On derivational processes in Fataluku, a non- Austronesian language in East-Timor

Abstract

"With its 30,000 speakers, Fataluku is the fourth language of the republic of East-Timor. It genetically belongs to the non-Austronesian Timor- Alor-Pantar branch that is a member of the Trans-New-Guinea phylum (van Engelenhoven 2006, Donohue & Schapper 2007). Whereas Hull still analyses Oirata as a ‘Fataluku dialect characterized by certain archaisms’ (Hull 2005: 1), vanNaerssen (2007), in an unpublished paper, convincingly argues that two separate languages should be distinguished. One is Oirata, spoken on the island of Kisar in Southwest Maluku (Indonesia) characterized by its conservative morphology, the other Fataluku exclusively spoken in the nearby LautemDistrict, which is in the eastern tip of the republic of East-Timor"