Kemak language explained

Kemak
Region:East Timor
Speakers:72,000
Date:2010 census
Ref:e18
Familycolor:Austronesian
Fam2:Malayo-Polynesian
Fam3:Central–Eastern
Fam4:Timoric
Fam5:Ramelaic
Fam6:West
Minority:East Timor
Iso3:kem
Glotto:kema1243
Glottorefname:Kemak
Map:Kemak.png
Mapcaption:Distribution of Kemak mother-tongue speakers in East Timor
Ethnicity:Kemak people

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 constitution, besides the official languages of Portuguese and Tetum. The number of speakers has fallen in recent years.

Phonology

!Labial!Dental/
Alveolar!Velar!Glottal
Nasalpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Plosivevoicelesspronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
voicedpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Fricativevoicelesspronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
voiced(pronounced as /link/)
Rhoticpronounced as /ink/
Lateralpronounced as /ink/
Vowels!!Front!Central!Back
Closepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Midpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Openpronounced as /ink/

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Kupchik, John . The phonetics and phonology of Kemak, an Austronesian language of East Timor . University of Hawai’i at Mānoa . 2005.