Mambai language (Timor)

Mambai language is spoken by the second largest ethnic group in East Timor, the Mambai people. The language is also called Mambae or Manbae.

Mambai
Region	East Timor
Native speakers	130,000 (2010 census)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Central–Eastern Timoric Ramelaic Mambai
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mgm
Glottolog	mamb1306
ELP	Mambae[2]
Distribution of Mambai mother-tongue speakers in East Timor

An illustration of Tetum language (left), Mambai language (center) and Portuguese language (right) being compared to one another.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p	t	k
	voiced	b	d	ɡ
Nasal		m	n
Fricative		f	s		h
Trill			r
Approximant			l

• /r, h, k/ can also be heard as [ɾ, ħ, ʔ].
• /p, k/ can also be heard as aspirated [pʰ, kʰ].
• /d/ is also heard as a voiced post-alveolar stop [d̠].
• /t/ is slightly aspirated [tʰ] before mid and low vowels. /t/ can also have an allophone [ts] when preceding high vowels.[3]
• The plosives /p, b, t, d, k/ are unreleased [p̚, b̚, t̚, d̚, k̚] in word-final position.[4]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

• /i, u/ can also have shortened allophones [ɪ, ʊ].[5][6]

Diphthongs

	Front	Central
Close		ai	au
Mid	ei	ae	ao

Dialects

Mambae can be divided into 3 dialects according to Fogaça (2017):[7]^:82

Northwest

• Liquiça: Bazartete
• Ermera: Hatulia
• Ermera: Railaco

Northeast-Central

• Aileu: Laulara
• Aileu: Vila Grupo
• Aileu: Liquidoe
• Ainaro: Hatu-Builico

South

• Ainaro: Hato-Udo
• Manufahi-Same: Letefoho
• Manufahi-Same: Betano

Examples of dialectal variation in Mambae:[7]

Numerals

Numeral	Northeast-Central	Northwest	South
1	iid	iid	iid
2	ruu	ruu	ruu
3	teul	teul	teul
4	faat	paat	faat/paat
5	liim	liim	liim
6	neen	hohon iid	liim nai-ida
7	hitu	hohon ruu	liim nai-rua
8	ualu	hoho teul	liim nai-telu
9	sia	hoho paat	liim nai-fata/pata
10	saguul	sakuul	saguul
20	rua nuul	guul ruu	(saguul) haet rua
30	teul nuul	guul teul	(saguul) haet teul
40	faat nuul	guul paat	(saguul) haet faat/paat
50	lima nuul	guul liim	(saguul) haet liim

Pronouns

Pronoun	Northeast-Central	Northwest	South
1.SG	au	au	au
2.SG	iit	iit	iit
3.SG	ua	ua	ura
1.PL, inclusive	iit	iit	iit
1.PL, exclusive	aem	aem	aem
2.PL	iim	iim	iim
3.PL	roo	roo	room

Lexicon

Gloss	Northeast-Central	Northwest	South
‘house’	pada	fada	uum
‘short’	bloko	pada	bada
‘wet’	broe	tita	era
‘dirty’	kiniri	rae	foer
‘many’	doto	klen	rini
‘lie (fib)’	bea	rau	halaet
‘eat’	mua	muu	aa
‘banana’	muka	mua	muu

Comparison of selected body part words in Mambae dialects:[7]

