lateral l
Approximant ʋ ⟨w⟩ ɰ ⟨gh⟩
Vowels2
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e ə o
Open a
References

References

  1. Lio at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019) Closed access icon
  2. Elias, Alexander (2019). Lio and the Central Flores Languages (M.A. thesis). Leiden University. hdl:1887/69452.
Further reading

Further reading