Waimoa language

Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in northeast East Timor From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Waimoa language

Waimoa or Waimaʼa is a language spoken by about 27,000 (2015 census)[1] people in northeast East Timor. Waimoa proper is reported to be mutually intelligible with neighboring Kairui and Midiki, which together have about 5,000 speakers.

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Waimoa
RegionNortheast East Timor
Native speakers
21,200 (2015 census)[1]
5,670 L2 speakers (2015 census)
Language codes
ISO 639-3wmh
Glottologwaim1252
ELP
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Distribution of Waimaha mother-tongue speakers in East Timor
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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/voiceless and glottalized/ejective consonants, which are distributed like /hC/ and /ʔC/ consonant clusters (or perhaps /Ch/ and /Cʔ/) but are often pronounced as single segments.[2]

Similarly there are voiceless and glottalized /m n l r s w/.

There is also vowel harmony.

See also

References

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