Bunak language

Bunak
Bunak
Native to	Indonesia, East Timor
Region	central Timor
Ethnicity	Bunak
Native speakers	76,000 (2010)
Language family	Trans–New Guinea ? Berau Gulf West Bomberai Timor–Alor–Pantar Bunak; ; ; ;
Official status
Recognised minority; language in	East Timor
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bfn
Glottolog	buna1278
ELP	Bunak
	Distribution of Bunak in East Timor (West Timor not shown)

The Bunak language (also known as Bunaq, Buna', Bunake, pronounced [bunaʔ]) is the language of the Bunak people of the mountainous region of central Timor, split between the political boundary between West Timor, Indonesia, particularly in Lamaknen District and East Timor. It is one of the few on Timor which is not an Austronesian language, but rather a Papuan language of the Timor-Alor-Pantar language family. The language is surrounded by Malayo-Polynesian languages, like Uab Meto and Tetum.

Bunak distinguishes between animate and inanimate noun classes.^[3]

^ Bunak at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ "New Guinea World, West Bomberai". Archived from the original on 2020-02-29. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
^ Holton, Gary; Klamer, Marian (2018). "The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird's Head". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 569–640. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.