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-w ...
near the town of
Tutuala.
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