FLP Fataluku Language Project
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Fataluku

Makuva

Oirata

The Oirata language

 

The Oirata language spoken on the small Indonesian island of Kisar (to the north of Timor)
is closely related to Fataluku. Many words are very similar, for example:

OirataFatalukuEnglishsound correspondence
kounekounedark
imaimamake love
halapalagardenh ~ p
ahiapifish
panufanufacep ~ f
lapailafaibig
delecelemaized ~ c
ederemueceremuthink

 

You can listen to a recording of a text transcribed by de Josselin de Jong (1937: 70-73),
as read by a speaker from Kisar in 1996.

 

Reference:

J.P.B. de Josselin de Jong (1937),
Studies in Indonesian culture I: Oirata, a Timorese settlement on Kisar,
Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche Uitgeversmij.