The Timoric languages are a group of Austronesian languages (belonging to the Central–Eastern subgroup) spoken on the islands of

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, also ...

, neighboring

Wetar Wetar is a tropical island which belongs to the Indonesian province of Maluku and is the largest island of the Maluku Barat Daya Islands (literally ''Southwest Islands'') of the Maluku Islands. It lies east of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which i ...

, and (depending on the classification) Southwest Maluku to the east. Within the group, the languages with the most speakers are

Uab Meto Uab Meto or Dawan is an Austronesian language spoken by Atoni people of West Timor. The language has a variant spoken in the East Timorese exclave of Oecussi-Ambeno, called Baikenu. Baikenu uses words derived from Portuguese, for example, ''ob ...

West Timor West Timor ( id, Timor Barat) is an area covering the western part of the island of Timor, except for the district of Oecussi-Ambeno (an East Timorese exclave). Administratively, West Timor is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

Tetum , 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 ...

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 ...

, each with about half a million speakers, though in addition Tetum is an official language and a lingua franca among non-Tetum East Timorese.

Languages

Hull (1998) & van Engelenhoven (2009)

Geoffrey Hull Geoffrey Stephen Hull (born 6 September 1955) is an Australian linguist, ethnologist and historian who has made contributions to the study of Romance, Celtic, Slavonic, Semitic, Austronesian and Papuan languages, in particular to the relationshi ...

(1998) proposes a Timoric group as follows: *Timoric A ("Extra-Ramelaic", Fabronic; whatever is not Ramelaic) **West: Dawan (Uab Meto)– Amarasi, Helong, Roti ( Bilba, Dengka, Lole, Ringgou, Dela-Oenale, Termanu, Tii) **Central:

Tetun , 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 ...

, Bekais,

Habu is a Ryukyuan and Japanese name referring to certain venomous snakes: * The following species are found in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan: ** '' Protobothrops elegans'', a.k.a. the Sakishima habu, found in the southern Ryukyu Islands ** ''Protoboth ...

**North:

, Galoli **East: Kairui, Waimaha, Midiki, Naueti *Timoric B ("Ramelaic", near 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 ...

range) **West: Kemak, Tukudede **Central:

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 ...

**East (Idalaka): Idaté, Isní, Lakalei, Lolein Van Engelenhoven (2009) accepts Hull's classification, but further includes Makuva and the Luangic–Kisaric languages (

Kisar Kisar, also known as ''Yotowawa'', is a small island in the Southwestern Moluccas in Indonesia, located to the northeast of Timor Island. Most of the island is included within the Southernmost Islands District ('' Kecamatan Pulau Pulau Terselata ...

, Romang, Luang, Wetan, Leti) in the Eastern branch of Timoric A.

Taber (1993)

In a

lexicostatistical Lexicostatistics is a method of comparative linguistics that involves comparing the percentage of lexical cognates between languages to determine their relationship. Lexicostatistics is related to the comparative method but does not reconstruct a ...

classification of the languages of Southwest Maluku, Taber (1993:396) posits a "Southwest Maluku" branch of the Timoric languages, that comprises all languages of the area, except for West Damar and the Babar languages. *Timoric **(other branches on Timor) **Southwest Maluku *** East Damar ***Wetar: Talur,

cluster (''Aputai'', ''Perai'', ''Tugun'', ''Iliun'') ***Kisar-Roma:

, Roma ***Luang: Leti, Luang, Wetan ***TNS (Teun-Nila-Serua):

Teun Teun is a Dutch masculine given name. It is a short form of Teunis, itself a derivative of Antonius (Anthony). It is also considered a diminutive form of Antonius, Anton, Antoon, Anthonis, Anthoon, Antonie, and Antonis used in Belgium, Netherland ...

, Nila-Serua ('' Nila'', '' Serua'') *(other branches of CMP, including Babar languages and West Damar)

Edwards (2018, 2019)

Edwards (2018, 2019) divides the languages of Timor and Southwest Maluku into three branches:Edwards, Owen (2019). Reintroducing Welaun. ''Oceanic Linguistics'', Volume 58, Number 1, June 2019, pp. 31-58. https://doi.org/10.1353/ol.2019.0002 * Helong *Central Timor: Kemak,

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 ...

, Mambae, Welaun *"Timor-Wetar-Babar" The latter subgroup includes all other languages grouped by Hull as Timoric, as well all languages of Southwest Maluku (including the Babar languages). Within "Timor-Wetar-Babar", Edwards proposes a Rote-Meto branch, with languages spoken on

Rote Island Rote Island ( id, Pulau Rote, also spelled ''Roti'') is an island of Indonesia, part of the East Nusa Tenggara province of the Lesser Sunda Islands. According to legend, this island got its name accidentally when a lost Portuguese sailor arrive ...

and in

. ;Rote-Meto *West Rote-Meto ** Dela, Oenale **Dengka-Meto *** Dengka, Lelain *** Meto *Nuclear Rote ** Tii, Lole ** Termanu,

Ba'a Ba'a (''Baa'', ''Baadale'') is the capital of the Indonesian island of Rote and of the Rote Ndao Regency (''kabupaten''), in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. It lies in the district (''kecamatan The term ''district'', in the context of Indone ...

, Korbafo, Bokai, Talae, Keka ** Bilbaa, Diu, Lelenuk ** Rikou, Landu, Oepao

References

* Hull, Geoffrey. 1998. "The basic lexical affinities of Timor's Austronesian languages: a preliminary investigation." ''Studies in Languages and Cultures of East Timor'' 1:97–202. * Taber, Mark (1993).
Toward a Better Understanding of the Indigenous Languages of Southwestern Maluku
" ''Oceanic Linguistics'', Vol. 32, No. 2 (Winter, 1993), pp. 389–441. University of Hawai'i.

External links

LexiRumah
(part of th
Lesser Sunda linguistic databases

Reconstructing the past through languages of the present: the Lesser Sunda Islands
(Revised 24.8.2004) Geoffrey Hull {{DEFAULTSORT:Timor-Babar languages Languages of Indonesia Languages of East Timor