Dela–Oenale (Western Rote, Delha, Oe Nale, Rote, Rote Barat, Roti) is an
Austronesian language of Indonesia. Western Rote is a member of the
Timor-Babar branch of
Malayo-Polynesian languages
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast ...
spoken in west coast of
Rote Island
Rote Island ( id, Pulau Rote, also spelled ''Roti'') is an island of Indonesia, part of the East Nusa Tenggara province of the Lesser Sunda Islands. According to legend, this island got its name accidentally when a lost Portuguese sailor arriv ...
near
Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, al ...
by about 7,000 people.
Alphabet
Western Rote language has all 26 English letters (Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz),
glottal stop, 5
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
s (gh, kh, mb, nd, ng, sy) and
triphthong
In phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech a ...
(ngg).
gh (replaced by g), kh (k), q (k), sy, v (f), x, and z (s) are only used in loanwords and foreign names.
References
External links
Alphabet and pronunciation
Timor–Babar languages
Languages of Indonesia
{{Indonesia-stub