As is a Raja Ampat-South Halmahera (Austronesian) language once spoken in three villages on the northwest coast of the Bird's Head peninsula of west New Guinea. Nowadays, the only remaining speakers live alongside speakers of the unrelated language Moi [mxn] in Asbaken, a village nestled on a white-sand bay at the mouth of a small river.

There is a very friendly relationship between the As, who are Muslim, and the Moi, who are Christian. The villagers help each other in preparations for celebrations of holy days, and intermarriage is common. This good relationship is attested by the mosque and the church of the village, which face each other on the shore of the bay: when, a few years ago, the Moi planned to build a larger church inland, the As insisted that the church remained on the shore near the mosque, so they could continue to worship alongside each other.

The origin of the As is unclear; they seem to have migrated to the New Guinea mainland from either the Raja Ampat archipelago, or Halmahera in the northern Moluccas further to the west, a few hundred years ago. I was told that the As were sent to the area by the sultan of Tidore to bring Islam to the area.

Unfortunately, As is now moribund: only a handful of elderly speakers remain. The generation below the remaining speakers are very keen to produce legacy materials of their language, in particular a dictionary, before it becomes completely extinct.