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]

Makalero
Native toEast Timor
RegionTimor 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 639-3mjb
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

Phonology

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

Vowels

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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

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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

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

Lexical Categories

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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

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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

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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

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

References

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  • Huber, Juliette (2011). A grammar of Makalero - A Papuan language of East Timor (Doctoral thesis). Utrecht: LOT (Leiden University). hdl:1887/17684. ISBN 9789460930607.
  • 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. doi:10.1515/9781614519027-005. ISBN 9781614519027.
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