Fataluku language

Fataluku
RegionEastern East Timor
Native speakers
48,000 (2020)[1]
regional usage
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3ddg
Glottologfata1247
Distribution of Fataluku in East Timor

Fataluku (also known as Dagaga, Dagoda', Dagada) is a Papuan language spoken by approximately 37,000 people of Fataluku ethnicity in the eastern areas of East Timor, especially around Lospalos. It is a member of the Timor-Alor-Pantar language family, which includes languages spoken both in East Timor and nearby regions of Indonesia.[2] Fataluku's closest relative is Oirata,[3] spoken on Kisar island, in the Moluccas of Indonesia.[4] Fataluku is given the status of a national language under the constitution. Speakers of Fataluku normally have a command of Tetum and/or Indonesian,[5] those speakers who are educated under Portuguese rule or from younger generation educated under Portuguese-language educational system during independence speak Portuguese.

It has a considerable amount of Austronesian loanwords, and it has borrowed elements of Sanskrit and Arabic vocabulary via Malay and elements of Portuguese.[3]

The five main Fataluku dialects are identified as follows: East Fataluku, South Fataluku, Central Fataluku, North Fataluku and Northwest Fataluku.[6] The differences that exist between these dialects, especially beyond phonology, are unclear and require more research. Dialects differ with respect to the phonetic realization of palatal obstruents, the presence of a glottal stop phoneme and a voicing distinction in stops, as well as aspects of the stress system. [7]

  1. ^ Fataluku at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Heston (2015), p. 3
  3. ^ a b Usher, Timothy. "Fataluku". newguineaworld.
  4. ^ Heston (2015), p. 6
  5. ^ Heston (2015), p. 5
  6. ^ Van Engelenhoven, Aone (2009). "On derivational processes in Fataluku, a non-Austronesian language in East Timor". In Wetzels, W. L. (ed.). The linguistics of endangered languages: Contributions to morphology and morphosyntax. Vol. 13. Utrecht: LOT. pp. 331–362. hdl:1874/297133.
  7. ^ Van Engelenhoven, Aone; Huber, Juliette (2020). "East Fataluku". In Schapper, Antoinette (ed.). The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar. Vol. 3. De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 347–425. doi:10.1515/9781501511158. ISBN 978-1-5015-1115-8.

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