| Makalero | |
|---|---|
| Native to | East Timor |
| Region | Timor Island, eastern end around Baucau and inland, west of Fataluku, from northern to southern coast in a dialect chain. |
Native speakers | 8,000 (2017)[1] |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mjb |
| Glottolog | makl1245 |
 Distribution of Makalero mother-tongue speakers in East Timor | |
| Coordinates:8°39′S126°30′E / 8.650°S 126.500°E /-8.650; 126.500 | |
Makalero orMaklere is aPapuan language spoken in theLautém district ofEast Timor. It was previously considered to be a dialect ofMakasae, but is nowadays seen as a separate language, both by its speakers and linguists.[1]
The data in this section are from Huber (2017).[1]
Makalero has five vowel phonemes. Most long vowels occur in predictable contexts; thus Huber argues long vowels are marginal phonemes at best.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i (iː) | u (uː) | |
| Mid | e (eː) | o (oː) | |
| Open | a (aː) |
Syllables are commonly CV; some are CVC. Epenthetic vowels are often inserted between series of two consonants, and echo vowels are often added to the end of phonological phrases.
Makalero has 11 native consonant phonemes.
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | t | d̠ | k | ʔ |
| Fricative | f | s | |||
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Trill | r | ||||
| Lateral | l |
All information in this section is from Huber 2011.[2]
Makalero does not have a definitive noun/verb distinction. Nearly all content words can be heads of NPs as well as predicates. In the following examples,isit can be a predicate or a nominal.
asi-atupusi
hai
nomo
isit
ill
[2]: 98
asi-atupusi hai nomo isit
1S:POSS-belly NSIT NEG ill
'my belly did not hurt anymore'
hai
k-ua-misa
[2]: 98
Ki-isit=ee hai k-ua-misa
3:POSS-ill=DEF NSIT 3:UND-on.top:RED-go.up
'His illness got worse' (lit. went up on top)
Content words must be bimoraic, unlike function words, which may be monomoraic.
Makalero has only avalent verbs and divalent verbs. There are no trivalent verbs; instead, biclausal constructions are used.
The avalent verbs are adverbial verbs such asatanana 'first,'hana’e 'a long time ago,'aire’ 'now,'kamunei 'tomorrow,'mu’it 'for a long time,'raine’ 'last night,' andtone’ 'maybe.'
Divalent verbs allow for a subject and either an object or complement.
In the following example,Kiloo is the subject andani is the object.
In the following example,ani is the subject andrau-rau is the complement.
Ani
mei=ni
take=LNK1
rau-rau-kena
[2]: 143
Ani mei=ni rau-rau-kena
1S take=LNK1 RDL-good-see:BD
'I see it very well'
| 1 | unu | 11 | ruu resi nu |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | loloi | 12 | ruu resi loloi |
| 3 | lolitu | 13 | ruu resi lolitu |
| 4 | faata | 14 | ruu resi faata |
| 5 | lima | 15 | ruu resi lima |
| 6 | douhu | ||
| 7 | fitu | ||
| 8 | afo | ||
| 9 | siwa | ||
| 10 | ruru-u |
LNK1:linker 1RED:reducedNSIT:new situationRDL:reduplicantBD:bound form