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NAUETI
Knowing
the language, knowing the people
About My
language
Naueti
is a vernacular of Timor-Leste, spoken by around 6,000 people
today
(Saunders 2002-03:79). Linguists refer to Naueti as one of the
'Kawaimina' dialects. Kawaimina is a 'syllabic abreviation' of the name
of four closely related vernaculars (Kairui-Midiki, Waima'a, Naueti)
that are belong to the Austronesian family of languages. Unlike those
first three that occupies the adjacent area in the western part of
Baucau district, Naueti area which is situated in the south coast
of
Viqueque region, is almost completely surrounded by the speakers of
Makasae and to the east along the coastal area by Makalero speakers (see
Map). Both Makasae and
Makalero are belong to Papuan group. Due
to this isolation, Naueti has been heavily influenced by Makassae. Many
of its vocabulary are derived from Makassae making the language hard to
classify as either Austronesian or Papuan. Some people argued that the
isolation has lead to the development of distict caracteristic of
Naueti from the other 'Kawaimina' groups and therefore it is more
appropriate to to distinguish it as a separate language rather then as
a
mere dialect.
Naueti recently has been classified by UNESCO
as one the six languages in Timor-Leste that are being in
danger.
As far as I am aware,
this language documentation for Naueti is the first of its kind. Since
this is just a part of a trainning project, the work is defenitely
far
from perfect. However, I hope that this simple project will inspire
others particularly the Naueti speakers to continue the work or perhaps
by starting a new one with a more well desigend and systematic
research.
I would like to thank all LDTC member
for giving me the opportunity to document my native language
and specially to Melody who has been assisting me expetise and
friendly advice for making this project possible.
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About Me
My name is Felix Da Silva. I was born in Baguia, a mountenous region in
the central eastern part of Timor-Leste. Being grown up in
multilingual environment, I consider myself as a native speaker of
Naueti, Tetum
and Makasae. Being frequently
relocated to
different places during my childhood timeline I ended up speaking more
than
three languages when I was growing up. My Father is a Naueti speaker
while my Mom is from Baguia where Makasae is her native language.
Nevertheless, for the day-to-day conversation most of the family
members
used Tetum.
Moreover, in many occasions I had to speak in Makasae to
communicate
with my granparent and other relatives from my Mom's side. Similarly, I
would speak Naueti when I talk to my grandparent and the relatives from
Vesorru, the home village of my Dad.
Currently, I am studying Economics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
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