The Timoric languages are a group of

Austronesian languages The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken ...

(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 Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

, 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'') Regency of the Maluku Islands. It lies east of the Lesser Sunda Islands, ...

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

West Timor West Timor () 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 capital as well ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and

Tetum Tetum may refer to: * Tetum language, an Austronesian language ** Tetum alphabet, used to write the Tetum language * Tetum people, an ethnic group of East Timor and Indonesia {{disambiguation Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

, 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 (1998) proposes a Timoric group as follows: *Timoric **Timoric A ("Extra-Ramelaic", Fabronic; whatever is not Ramelaic) ***West: Dawan (Uab Meto)– Amarasi,

Helong Helong (; Chosŏn'gŭl: 화룡; Hangul: 허룽) is a county-level city in southeastern Jilin province, Northeast China. It is under the administration of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. In January 2024, several thousand North Korean mi ...

, Roti ( Bilba, Dengka, Lole, Ringgou, Dela-Oenale, Termanu, Tii) ***Central:

Tetun Tetum may refer to: * Tetum language, an Austronesian language ** Tetum alphabet, used to write the Tetum language * Tetum people The Tetum, also known as Tetun or Belu in Indonesia, are an ethnic group that are the indigenous inhabitants of th ...

, Bekais,

Habu is a Ryukyuan 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 ** ''Protobothrops flavoviri ...

***North:

Galoli The Galoli, or Galolen, are a people of East Timor with a population of about 50,000, primarily along the northern coast of the district of Manatuto. To the west lies the Mambai people. There is an old colony on the southern coast of Wetar isla ...

***

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

: Kairui, Waimaha, Midiki, Naueti **Timoric B ("Ramelaic", near the Ramelau 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 ethni ...

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

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

***Luang: Leti, Luang, Wetan ***TNS (Teun-Nila-Serua): Teun, Nila-Serua ('' Nila'', '' Serua'') *(other branches of CMP, including Babar languages and West Damar)

Edwards (2021)

Edwards (2021) divides the languages of Timor and Southwest Maluku into two main branches, ''Central Timor'' and ''Timor–Babar'':Edwards, Owen (2021)
Rote-Meto Comparative Dictionary
Canberra: ANU Press. *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 Tokodede people in the municipality of Liquiçá, especially the administrative posts of Maubara and Liquiçá along ...

, Mambae, Welaun *Timor–Babar **

** Rote-Meto ***West Rote-Meto **** Dela, Oenale ****Dengka-Meto ***** Dengka, Lelain ***** Meto ***Nuclear Rote **** Tii, Lole **** Termanu, Ba'a, Korbafo, Bokai, Talae, Keka **** Bilbaa, Diu, Lelenuk **** Rikou, Landu, Oepao **Lakalei–Idate: Lakalei, Idate ** Eastern Timor (Kawaimina): Kairui, Waimaha, Midiki, Naueti **Wetar–Atauro: Atauran,

, Wetarese **Southwest Maluku: Kisar,

, Leti, Luang, Wetan, Teun, Nila, Serua, East Damar *** Babar languages

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 Timor-Leste