Kawaimina (a

syllabic abbreviation An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...

of the names) is a cluster of four languages and dialects of

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 ...

: Kairui, Midiki, Waimaha, and Naueti, spoken by one or two thousand speakers each. It is a name used by linguists discussing the languages, not the speakers themselves. The first three are spoken in adjacent areas in the western part of Baucau District, along the north coast. Naueti is used on the south coast of eastern Viqueque District, surrounded by speakers of Makasae and Makalero. Some Midiki speakers near Ossu refer to their language as Osomoko.

Classification

Geoffrey Hull classifies these as dialects and groups them into a single Kawaimina language, while ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'' groups the varieties into three distinct languages. The Kawaimina languages are members of the eastern Extra-Ramelaic subgroup of Timoric Austronesian languages. While structurally the languages are Malayo-Polynesian, much their vocabulary, particularly that of Naueti, derives from

Papuan languages The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands in Indonesia, Solomon Islands, and East Timor. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply ...

. The languages are noted for both archaisms and unusual innovations, including

vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is a phonological rule in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – must share certain distinctive features (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, meaning tha ...

and aspirated and

glottalized consonant In phonetics, a glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (movement or closure) of the glottis. Glottalic sounds may involve motion of the larynx upward or downward, as the initiator of an egressive or ingres ...

s in their sound-systems.

Gallery

File:Kairui.png, Kairui File:Mideki.png, Midiki File:Naueti.png, Naueti File:Waimaha.png, Waimaha

References

External links

The Waimaha language of East Timor

Ethnologue page for Kairui-MidikiEthnologue page for NaueteEthnologue page for Waimaha
Languages of Timor-Leste {{austronesian-lang-stub Austronesian languages Timor-Leste