gloss	Liquiça (Bazartete)	Ermera (Hatulia)	Ermera (Railaco)	Aileu (Laulara)	Aileu (Vila Grupo)	Aileu (Liquidoe)	Ainaro (Hatu-Builico)	Ainaro (Hato-Udo)	Manufahi-Same (Letefoho)	Manufahi-Same (Betano)
mouth	gugun	gugun	gugun	kukun	kukun	kukun	kukun	kuku	kuku	kuku
arm	liman	liman	liman	niman	niman	lima	liman	lima	lima	lima
elbow	lima sikun	liman sikun	siun	nima siun	nima siun	lima siun	lima siun	lima sikun	lima siku	lima siku
shoulder	kabaːs	kabasan	kabasan	kabaːs	kabasa	kabasa	kabaːs	labaːs	kabaːs	au balaːs
head	gnutan	glutan	ulun	ulun	ulun	ulun	glutan	ulu	ulu hatu	ulu
headache	gnutan baːn	glutan baːn	glutan baːn	ulun baːn	ulun baːn	glutan baːn	glutan baːn	ulu hatusae	ulu hatusae	ulu hatusae
hair	ulu nɔɾan	ulu laun	ulun	ulun lahon	ulu nɔɾa	ulun noran	ulun	ulu	ulu	ulu noɾa
black hair	ulu meta	ulu meta	ulu meta	ulun meta	ulu nɔɾa mɛta	ulun meta	ulun meta	ulu meta	ulu mɛta	ulu laha meta
flesh (human)	ɛta lɔlon	etan	etan	etan	ɛtan	etan	ɛtan	eta lɔlo	ɛta lɔlo	eta lolo
heart	hua	huan	huan	huan	huan	huan	huan	hua	hua	hua
back	hɔhon tɛten	hoho teten	hɔhon	hoho tɛten	hɔhon	hoho tɛten	asa	hɔho	hɔhɔ tɛte	hoho
tooth	nipan	nipan	nipan	nifan	nifan	nifan	nifan	nipa	nifa	nifa
finger	lima huan	lima huan	lima huan	nima huan	lima huan	lima kakun	lima huan	lima hua	lima hua	lima hua
liver	aten	aten	aten	aten	aten	aten	aten	ate	ate	ate
tongue	lamalaun	lamalaun	lamalau	lamalaun	laman	lamalaun	lamelaun	lama	lama	lama
hand	liman	liman	liman	niman	niman	liman	liman	lima	lima sanak	lima
nose	ilu	ilun	ilun	inun	inun	ilun	inun	ilu	ilu	ilu
eye	matan	matan	matan	matan	matan	matan	matan	mata	mata	mata
ear	teliga	tligan	tliga	kikan	kika nɔɾan	tika noɾan	kikan	teliga	teliga	teliga
bone	rui	ruin	ruin	ruin	ruin	ruin	ruin	rui	rui	rui
foot	ɔen	oen	ɔen	ɔɛn	ɔɛn	ɔɛn	ɔɛn	oe	ɔɛ	oɛ
skin	litan	eta litan	litan	litan	litan	litan	litan	tia	tia	eta tia
leg	ɔen	oen	ɔen	ɔɛn	ɔɛn	ɔɛn	ɔɛn	oe	ɔɛ	oɛ
neck	tgeun	tgeun	tgeun	tgeun	tgeun	kdeun		tgeu	tegeu	tegeu
blood	laɾa	laɾa	laɾa	laɾan	laɾa	lalan	laɾan	laːr	lara	laːr

References

1. Mambai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Endangered Languages Project data for Mambae.
3. Hull, Geoffrey (2003). Southern Mambai. Instituto Nacional de Linguística of the Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa'e.
4. Fogaça (2013)
5. Sukarnyana, I Nengah (1997). Struktur Bahasa Mambai. Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.
6. Hull, Geoffrey (2001). Mambai Language Manual (Ainaro dialect). Dili: Sebastião Aparício da Silva Project.
7. Fogaça (2017)

Further reading

• Geoffrey Hull, Celestino de Araújo, and Benjamim de Araújo e Corte-Real, Mambai Language Manual: Ainaro dialect, Sebastião Aparício da Silva Project, 2001.
• Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and Robert M. W. Dixon (eds), Grammars in contact: a cross-linguistic typology, Oxford University Press, 2006, Chapter 6.
• Fogaça, Helem Andressa de Oliveira (2013). Estudo fonético e fonológico do mambae de Same: uma língua de Timor-Leste (PDF) (Master's thesis) (in Portuguese). Universidade de Brasília.
• Fogaça, Helem Andressa de Oliveira (2017). O ecossistema fundamental da língua Mambae: aspectos endoecológicos e exoecológicos de uma língua austronésia de Timor-Leste (Doctoral thesis) (in Portuguese). Universidade de Brasília.

External links

• John 8,1-11 in Mambai
• Kaipuleohone's materials include Robert Blust's written notes on Mambai