Indonesia is home to over 700 languages. That amounts to around 10% of theworld’slanguages. Itisonlyitseasternneighbor, PapuaNewGuinea, that hasmorelanguages (Simons&Fennig, 2018). Tuckedawayinasmallcorner in south-east Indonesia lies a small island called Alor. Whilst being modest comparedtoIndonesiaasawhole, thelinguisticdiversityonAlorissubstantial. ThisdiversityisespeciallynoteworthyconsideringAlor’ssizeofaround 2150km2, which is smaller than the Dutch province of Utrecht. Renting a scooter for the day and drive along Alor’s northern coast and one is likely to hear up to ten mutually unintelligible, indigenous languages. Renting a dirt bike and driving to the lush interior of the island and several more can be added. The largest of them all is Abui, or mountain language, which occupies the mountainous central-western part of the island. With such rich diversity, how do all these various ethnic groups communicate with one another when they gather in communal spaces such as markets or universities?

Forinformaltalk, suchaswheneageroldladiestrytocharmbuyerswith their giant, red smiles and freshly collected betel nut, or when university students share a cigarette during their recess, people often use Alor Malay. Alor Malay is a colloquial form of Malay spoken on Alor which resembles other colloquial varieties found in eastern Indonesia (Baird, Klamer, & Kra-