The Waima’a language, sometimes referred to as Waimoa, is spoken by approximately 27,000 people in the northeast region of East Timor (Ethnologue, 2015). The Waima’a language remains a crucial element of the cultural identity of its speakers, who reside in a region marked by linguistic diversity. Waima’a is mutually intelligible with the neighboring languages Kairui and Midiki, which together have around 5,000 speakers.

The Waima’a people are hemmed in by two much larger populations: the Makasae to the east and the Galoli to the west. They live in small hamlets with populations of 50-100 people. As a relatively small cultural group, the Waima’a have a long history of interaction with speakers of other languages in the region. This interaction exemplifies a striking feature of the East Timor area, where extensive long-term contact and diffusion across ethnic and linguistic groups have led to the region being viewed as both a linguistic area and a cultural area. East Timor falls within larger contact/diffusion areas such as Timor and the Lesser Sunda/Southern Maluku area, making it useful to consider the wider picture to understand cultural and linguistic practices among the Waima’a.

Language family

The classification of Waima’a is complex. Structurally, it aligns with the Malayo-Polynesian languages, yet its vocabulary is predominantly Papuan, akin to that of Makasae. This linguistic blend has led to a debate on whether Waima’a, Kairui, and Midiki are Austronesian languages that have undergone significant relexification due to the influence of a Papuan language related to Makasae, or if they are actually Papuan languages that have been influenced by Austronesian. On Glottolog it is classified as an Austronesian language.

Some examples of the language

1. Ana maho kabasa leten.

   3SG go market up/above

   'He/she goes up to the market.'