Makasae language
| Makasae | |
|---|---|
| Native to | East Timor |
| Region | Timor Island, eastern end around Baucau and inland, west of Fataluku, from northern to southern coast in a dialect chain. |
Native speakers | 102,000 (2010 census)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mkz |
| Glottolog | maka1316 |
 Distribution of Makasae mother-tongue speakers in East Timor | |
 Distribution of Makalero  Distribution of Sa'ane | |
| Coordinates: 8°39′S 126°30′E / 8.650°S 126.500°E | |
Makasae (also known as Makassai, Macassai, Ma'asae, Makasai) is a Papuan language spoken by about 100,000 people on the eastern part of East Timor, in the districts of Baucau and Viqueque, just to the west of Fataluku. It is the most populous Papuan language west of New Guinea.
Phonology
All the information in this section is from Huber's grammar, which is based off one speaker of the Ossu dialect.[2]
Consonants
Native consonant phonemes are shown in the chart below for the Ossu dialect. Borrowed consonants are enclosed in parenthesis.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | k | g | ʔ | |||
| Fricative | (f) | s | (z) | h | ||||||
| Nasal | m | n | (ɲ) | |||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||||
| Lateral approximant | l | |||||||||
| Approximant | w | |||||||||
Vowels
Monophthongs
Makasae has five vowel phonemes.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
References
- ^ Makasae at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Huber, Juliette (2008). First steps towards a grammar of Makasae: a language of East Timor. LINCOM.
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