Idalaka () is a

Malayo-Polynesian 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 ...

dialect chain A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated variet ...

spoken Idalaka people in

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 ...

. The name is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''Idaté'' and ''Lakalai''.

Relation to other languages

The Idalaka dialects are closely related to

Tetum Tetum may refer to: * Tetum language, an Austronesian language ** Tetum alphabet, used to write the Tetum language * Tetum people, an ethnic group of East Timor and Indonesia {{disambiguation Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

and Habun, while they exhibit many similarities with

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 ...

. Idalaka also resembles the

Kemak language Kemak is a language spoken in East Timor and in the border region of Indonesian West Timor. An alternate name is Ema. It is most closely related to Tocodede and Mambai. It has the status of one of the national languages in the East Timor const ...

in that there are archaic features such as personal prefixes in verbs, which are lost in

Mambai Mambai may refer to: * Mambai people, a people group also known as Mambae, Manbae or Maubere from Timor-Leste * Mambai language (Timor) Mambai, also called Mambae or Manbae, is a language spoken by the Mambai people, the second largest ethni ...

and

Tokodede Tokodede (also known as Tukude, Tocodede, Tokodé, and Tocod) is one of the languages of East Timor, spoken by about 39,000 Tokodede people in the municipality of Liquiçá, especially the administrative posts of Maubara and Liquiçá along ...

Geographic distribution

The dialects are spoken in the

Ramelau Tatamailau (Tetum: ''Foho Tatamailau''), or Tata Mailau, also Mount Ramelau, is the highest point in Timor-Leste and also of Timor island at . The mountain is located approximately south of the capital Dili in the district of Ainaro. While Eas ...

mountains with the exception of endangered Lolein, which is spoken in Dili. The 2015 census recorded 19,913 people in East Timor as native speakers of Idalaka dialects.

Official status

Idalaka is one of 15 recognized national languages of East Timor.

Dialects

Idaté (Idate) is the vernacular in Laclubar (

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 ...

) and the bordering area in adjacent Manufahi. It has a total of 14,178 native speakers. Lakalei is spoken in the area of Fahinehan (Manufahi). It has a total of 3,669 native speakers. Isní is spoken east of Turiscai (

Manufahi Manufahi (, ) is one of the municipalities of East Timor. It has a population of 53,691 (2015 census) and an area of 1,323 km2. The capital of the municipality is Same. Etymology The present name of the municipality, ''Manufahi'', is ...

), with a total of 1,855 native speakers. Lolein is spoken in Talitu (

Aileu Municipality Aileu (, ) is a municipality, and was formerly a district, of East Timor. It has a population of 48,554 (Census 2015) and an area of 737 km2. The municipality's capital is also named Aileu. Its administrative posts are Aileu, Laulara ...

), Becora Leten and

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

(

Dili Municipality Dili Municipality (, ) is one of the 14 Municipalities of East Timor, municipalities, formerly districts, of Timor-Leste, and includes the national capital Dili. The municipality had a population of 277,279 , most of whom live in the capital ...

). Lolein developed from the Isní of 19th century immigrants from Turiscai. In Dili municipality, 568 people speak Lolein, another 533 speakers live in the adjacent Alieu Municipality. A total of 1,155 people are native in the dialect across East Timor.

Vocabulary

References

Bibliography

* {{Languages of East Timor Languages of Timor-Leste Timor–Babar languages