There are two linguistic strata in Taliabo, Central Maluku and Celebic, and it is not yet clear which group it belongs to, though Glottolog classifies it as Celebic.
The Soboyo dialect of Taliabo is notable for preserving Proto-Malayo-Polynesian*h, but only in word-initial position.
All stop sounds (except for /ʔ/) and fricatives /s,ʃ/, may also be prenasalized in both word-initial and word-medial positions as /ᵐb,ⁿd,ᶮdʒ,ᵑɡ/.[3][4]
↑Ridwan, Farida M.; Mulae, Sunaidin O.; Asriyani, Sherly (2020). Phonological Variation of Taliabu Language Dialects. Retorika Jurnal Bahasa Sastra dan Pengajarannya.
↑Blust, Robert (1981). The Soboyo Reflexes of Proto-Austronesian *S. Historical Linguistics in Indonesia, Part 1. pp.21–30.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Further reading
Fortgens, J. (1921). Bijdrage tot de kennis van het Sobojo (eiland Taliabo, Soela-groep)[Contribution to knowledge of Sobojo, on Taliabo, Sula islands] (in Dutch). Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff.
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