Geographic
distribution Indonesia | Subdivisions (disputed) | |
 | ||
Linguistic classification Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian (MP)
Nuclear MP
(Central–Eastern)
Timoric Glottolog None
timo1260 (Ramelaic)
timo1259 (Fabronic/Extra-Ramelaic) | ||
The Timoric, or sometimes Timor–Babar, languages are a group of fifty Austronesian languages (geographically Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages) spoken on the islands of Timor, neighboring Wetar, and (depending on the classification) the Babar Islands to the east.
Contents
Within the group, the languages with the most speakers are Uab Meto of West Timor and Tetum of East Timor, each with about half a million speakers, though in addition Tetum is an official language and a lingua franca among non-Tetum East Timorese.
Languages
Unclassified Nauete is not close to other Timorese languages. Habu is structurally similar to Waima'a.
The Babar languages form their own group:
Hull (1998)
Geoffrey Hull (1998) proposes a Timoric group as follows:
Van Engelenhoven
Van Engelenhoven sets up a South–East Timor branch including Tetun, Waimaha, and Luangic–Kisaric; the latter is as follows:
Taber (1993)
Taber (1993:396) gives a Southwest Maluku and Babar group as follows, along with West Damar as an isolate.