| Waimoa | |
| Speakers: | 21,200 |
| Date: | 2015 census |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Speakers2: | 5,670 L2 speakers (2015 census) |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam1: | Austronesian ? |
| Fam2: | Malayo-Polynesian |
| Fam3: | Central–Eastern |
| Fam4: | Timoric |
| Fam5: | Kawaimina |
| Iso3: | wmh |
| Glotto: | waim1252 |
| Glottorefname: | Waima'a |
| Elp: | 2485 |
| Elpname: | Waimaa |
| Map: | Waimaha.png |
| Mapcaption: | Distribution of Waimaha mother-tongue speakers in East Timor |
| Notice: | IPA |
Waimoa or Waimaa is a language spoken by about 27,000 (2015 census) people in northeast East Timor. Waimoa proper is reported to be mutually intelligible with neighboring Kairui and Midiki, which together have about 5,000 speakers.
The classification of Waimoa is unclear. Structurally, it is Malayo-Polynesian. However, its vocabulary is largely Papuan, similar to that of Makasae. Although generally classified as Austronesian languages or dialects that have been largely relexified under the influence of a language related to Makasae, it is possible that Waimoa, Kairui, and Midiki are instead Papuan languages related to Makasae which have been influenced by Austronesian.
Similarly to other Austronesian languages of the region,[1] Waimoa has aspirated/voiceless and glottalized/ejective consonants, which are distributed like pronounced as //hC// and pronounced as //ʔC// consonant clusters (or perhaps pronounced as //Ch// and pronounced as //Cʔ//) but are often pronounced as single segments.[2]
| Voiceless unaspirated | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless aspirated | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Voiceless ejective | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Voiced plain | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ |
Similarly there are voiceless and glottalized pronounced as //m n l r s w//.
There is also vowel harmony.