| Oirata–Makasae | |
|---|---|
| Eastern Timor | |
| Geographic distribution | East Timor, Kisar |
| Linguistic classification |
Trans–New Guinea ?
|
| Subdivisions |
|
| Glottolog | east2520 |
The Oirata–Makasae, or Eastern Timor, languages are a small family of Papuan languages spoken in eastern Timor and the neighboring island of Kisar.
Languages
Mandala et al. (2011) [2] found that Fataluku and Oirata are closer to each other than they are to Makasai:
- Makasai (including Makalero dialect)
- Oirata–Fataluku
Fataluku has high dialect diversity, and may be more than a single language, for example with Rusenu. An additional Makuv'a (Lovaea) branch was once assumed for East Timor, but that appears to be a heavily Papuan-influenced Austronesian language.
The fourth Papuan language spoken in East Timor, Bunak, is more distantly related. It is currently unknown if they are closer to each other or to the Alor–Pantar languages; all are clearly related. They may be closest to the West Bomberai languages of mainland New Guinea, but this is as yet speculative. [3]
Classification
Ross (2005) reconstructed first- and second-person pronouns for proto–East Timor: [4]
proto-ET Oirata (object) Fataluku Makasai 1sg *ani an-te (ani) ani ani 2sg *ai aa-te/ee-te [5] (ee) e ai 1ex *ini in-te (in) ini ini 1in *api ap-te (ap) afi fi 2pl *i ii-te (ii) i i
Mandala et al. (2011) reconstruct five vowels, *a, *e, *i, *o, *u, and the following consonants, based on 200 cognate sets:
Labial Alveolar Velar Glottal Nasal *m *n Occlusive *p *t *k *ʔ Fricative *s Sonorant *w *l, *r
*h and *j appear at the level of proto-Oirata–Fataluku.
External links
- Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–East Timor
References
- ^ New Guinea World, West Bomberai
- ^ Mandala, Halus; Aron Meko Mbete, Ni Made Dhanawaty and Inyo Yis Fernandez. 2011: “Phonological Evolution of Oirata and its Genetic Relationship with Non-Austronesian Languages in Timor-Leste”, Denpasar: Ejournal Universitas Udayana.
- ^ Huber, Juliette; Schapper, Antoinette. "The historical relations of the Papuan languages of Timor and Kisar".
-
^
- Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.
- ^ ee-te is a polite form