Oirata or Woirata (also known as Maaro) is a Timor–Alor–Pantar language spoken on the island of Kisar in Indonesia, and by some people in Ambon. Ethnologue reports an SIL figure of 1,200 speakers from 1987.[1] It is closely related to Fataluku, of which it is sometimes considered to be a dialect.
| Oirata | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Maluku Islands (Kisar, Ambon) |
Native speakers | (1,200 cited 1987)[1] |
Trans–New Guinea ?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | oia |
| Glottolog | oira1263 |
| ELP | Oirata |
Phonology edit
Vowels edit
Oirata has five vowels:[2]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Close-mid | e | o |
| Open | a |
Consonants edit
Oirata has 13 consonants:[2]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | ʔ | |
| voiced | d | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | h | ||
| voiced | v | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||
| Trill | r | ||||
References edit
- ^ a b Oirata at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ a b Mandala, Halus; Meko Mbete, Aaron; Dhanawaty, Ni Made; Fernandez, Inyo Yos (2011). "Phonological Evolution of Oirata and its Genetic Relationship with Other Non-Austronesian Languages in Timor-Leste". e-Journal of Linguistics. 5 (2).
External links edit
For a list of words relating to Oirata language, see the Oirata language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.