Waimoa language

Waimoa
Region Northeast East Timor
Native speakers
 18,467[1] (2010 censuses)[2]
Dialects
  • Waimoa
  • Kairui
  • Midiki
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
wmh – Waimoa
krd – Kairui-Midiki
Glottolog waim1252  Waima'a[3]
kair1265  Kairui-Midiki[4]

Distribution of Waimaha mother-tongue speakers in East Timor

Distribution of Mideki

Distribution of Kairui

Waimoa or Waima'a is a spoken by about 18,467 (2010 census)[1] people in northeast East Timor. Waimoa proper is reported to be mutually intelligible with neighboring Kairui and Midiki, with 5,000 speakers total.

The classification of Waimoa is unclear. Structurally, it is Malayo-Polynesian. However, its vocabulary is largely Papuan, similar to that of Makasae. Although generally classified as Austronesian languages or dialects that have been largely relexified under the influence of a language related to Makasae, it is possible that Waimoa, Kairui, and Midiki are instead Papuan languages related to Makasae which have been influenced by Austronesian.

Phonology

Waimoa has aspirated consonants, and is one of only two (possibly) Austronesian languages reported to have a set of ejective stops, the other being Yapese:

Bilabial Coronal Velar Glottal
Voiceless unaspirated p t k ʔ
Voiceless aspirated pʰ tʰ kʰ
Voiceless ejective pʼ tʼ kʼ
Voiced plain b d ɡ

However, these sounds have also been described as post-glottalized.

There is also vowel harmony.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Direcção Nacional de Estatística: Population Distribution by Administrative Areas Volume 2 English (Census 2010; PDF-Datei; 21,53 MB)
  2. ↑ Waimoa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Kairui-Midiki at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  3. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Waima'a". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Kairui-Midiki". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
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