Timor–Babar languages

Timor–Babar
Timor
Geographic distribution:	Indonesia
Linguistic classification:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Nuclear MP (Central–Eastern) Timor–Babar
Subdivisions:	Southwest Maluku Nuclear Timor ?

The Timor–Babar languages are a group of fifty Austronesian languages (geographically Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages) spoken on the islands of Timor, neighboring Wetar, and the Babar Islands to the east.

The numerically most important languages are Uab Meto of West Timor and Tetum of East Timor, each with about half a million speakers, though Tetum is a co-official language and also a lingua franca among non-Tetum East Timorese.

Classification

Hull (1998)

Hull (1998) proposes a Timoric subgroup within Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian.

• Ramelaic
  • West: Kemak, Tukudede
  • Central: Mambai
  • East: Idaté, Isní, Lakalei, Lolein
• Extra-Ramelaic
  • West: Roti, Dawan, Helong
  • Central: Tetun, Bekais
  • North: Wetar, Galoli
  • East: Kairui, Waimaha, Midiki; Luang, Makuva

Gray, et. al. (2008)

A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database found support for the Timor–Babar family at a 98% confidence level. The structure of the family, with the confidence of each branch, was:

• Southwest Maluku – Kisar (100%)
  • Kisar–Roma: Kisar, Romang
  • Southwest Maluku (96%)
    • Wetarese (a dialect cluster)
    • Teun–Babar (73%)
      • Teun–Nila–Serua (100%)
      • Babar (100%)
      • Luang–Leti (57%)
        • Luang
        • Leti
• Nuclear Timor (77%)
  • West Timor (100%)
  • East Timor (70%)
    • Tetumic: Tetum, Galoli, Idaté, Lakalei
    • Mambaic: Mambae, Kemak, Tukudede

Not included in the 2008 study were Helong, classified by Ethnologue 15 as an isolate within the Timor languages; East Damar, classified as an isolate within Southeast Maluku; and Nauate and the Waima'a languages (Habun, Kairui-Midiki, Waima'a) of eastern Timor, which are not closely related to each other but sometimes subsumed under the acronym Kawaimina. The Nauate and Waima'a are structurally Austronesian, but their vocabulary is predominately that of a neighboring Papuan language, Makasae, and their position is uncertain. Possibly also Austronesian rather than Papuan is Makuv'a (Lovaea).

References

• Hull, Geoffrey. 1998. "The basic lexical affinities of Timor's Austronesian languages: a preliminary investigation." Studies in Languages and Cultures of East Timor 1:97-202.