The Kawaimina languages are a cluster of four related languages or dialects of East Timor, Kairui, Midiki, Waimaha and Naueti, each spoken by one or two thousand people; the name is a syllabic abbreviation of the constituent language names rather than a term speakers use themselves. Kairui, Midiki and Waimaha are spoken in adjacent areas of western Baucau District along the north coast, while Naueti is spoken on the south coast of eastern Viqueque District, surrounded by speakers of Makasae and Makalero.
Facts
RegionEast Timor: Kairui, Midiki and Waimaha are spoken in adjacent areas of western Baucau District on the north coast, and Naueti on the south coast of eastern Viqueque District, surrounded by speakers of Makasae and Makalero. 1 Speaker CountApproximate. The source gives one to two thousand speakers for each of the four constituent languages (Kairui, Midiki, Waimaha, Naueti) rather than a precise combined census figure; six thousand is the midpoint of the resulting four-to-eight-thousand range, not an exact count. Proto-Language StatusNo proto-language reconstruction has been published. The classification of the varieties is itself disputed: Geoffrey Hull treats them as dialects of a single Kawaimina language, while Ethnologue treats them as three distinct languages; structurally they are Malayo-Polynesian Austronesian of the eastern Extra-Ramelaic Timoric group, though much of their vocabulary, especially in Naueti, derives from Papuan languages. 1 Sources
1. Wikipedia: Kawaimina Languages
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Kawaimina (a syllabic abbreviation of the names) is a cluster of four languages and dialects of East Timor:Kairui, Midiki, Waimaha, and Naueti, spoken by one or two thousand speakers each.
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