Kui is a Timor–Alor–Pantar language spoken in several enclaves on Alor Island,

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Timur – NTT; pt, Sonda Oriental) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the nor ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The language is called 'Masin lak' in Kui. Although the exact number of speakers is unknown, Kui is an endangered language since speakers are shifting to Alor Malay. Kui is mainly spoken in the towns of Moru, Bouraga and Lerabarang. Kirramung and Kui have some sort of dialect relationship, being considered by some as being the same language and some others as being two different languages. This is typical of Timor-Alor-Pantar (TAP) languages. It has verb-final word order which means that the verb comes last in a sentence, unlike in English where the verb usually comes in the middle.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes are shown in the chart below. Marginal phonemes are enclosed in parenthesis.

Vowels

Monophthongs

References

Alor–Pantar languages Languages of Indonesia {{TNG-lang-stub