Atauran is an
Austronesian language
The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken b ...
spoken on
Atauro island and in
Manatuto Municipality
Manatuto (, ) is one of the municipalities (formerly districts) of East Timor, located in the central part of the country. It has a population of 45,541 (Census 2010) and an area of 1,783.3 km2. The capital of the municipality is also na ...
,
East Timor
Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...
.
It is closely related to
Wetarese and
Galoli
The Galoli, or Galolen, are a people of East Timor with a population of about 50,000, primarily along the northern coast of the district of Manatuto. To the west lies the Mambai people. There is an old colony on the southern coast of Wetar isla ...
.
Dialects
Atauran has three main dialects spoken on Atauro:
*''Rasua'' in the
''sucos'' Beloi and Biqueli.
*''Raklungu'' in the ''suco'' Macadade.
*''Hresuk'' in the ''suco'' Maquili.
A fourth variety, ''Dadu'a'', is spoken in
Manatuto Municipality
Manatuto (, ) is one of the municipalities (formerly districts) of East Timor, located in the central part of the country. It has a population of 45,541 (Census 2010) and an area of 1,783.3 km2. The capital of the municipality is also na ...
on the East Timorese mainland. It is somewhat divergent from the Atauro varieties and has undergone strong influence from
Galoli
The Galoli, or Galolen, are a people of East Timor with a population of about 50,000, primarily along the northern coast of the district of Manatuto. To the west lies the Mambai people. There is an old colony on the southern coast of Wetar isla ...
.
"language"
The Raklungu dialect of Atauran, or ''Kluun Hahan Adabe'', was mistaken for a Papuan language by Antonio de Almeida (1966) and reported as "Adabe" in Wurm & Hattori (1981).
Many subsequent sources propagated this error, showing a Papuan language on Atauro Island.
Geoffrey Hull, director of research for the ''Instituto Nacional de Linguística'' in East Timor, describes only Wetar varieties being spoken on Ataúro Island, and was unable to find any evidence of a non-Austronesian language there.
Notes
References
External links
Survey of languages of East Timor
Timor–Babar languages
Languages of Timor-Leste
Vulnerable languages
Endangered Austronesian languages
Endangered languages of Asia
{{EastTimor-stub