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The Oirata–Makasae, or Eastern Timor, languages are a small family of Papuan languages spoken in eastern Timor and the neighboring island of Kisar.

Languages

Mandala et al. (2011) found that Fataluku and Oirata are closer to each other than they are to Makasai:

• Makasai (including Makalero dialect)
• Oirata–Fataluku
  • Fataluku (Rusenu perhaps belongs here)
  • Oirata

Fataluku has high dialect diversity, and may be more than a single language, for example with Rusenu. An additional Makuv'a (Lovaea) branch was once assumed for East Timor, but that appears to be a heavily Papuan-influenced Austronesian language.

The fourth Papuan language spoken in East Timor, Bunak, is more distantly related. It is currently unknown if they are closer to each other or to the Alor–Pantar languages; all are clearly related. Together they form a branch of the West Bomberai languages of mainland New Guinea.

Classification

Ross (2005) reconstructed first- and second-person pronouns for proto–East Timor:

	proto-ET	Oirata (object)	Fataluku	Makasai
1SG	*ani	an-te (ani)	ani	ani
2SG	*ai	aa-te/ee-te (ee)	e	ai
1EXCL	*ini	in-te (in)	ini	ini
1INCL	*api	ap-te (ap)	afi	fi
2PL	*i	ii-te (ii)	i	i

Mandala et al. (2011) reconstruct five vowels, *a, *e, *i, *o, *u, and the following consonants, based on 200 cognate sets:

	Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	*m	*n
Occlusive	*p	*t	*k	*ʔ
Fricative		*s
Sonorant	*w	*l, *r

*h and *j appear at the level of proto-Oirata–Fataluku.

External links

• Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–East Timor

References

1. New Guinea World, West Bomberai
2. Huber, Juliette; Schapper, Antoinette. "The historical relations of the Papuan languages of Timor and Kisar".
3. Mandala, Halus; Aron Meko Mbete, Ni Made Dhanawaty and Inyo Yis Fernandez. 2011: “Phonological Evolution of Oirata and its Genetic Relationship with Non-Austronesian Languages in Timor-Leste”, Denpasar: Ejournal Universitas Udayana.
4. Usher, Timothy; Schapper, Antoinette (2022), "The Greater West Bomberai Language Family", Oceanic Linguistics, 61 (1): 469–527, doi:10.1353/ol.2022.0004, hdl:1871.1/41e570b0-0d28-458d-90d2-3024e1a1376e, OCLC 9554546337
5. • Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.
6. ee-te is a polite form

• Oirata–Makasai languages
• Timor–Alor–Pantar languages
• Languages of East Timor