Waimoa language

Waimoa
Region	Northeast East Timor
Native speakers	18,467 (2010 censuses)
Language family	Austronesian ? Malayo-Polynesian Central–Eastern Timor–Babar Waima'a? Waimoa
Dialects	Waimoa Kairui Midiki
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: wmh – Waimoa krd – Kairui-Midiki
Glottolog	waim1252  Waima'a kair1265  Kairui-Midiki
ELP	Waima'a
Distribution of Waimaha mother-tongue speakers in East Timor
Distribution of Mideki Distribution of Kairui

Waimoa or Waima'a is a spoken by about 18,467 (2010 census) people in northeast East Timor. Waimoa proper is reported to be mutually intelligible with neighboring Kairui and Midiki, with 5,000 speakers total.

The classification of Waimoa is unclear. Structurally, it is Malayo-Polynesian. However, its vocabulary is largely Papuan, similar to that of Makasae. Although generally classified as Austronesian languages or dialects that have been largely relexified under the influence of a language related to Makasae, it is possible that Waimoa, Kairui, and Midiki are instead Papuan languages related to Makasae which have been influenced by Austronesian.

Phonology

Waimoa has aspirated consonants, and is one of only two (possibly) Austronesian languages reported to have a set of ejective stops, the other being Yapese:

	Bilabial	Coronal	Velar	Glottal
Voiceless unaspirated	p	t	k	ʔ
Voiceless aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	kʰ
Voiceless ejective	pʼ	tʼ	kʼ
Voiced plain	b	d	ɡ

However, these sounds have also been described as post-glottalized.

There is also vowel harmony.

See also

• Kawaimina

References

• Hajek, John; Bowden, John (June 2002). "A Phonological Oddity in the Austronesian Area: Ejectives in Waimoa". Oceanic Linguistics. 41 (1): 222–224. doi:10.1353/ol.2002.0021. hdl:1885/72703.