Makuva language

{{Short description|Extinct Austronesian language of East Timor}}

{{for|Makua languages of Mozambique|Makua languages}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Makuva

|altname=Makuʼa, Lóvaia

|states=East Timor

|region=

|speakers=extinct since 1950s[https://web.archive.org/web/20070418082956/http://noorderlicht.vpro.nl/artikelen/34024406/ Noorderlicht Noorderlicht Nieuws: Raadselachtig Rusenu] to 56

|date=2010 census

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Austronesian

|fam2=Malayo-Polynesian

|fam3=Central–Eastern

|fam4=Timor–Babar

|fam5=Luangic–Kisaric?

|minority=East Timor

|iso3=lva

|glotto=maku1277

|glottorefname=Makuʼa

|map=Makuva.png

|mapcaption=Distribution of ethnic Makuva in East Timor

}}

Makuva, also known as Makuʼa or Lóvaia,{{cite journal |last=van Engelenhoven |first=Aone |date=2010 |title=The Makuva Enigma: Locating a Hidden Language in East Timor |journal=Revue Roumaine de linguistique |url=https://www.lingv.ro/RRL%202%202010%20art05van%20Engelenhoven.pdf |volume=80 |pages=161–181}} is an apparently extinct Austronesian language spoken at the northeast tip of East Timor near the town of Tutuala.

Makuva has been heavily influenced by neighboring East Timorese Papuan languages, to the extent that it was long thought to be a Papuan language. The ethnic population was 50 in 1981, but the younger generation uses Fataluku as their first or second language.

A 2003 report estimated that there were only five fluent speakers of the language.{{Cite Q | Q57377305 }}