Kawaimina
Encyclopedia
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
, specifically Kairui-Midiki, Waimaha
Waimoa language
Waimoa or Waima'a is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by about 3,000 people in northeast East Timor. It is reported to be mutually intelligible with Kairui-Midiki. Waimoa is one of four languages, which are united called Kawaimina.- Phonology :...
, and Naueti, spoken by one or two thousand speakers each. It is a name used by linguists discussing the languages, not the speakers themselves. The first three, which may be co-dialects, are spoken in adjacent areas in the western part of Baucau District, along the north coast. Naueti is used on the south coast of far western Lautém District, surrounded by speakers of Makasae
Makasae
Makasae is a Papuan language spoken by about 70,000 people on the eastern part of East Timor, in the districts of Baucau and Viqueque, just to the west of Fataluku...
. Some Midiki speakers near Ossu
Õssu
Õssu is a village in Ülenurme Parish, Tartu County, Estonia. It borders the city of Tartu to the east and is located by the Tartu–Viljandi road. Õssu has a population of 163 ....
refer to their language as Osomoko.
The Kawaimina languages are members of the Timor languages. While structurally the languages are Malayo-Polynesian, their vocabulary, particularly that of Naueti, derives mostly from Papuan languages
Papuan languages
The Papuan languages are those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. The term does not presuppose a genetic relationship. The concept of Papuan peoples as distinct from Melanesians was first suggested and named by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1892.-The...
. In this they are similar to Makasae
Makasae
Makasae is a Papuan language spoken by about 70,000 people on the eastern part of East Timor, in the districts of Baucau and Viqueque, just to the west of Fataluku...
and Habun; none of these languages are easy to classify as either Austronesian or Papuan. The languages are noted for both archaisms and unusual innovations, including vowel harmony
Vowel harmony
Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....
and aspirated
Aspiration (phonetics)
In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...
and post-glottalized consonants in their sound-systems.