Mambai, also called Mambae or Manbae, is a language spoken by the

Mambai people The Mambai (Mambae, Manbae) people are the second largest ethnic group after the Tetum Dili people in East Timor. Originally, they were known as the Maubere by the Portuguese. ''Maubere'' or ''Mau Bere'' is a widespread male first name among the ...

, the second largest ethnic group in the island country of

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

Geographic distribution

Mambai is one of 15 constitutionally recognized national languages. The main centers of Mambai are

Ermera Ermera (''Vila Ermera'') is a city in East Timor and a former capital of the East Timorese community, Ermera. ''Ermera'' in Mambai means "red water." It has a population of 8,907. Its geographical coordinates are , and it lies above sea l ...

Aileu Aileu is the main township in Aileu District, East Timor. It is located 47 km (29 mi) southwest of Dili, the national capital, and had a population of 2,788 in 2015. In Portuguese Timor, the city was known as Vila General Carmona, af ...

, Remexio,

Turiscai Turiscai is a village in the Turiscai administrative post, Manufahi municipality of East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It c ...

Maubisse Administrative Post Maubisse, officially Maubisse Administrative Post (, ), is an administrative post (and was formerly a subdistrict) in Ainaro municipality, East Timor. Its seat or administrative centre is Maubisse Maubisse (''Maubesse, Mau-Bessi, Maobi ...

Ainaro Administrative Post Ainaro, officially Ainaro Administrative Post (, ), is an administrative post (and was formerly a subdistrict) in Ainaro municipality, East Timor. Its seat or administrative centre is the '' suco'' of Ainaro. The administrative post has a ...

and

Same Administrative Post Same ( ), officially Same Administrative Post (, ), is an administrative post (and was formerly a subdistrict) in the Manufahi municipality of East Timor. Its seat or administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional adm ...

. The majority of the Timorese community in Australia is native in Mambai. Mambai used to be spoken in the area around

Dili Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...

, when the Portuguese declared the city to be the capital of their colony

Portuguese Timor Portuguese Timor ( pt, Timor Português) was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the ...

. Therefore, the Tetum Prasa spoken in Dili is still exhibiting strong influences from its Mambai substrate.

Phonology

Consonants

* /r, h, k/ can also be heard as �, ħ, ʔ * /p, k/ can also be heard as aspirated ʰ, kʰ * /d/ is also heard as a voiced post-alveolar stop ̠ * /t/ is slightly aspirated ʰbefore mid and low vowels. /t/ can also have an allophone swhen preceding high vowels. * The plosives /p, b, t, d, k/ are unreleased ̚, b̚, t̚, d̚, k̚in word-final position.

Vowels

* /i, u/ can also have shortened allophones �, ʊ

Dialects

Mambae can be divided into 3 dialects according to Fogaça (2017): ;Northwest *Liquiça: Bazartete *Ermera: Hatulia *Ermera: Railaco ;Northeast-Central *Aileu: Laulara *Aileu: Vila Grupo *Aileu: Liquidoe *Ainaro: Hatu-Builico ;South *Ainaro: Hato-Udo *Manufahi-Same: Letefoho *Manufahi-Same: Betano Examples of dialectal variation in Mambae: Comparison of selected body part words in Mambae dialects: :

References

External links

Kaipuleohone Kaipuleohone is a digital ethnographic archive that houses audio and visual files, photographs, as well as hundreds of textual material such as notes, dictionaries, and transcriptions relating to small and endangered languages. The archive is stored ...

's materials include

Robert Blust Robert A. Blust (; ; May 9, 1940 – January 5, 2022) was an American linguist who worked in several areas, including historical linguistics, lexicography and ethnology. He was Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. Blus ...

's written notes on Mambai {{Languages of East Timor Languages of East Timor Timor–Babar languages