The People of TIMOR : The Linguistic Evidence

The mix of people on Timor is as complex as any other aspect of the island. Prehistorians consider Timor as one of the gateways for the movement of populations to Australia. Given the time-depth of these migrations, the search is on for the equivalent of “Solo man” in Timor. As yet, however, no human traces of this antiquity have been found in the alluvial riverbeds of caves of Timor.

The first evidence of early agriculture dates back to 3.000 BC (Glover, 1971). This evidences is generaly interpreted as an indication of the initial arrival of early seafaring Austronesian population in to the region. It is from these, and probably from subsequent migrations of Austronesian-language speakers, that the majority of Timor’s present languages devire. This implies as continous settlement of Austronesian peoples on Timor for at least 5.000 years.

All the languages of Timor that belong to the Austronesian language family are related to one another as recognizable subgroup and these languages are in turn related to the languages on nehbouring islands such as Flores, Solor, and the islands of Maluku. Given the length of time of settlement on Timor, the languages of the island have diverged considerably from one another. The three nost important of these languages, with the largest number of speakers, are the Dawan or Atoni language, which is the major language of western Timor, Mambai which is found entirely in eastern Timor and Tetun which is spoken on both sides of the island.

What makes Timor particularly interesting from linguistic perpective is that a significant segment of the island’s population speak languages that belong to another distinc and importantlanguage phylum: the Trans-New Guinea phylum of languages. Speakers of these languages are found mainli at the eastern end of Timor but also in the very centre of the island. Their languages are closely related to other languages spoken on the island of Alor, Pantar and on the tiny island of Kisar, all to the north of Timor. In turn, these languages are related to languages in the Birdhead (Vogelkop) in Irian Jaya. The Trans-New Guinea phylum itself is the single largest of New Guinea. The linguistic evidence would suggest that after the Austronesian speakers. What is clear is that these languages, of very different origins, have borrowed from and influenced one another over a considerable period of time.

Another striking feature of the sociolinguistics of Timor is the remarkable contrast between the east and the west. Almeida lists over thirty different languages in the east compared with only three languages in the west. The Wurm-Hattori Languages Atlas of the Pacific Area Which groups dialects, still identifies at least seventeen distinct languages in the east compared to three languages in the west. This linguistic deversity in the east does not preclude the existence of language groups, consisting of several dialects, spoken by a considerable number of speaker.

The are complex historical reasons for these remarkable differences. …………………..

Prof. Dr. James J Fox

dari buku : Kebudayaan Sebuah Agenda dalam Bingkai Pulau Timor dan Sekitarnya.

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