Fataluku
RegionEastern East Timor
Native speakers
48,000 (2020)[1]
regional usage
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3ddg
Glottologfata1247
Distribution of Fataluku in East Timor

Fataluku (also known as Dagaga, Dagoda', Dagada) is a Papuan language spoken by approximately 37,000 people of Fataluku ethnicity in the eastern areas of East Timor, especially around Lospalos. It is a member of the Timor-Alor-Pantar language family, which includes languages spoken both in East Timor and nearby regions of Indonesia.[2] Fataluku's closest relative is Oirata,[3] spoken on Kisar island, in the Moluccas of Indonesia.[4] Fataluku is given the status of a national language under the constitution. Speakers of Fataluku normally have a command of Tetum and/or Indonesian.[5]

It has a considerable amount of Austronesian loanwords, and it has borrowed elements of Sanskrit and Arabic vocabulary via Malay.[3]

Phonology

Vowels

Fataluku vowels
Front Central Back
Close i /i/ u /u/
Mid e /e/ o /o/
Open a /a/

Consonants

Fataluku consonants
Bilabial Labiodental Coronal Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasals m /m/ n /n/
Plosive p /p/ t /t/ k /k/ ' /ʔ/
Affricates voiceless c /t͡s/² c /t͡ʃ/¹ ²
voiced j /d͡ʒ/
Fricatives voiceless f /f/ s /s/ h /h/
voiced v /β/² v /v/² z /z/
Flap v /ⱱ/² r /ɾ/
Lateral l /l/
Semivowel v /w/² y /j/

Words and phrases

In the examples below, the letter 'c' and the letter combination 'tx' are pronounced as the 'ch' in the English word 'church'. 

Rau ana kapare? / e nicha rau rau / maice ana umpe? "how are you?"
Rau "good"
Kapare "not good"
Hó "yes"
Xaparau "thank you"
Tali even xaparau "thank you very much"
nitawane "you're welcome"
Favoruni "please"
itu nae tini "excuse me"
Ó lai'i "hello"
mua toto, ia toto,purupale " take care"
Kois ta niat ali fanuhene "see you later"

Pronoun						                Possessive pronoun 						
I   :		Aniri/Ana					My: Ahani			
You :		Eri (singular), Iri (plural)			Your:  Eheni(sing), Eheniere (plur) 
We  :		Iniri (excl), Afiri (inclusive) 		Our: Inihini (exc), Afihini: (incl) 
They : 		Tawari, Márafuri				Their: Their Tavarhini, Marafurhini
He/She :	Tavai, marí, mármocoi				His/Her: Tavahini, Marmokoihini
It :		Iví						Its: Ivihini, Tavahini

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Fataluku at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  2. ^ Heston (2015), p. 3
  3. ^ a b Usher, Timothy. "Fataluku". newguineaworld. Archived from the original on 2020-03-05.
  4. ^ Heston (2015), p. 6
  5. ^ Heston (2015), p. 5

Further reading

  • Heston, Tyler M. and Locke, Stephanie (2019). "Fataluku". Illustrations of the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 49 (3): 419–425. doi:10.1017/S0025100316000190((cite journal)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link), with supplementary sound recordings.

References

External links

Fataluku language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator
West Trans–New Guinea languages
Languages of East Timor
Categories