Makuva, also known as Maku'a or Lóvaia, is an apparently extinct
Austronesian language spoken at the northeast tip of
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...
near the town of
Tutuala
Tutuala is a village and suco in the subdistrict of Tutuala ( Lautém District, East Timor). It is situated at the extreme eastern end of Timor. Its population at the 2004 census was 3,707. The subdistrict of Tutuala comprises two sucos, inc ...
.
Makuva has been heavily influenced by neighboring
East Timorese Papuan languages, to the extent that it was long thought to be a Papuan language. The ethnic population was 50 in 1981, but the younger generation uses
Fataluku as their first or second language.
A 2003 report estimated that there were only five fluent speakers of the language.
Numbers
References
External links
* ELAR archive o
Maku'a language documentation materials
Timor–Babar languages
Languages of East Timor
Endangered Austronesian languages
Extinct languages of Asia
{{austronesian-lang-stub