Kemak
RegionEast Timor
EthnicityKemak people
Native speakers
72,000 (2010 census)[1]
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3kem
Glottologkema1243
ELPKemak
Distribution of Kemak mother-tongue speakers in East Timor

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.

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Dental/
Alveolar		 Velar Glottal
Nasal m n̪
Plosive voiceless p t k ʔ
voiced b d ɡ
Fricative voiceless s h
voiced (z)
Rhotic ɾ
Lateral l
  • 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/.
Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a
  • /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. ↑ Kemak at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  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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