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Wetarese language

{{Short description|Austronesian language of Wetar, Indonesia}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Wetarese

| altname = Wetar

| nativename = Tutunohan

| states = Indonesia

| region = Wetar Island

| speakers = {{sigfig|11,200|2}}

| date = 1990–2010

| ref = e18

| familycolor = Austronesian

| fam2 = Malayo-Polynesian

| fam3 = Central–Eastern

| fam4 = Timoric

| fam5 = Wetar–Galoli

| lc1 = apx

| ld1 = Aputai

| lc2 = ilu

| ld2 = Ili{{hamza}}uun

| lc3 = wet

| ld3 = Perai

| lc4 = tzn

| ld4 = Tugun

| glotto = weta1245

| glottorefname = Wetar

| ELP = 1347

| ELPname = Aputai

}}

Wetarese is an Austronesian language of Wetar, an island in the south Maluku, Indonesia, and of the nearby island Liran.{{Citation |last=Hull |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Hull|title=The Languages of East Timor: Some Basic Facts |date=2002 |url=http://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/default/CommunityGovernanceDocuments/The_Languages_of_East_Timor_Some_Basic_Facts.pdf |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Linguística, Universidade Nacional de Timor Lorosa'e}}

Background

The four identified principal varieties of Wetarese on Wetar – Aputai, Iliʼuun, Perai and Tugun – are distinct enough that some may consider them to be different languages.

Wetarese is closely related to Galoli (spoken on the north coast of East Timor and by an immigrant community on the south coast of Wetar) and to Atauran (spoken on Atauro island).

Phonology

The following represents the Tugun dialect:{{harvp|Hinton|2000|page=115}}

= Consonants =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+Consonant phonemes

! colspan="2" |

!Labial

!Alveolar

!Palatal

!Velar

!Glottal

rowspan="2" |Plosive

!voiceless

|{{IPA link|p}}

|{{IPA link|t}}

|{{IPA link|tʃ}}

|{{IPA link|k}}

|{{IPA link|ʔ}}

voiced

|

|

|{{IPA link|dʒ}}

|{{IPA link|ɡ}}

|

rowspan="2" |Fricative

!voiceless

|{{IPA link|f}}

|{{IPA link|s}}

|

|

|{{IPA link|h}}

voiced

|{{IPA link|v}}

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Nasal

| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|m}}

| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|n}}

|

| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|ŋ}}

|

colspan="2" |Tap/Trill

|

|{{IPA link|ɾ}} ~ {{IPA link|r}}

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Lateral

|

|{{IPA link|l}}

|

|

|

  • {{IPA|/v/}} may also be heard as {{IPA|[w]}} in free variation.
  • {{IPA|/r/}} is mainly heard as {{IPA|[r]}} in word-final position or in slower speech, it is heard as {{IPA|[ɾ]}} elsewhere.
  • {{IPA|/ʔ/}} only occurs in word-medial positions.

= Vowels =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+Vowel phonemes

!

! Front

!Central

! Back

align="center"

! Close

|{{IPA link|i}}

|

|{{IPA link|u}}

Close-mid

|{{IPA link|e}}

|

|{{IPA link|o}}

align="center"

!Open

|

|{{IPA link|a}}

|

  • Sounds {{IPA|/e u/}} are also heard as {{IPA|[ɛ ʊ]}}.

Citations

{{Reflist}}

References

{{Refbegin}}

  • {{Cite book |chapter=The languages of Wetar: recent survey results and word lists with notes on Tugun grammar |title=Spices from the East: Papers in Languages of Eastern Indonesia |last=Hinton |first=Bryan D. |publisher=Pacific Linguistics |year=2000 |editor-last=Grimes |editor-first=Charles E. |location=Canberra |pages=105–129 |hdl=1885/146101 |hdl-access=free |doi=10.15144/PL-503.105 |doi-access=free }}

{{Refend}}

{{Central Malayo-Polynesian languages}}

{{Languages of Indonesia}}

Category:Timor–Babar languages

Category:Languages of the Maluku Islands

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