Wetarese is an Austronesian language of Wetar, an island in the south Maluku, Indonesia, and of the nearby island Liran.
Background The four identified principal varieties of Wetarese on Wetar – Aputai, Iliʼuun, Perai and Tugun – are distinct enough that some may consider them to be different languages.
Wetarese is closely related to Galoli (spoken on the north coast of East Timor and by an immigrant community on the south coast of Wetar) and to Atauran (spoken on Atauro island).
Phonology The following represents the Tugun dialect:
Consonants +Consonant phonemesLabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalPlosivevoicelessvoicedFricativevoicelessvoicedNasalTap/Trill ~ Lateral
may also be heard as in free variation. is mainly heard as in word-final position or in slower speech, it is heard as elsewhere. only occurs in word-medial positions.
Vowels +Vowel phonemes FrontCentral Back CloseClose-midOpen
Sounds are also heard as .
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