Uab Meto language


Uab Meto or Dawan is an Austronesian language cluster spoken by the Atoni people of the Indonesian region of West Timor, as well as the East Timorese municipality of Oecussi-Ambeno.
In East Timor and other Portuguese-speaking countries the language is often called Baikenu, but more narrowly this term refers only to the variety spoken in East Timor, which is more influenced by Portuguese rather than Indonesian. In other languages it may also be erroneously referred to as West Timorese or even just Timorese, but these terms are misleading, as they ignore the linguistic diversity on both sides of the island.

Phonology

Dawan has the following consonants and vowels:
Voiceless plosives can have unreleased allophones in word-final position. A phonemic can be heard in place of among dialects.

Vocabulary

A wordlist of 200 basic vocabulary items is available at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database, with data provided by Robert Blust and from Edwards.
Uab MetoEnglish
Pah, Tua, Hao, He’, Ya Yes
Kaha’, Kahfa’No
Nek seun banit Thank you
Obrigadu Thank you
Nek seunbanit namfau/´naek’, Terimakasih ‘nanaek Thank you very much
Obrigadu namfau’ Thank you very much
Sama-sama, leko, naleokYou are welcome
Neu’Please
Maaf, permisi, parmisExcuse me
Halo, TabeHello
Tkoenok tem pa´Welcome, please come in
Tkoenok pa´ Good bye
Selamat tinggal Good bye
Selamat Jalan Good bye

Numbers