Timor languages
| Timor languages | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Indonesia , East Timor | |
| Linguistic classification |
||
| Official status | ||
| Official language in |
 East Timor
|
|
The approximately 20 Timor languages form a language family of the Austronesian languages . They are spoken on the islands of Timor , Wetar , Roti and several neighboring islands. The most commonly spoken languages in the language family are Tetum and Uab Meto .
classification
The Timor languages are part of the Timor-Flores branch of the Central Malayo-Polynesian languages and thus belong to the Malayo-Polynesian languages .
A distinction is made between the more primitive languages Timor fabronischen languages (also extra Ramelaisch called) and ramelaischen languages , where a wider influence of Papuan languages and ambonesischen Malay , a Creole language can be seen. The latter is believed to have come from traders who came to what is now Dili in the 15th century .
In 1998 Geoffrey Hull described Old Butonesian as the origin of the Timor languages .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The Languages of East Timor: Some Basic Facts ( Memento from January 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) in the Internet archive