Makalero

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Makalero dialect
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Makalero
Native to
Trans–New Guinea
 ?
  • Eastern Timor
    • Makalero
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3mjb
Glottologmakl1245
Distribution of Makalero mother-tongue speakers in East Timor
Coordinates: 8°39′S 126°30′E / 8.650°S 126.500°E / -8.650; 126.500

Makalero or Maklere is a Papuan language spoken in the Lautém district of East Timor. It was previously considered to be a dialect of Makasae, but is nowadays seen as a separate language, both by its speakers and linguists.[1]

Phonology

The data in this section are from Huber (2017).[1]

Vowels

Makalero has five vowel phonemes. Most long vowels occur in predictable contexts; thus Huber argues long vowels are marginal phonemes at best.

Monophthong phonemes
Front Central Back
Close i (i:) u (u:)
Mid e (e:) o (o:)
Open a (a:)

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.

Consonants

Makalero has 11 native consonant phonemes.

Consonant phonemes
Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Velar Glottal
Plosive p
t
k ʔ
Fricative f s
Nasal m
n
Trill
r
Lateral
l

Grammar

All information in this section is from Huber 2011.[2]

Lexical Categories

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

1S:POSS-belly

hai

NSIT

nomo

NEG

isit

ill

[2]: 98 

 

asi-atupusi hai nomo isit

1S:POSS-belly NSIT NEG ill

'my belly did not hurt anymore'

Ki-isit=ee

3:POSS-ill=DEF

hai

NSIT

k-ua-misa

3:UND-on.top:RED-go.up

[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.

Valency

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 as atanana 'first,' hana’e 'a long time ago,' aire’ 'now,' kamunei 'tomorrow,' mu’it 'for a long time,' raine’ 'last night,' and tone’ 'maybe.'

Divalent verbs allow for a subject and either an object or complement.

In the following example, Kiloo is the subject and ani is the object.

Kiloo

3S

ani

1S

pase

beat

[2]: 143 

 

Kiloo ani pase

3S 1S beat

'He beat me'

In the following example, ani is the subject and rau-rau is the complement.

Ani

1S

mei=ni

take=LNK1

rau-rau-kena

RDL-good-see:BD

[2]: 143 

 

Ani mei=ni rau-rau-kena

1S take=LNK1 RDL-good-see:BD

'I see it very well'

Numerals

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

Notes

LNK1:linker 1 RED:reduced NSIT:new situation RDL:reduplicant BD:bound form

References

  • Huber, Juliette (2011). A grammar of Makalero - A Papuan language of East Timor (Doctoral thesis). Utrecht: LOT (Leiden University). .
  • Huber, Juliette (2017). "5. Makalero and Makasae". In Schapper, Antoinette (ed.). The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar. Pacific Linguistics 655. Vol. 2. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 267–351. .

External links