Kemak_language

Kemak language

Kemak language

Language spoken in East Timor and Indonesia

Kemak is a language spoken in East Timor and in the border region of Indonesian West Timor. An alternate name is Ema. It is most closely related to Tocodede and Mambai. It has the status of one of the national languages in the East Timor constitution, besides the official languages of Portuguese and Tetum. The number of speakers has fallen in recent years.

Quick Facts Region, Ethnicity ...

Phonology

More information Labial, Dental/ Alveolar ...
  • Sounds /b, ɡ/ can be heard as [β, ɣ] when in intervocalic position.
  • /t/ can have an allophone of [tsʰ] freely in initial position, and [tʃʰ] when before /i/.
  • /s/ can be heard as [z] when in voicing assimilation, and as [tʃʰ] when preceded by /n̪/.
  • /t, k/ have aspirated allophones of [kʰ, tʰ].
  • /ɡ, h/ are heard as [ɡʷ, ɸ] when before /u/.
More information Front, Central ...
  • /e, a/ can be heard as [ɪ, ɤ] when preceding or following /u/ within a syllable.
  • /o, u/ can be heard as [ɔ, ɯ] when after labial consonants.[2]

References

  1. [1]
    Kemak at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. [2]
    Kupchik, John (2005). The phonetics and phonology of Kemak, an Austronesian language of East Timor. University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.


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