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"If you talk to [someone] in a language [he or she] understands, that goes to [the person's] head. If you talk to [somebody] in [his or her] language, that goes to [the] heart". - Nelson Mandela


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.


 

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 Makas
ae. 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.




© Felix Da Silva, LDTC - University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011