Idalaka ( pt, Idalaca) is a

Malayo-Polynesian The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeas ...

dialect chain A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

spoken in

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-west ...

. The name is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsTetum , nativename=Tetun , states= Indonesia East Timor , speakers=, mostly in Indonesia , date=2010–2011 , ref=e18 , speakers2=50,000 L2-speakers in Indonesia and East Timor , familycolor=Austronesian , fam2=Malayo-Polynesian , fam3= Central–East ...

and Habun, while they exhibit many similarities with Galoli. Idalaka also resembles the

Kemak language Kemak is a language spoken in East Timor and in the border region of Indonesian West Timor. An alternate name is Ema. It is most closely related to Tocodede and Mambai. It has the status of one of the national languages in the East Timor consti ...

in that there are archaic features such as personal prefixes in verbs, which are lost in

Mambai Mambai may refer to: * Mambai people, a people group also known as Mambae, Manbae or Maubere from Timor-Leste * Mambai language (Timor) Mambai, also called Mambae or Manbae, is a language spoken by the Mambai people, the second largest ethn ...

and

Tokodede Tokodede (also known as Tukude, Tocodede, Tokodé, and Tocod) is one of the languages of East Timor, spoken by about 39,000 people in the municipality of Liquiçá, especially the administrative posts of Maubara and Liquiçá along the northe ...

Geographic distribution

The dialects are spoken in the

Ramelau Tatamailau (Tetum: Foho Tatamailau), or Tata Mailau, sometimes referred as Mount Ramelau, is the highest mountain in East Timor and also of Timor island at . The mountain is located approximately south of the capital Dili in the district of Ai ...

mountains with the exception of endangered Lolein, which is spoken in Dili. The 2015 census recorded 19,913 people in East Timor as native speakers of Idalaka dialects.

Official Status

Idalaka is one of 15 recognized national languages of East Timor.

Dialects

Idaté (Idate) is the vernacular in

Laclubar Laclubar is the main locality in Laclubar Administrative Post, Manatuto Municipality, East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. ...

(

Manatuto Municipality Manatuto (, ) is one of the municipalities (formerly districts) of East Timor, located in the central part of the country. It has a population of 45,541 (Census 2010) and an area of 1,783.3 km². The capital of the municipality is also n ...

) and the bordering area in adjacent Manufahi. It has a total of 14,178 native speakers. Lakalei is spoken in the area of Fahinehan (Manufahi). It has a total of 3,669 native speakers. Isní: Is spoken east of

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 ...

(

Manufahi Manufahi (, ) is one of the municipalities of East Timor. It has a population of 53,691 (2015 census) and an area of 1,323 km2. The capital of the municipality is Same. Etymology The present name of the municipality, ''Manufahi'', is ...

), with a total of 1,855 native speakers. Lolein is spoken in Talitu (

Aileu Municipality Aileu (, ) is a municipality, and was formerly a district, of East Timor. It has a population of 48,554 (Census 2015) and an area of 737 km². The municipality's capital is also named Aileu. Its administrative posts are Aileu, Laulara, ...

), Becora Leten and Hera ( Dili Municipality). Lolein developed from the Isní of 19th century immigrants from

. In Dili municipality, 568 people speak Lolein, another 533 speakers live in the adjacent Alieu Municipality. A total of 1,155 people are native in the dialect across East Timor.

Vocabulary

References

Bibliography

* Languages of East Timor Timor–Babar languages {{austronesian-lang-stub