Welaun (also known as Bekais or Wekais) is an Austronesian language spoken on the border of East Timor and West Timor (a part of Indonesia). It is closely related to Tetun.[3]
| Welaun | |
|---|---|
| Bekais, Wekais | |
| Native to | Indonesia, East Timor |
Native speakers | 2,000-5,575 (ca. 2006/2019)[1][2] |
Austronesian
| |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | wlh |
| Glottolog | wela1235 |
 Distribution of Welaun (Bekais) in East Timor (West Timor not shown) | |
Previous studies
editWelaun was documented by Hull (2003)[4] and Edwards (2019). Edwards (2019) estimates a speaker population of 5,575.[2] A dictionary of Welaun has been written by da Silva (2012).[5]
Phonology
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | t | k | ʔ | |
| voiced | b | d | |||
| Fricative | f | s | h | ||
| Approximant | l | w | |||
| Trill | r | ||||
It has five vowels: /i e a o u/
References
edit- ^ Cunningham, Ingram, & Sumbuk, 2006. Language Diversity in the Pacific: Endangerment And Survival, p. 122
- ^ a b c Edwards, Owen (2019). Reintroducing Welaun. Oceanic Linguistics, Volume 58, Number 1, June 2019, pp. 31-58. doi:10.1353/ol.2019.0002 hdl:1887/79038
- ^ Hull, Geoffrey. 1998. "The basic lexical affinities of Timor's Austronesian languages: a preliminary investigation." Studies in Languages and Cultures of East Timor 1:97-202.
- ^ Hull, Geoffrey. 2003. Lia-Bekais nia Fatin iha Dalen-Lubun Tim´or. Studies in Languages and Cultures of East Timor 5:55–78. (In Tetun Dili.)
- ^ da Silva, Eng. Guilherme ‘Puru-Berliku’. 2012. Disionáriu Wekais-Tetun. Dili: Secretaria de Estado da Cultura.
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