Mambai language (Timor)

Mambai is one of 15 constitutionally recognized national languages. The main centers of Mambai are Ermera, Aileu, Remexio, Turiscai, Maubisse Administrative Post, Ainaro Administrative Post and Same Administrative Post. The majority of the Timorese community in Australia is native in Mambai.

Mambai used to be spoken in the area around Dili, when the Portuguese declared the city to be the capital of their colony Portuguese Timor. Therefore, the Tetum Prasa spoken in Dili is still exhibiting strong influences from its Mambai substrate.{{cite web |last1=Hull |first1=Geoffrey |title=The Languages of East Timor: Some Basic facts |url=http://www.asianlang.mq.edu.au/INL/langs.html |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Linguística |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060716034822/http://www.asianlang.mq.edu.au/INL/langs.html |archive-date=16 July 2006 |date=24 August 2004}}

• {{IPA|/r, h, k/}} can also be heard as {{IPA|[ɾ, ħ, ʔ]}}.
• {{IPA|/p, k/}} can also be heard as aspirated {{IPA|[pʰ, kʰ]}}.
• {{IPA|/d/}} is also heard as a voiced post-alveolar stop {{IPA|[d̠]}}.
• {{IPA|/t/}} is slightly aspirated {{IPA|[tʰ]}} before mid and low vowels. {{IPA|/t/}} can also have an allophone {{IPA|[ts]}} when preceding high vowels.{{Cite book|last=Hull|first=Geoffrey|title=Southern Mambai|publisher=Instituto Nacional de Linguística of the Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa'e|year=2003}}
• The plosives {{IPA|/p, b, t, d, k/}} are unreleased {{IPA|[p̚, b̚, t̚, d̚, k̚]}} in word-final position.{{harvp|Fogaça|2013}}

• {{IPA|/i, u/}} can also have shortened allophones {{IPA|[ɪ, ʊ]}}.{{Cite book |author=I Nengah Sukarnyana |url=http://repositori.kemdikbud.go.id/id/eprint/3668 |title=Struktur Bahasa Mambai |author2=I Made Denes |author3=I Wayan Sudiartha |author4=Ni Wayan Sudiati |publisher=Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa |year=1997 |isbn=979-459-777-5 |location=Jakarta |via=repositori.kemdikbud.go.id |language=id |trans-title=Mambai Language Structure}}{{Cite book|last=Hull|first=Geoffrey|title=Mambai Language Manual (Ainaro dialect)|publisher=Dili: Sebastião Aparício da Silva Project.|year=2001}}

Mambae can be divided into three dialects according to Fogaça (2017):{{rp|82}}

;Northwest

• Liquiça: Bazartete
• Ermera: Hatulia
• Ermera: Railaco

;Northeast-Central

• Aileu: Laulara
• Aileu: Vila Grupo
• Aileu: Liquidoe
• Ainaro: Hatu-Builico

;South

• Ainaro: Hato-Udo
• Manufahi-Same: Letefoho
• Manufahi-Same: Betano

Examples of dialectal variation in Mambae:{{harvp|Fogaça|2017}}

Comparison of selected body part words in Mambae dialects:{{harvp|Fogaça|2017}}

:

{{reflist}}

• Geoffrey Hull, Celestino de Araújo, and Benjamim de Araújo e Corte-Real, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qbVkAAAAMAAJ Mambai Language Manual: Ainaro dialect], Sebastião Aparício da Silva Project, 2001.
• Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and Robert M. W. Dixon (eds), [https://books.google.com/books?id=_BFukfHHeyYC&pg=PA163 Grammars in contact: a cross-linguistic typology], Oxford University Press, 2006, Chapter 6.
• {{Cite thesis |last=Fogaça |first=Helem Andressa de Oliveira |title=Estudo fonético e fonológico do mambae de Same: uma língua de Timor-Leste |date=2013 |degree=Master's |publisher=Universidade de Brasília |url=http://repositorio.unb.br/bitstream/10482/12959/1/2013_HelemAndressaOliveiraFogaca.pdf |language=pt}}
• {{Cite thesis |last=Fogaça |first=Helem Andressa de Oliveira |title=O ecossistema fundamental da língua Mambae: aspectos endoecológicos e exoecológicos de uma língua austronésia de Timor-Leste |date=2017 |degree=Doctoral |publisher=Universidade de Brasília |url=https://repositorio.unb.br/handle/10482/31396 |language=pt}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120324100257/http://www.freewebs.com/jpesperanca/textoslindos.htm John 8,1-11 in Mambai]
• Kaipuleohone's materials include Robert Blust's written notes on Mambai

{{Central Malayo-Polynesian languages}}

{{Languages of East Timor}}

Category:Languages of Timor-Leste

Category:Timor–Babar languages