- Mambai
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This article is about the Timorese language and ethnic group. For the Indian metropolis, see Mumbai. For the city in Brazil, see Mambaí.
Mambai people.
Typical Mambai house in Northern Ainaro.The Mambai (also Mambae, Manbae) are the second largest ethnic group in East Timor. Their language is also called Mambai (or Mambae, Manbae) and has ISO 639-3 code mgm.[1][2]
Contents
People
The Mambai number about 80,000[3] from the interior of Dili District to the south coast of the territory, especially in the districts of Ainaro and Manufahi. Circular houses with conical roofs are typical dwellings,[4] and the Mambai cultivate maize, rice, and root vegetables.[3]
Ethnically Mambai politicians include Francisco Xavier do Amaral,[5] Manuel Tilman,[6] Lúcia Lobato,[7] and Fernando de Araújo.[7]
Language
Tetum (left), Mambai (top) and Portuguese (right).
Translation: In Ainaro, we say "os" and "ôs" and "nor" and "nôr", just as the Portuguese say "avó" and "avô"!Not to be confused with Mambai language (Cameroon).The language of the Mambai is also known as Mambai. It is a Central Malayo-Polynesian language, in the branch of Timor–Babar languages, and has ISO 639-3 code mgm.[1][2] It is considered one of the national languages, alongside the official languages Tetum and Portuguese. It is also spoken by some Timorese groups in Australia.
There are substantial differences between Mambai and Tetum. The English word "name," for example, is "kala" in Mambai, but "naran" in Tetum.[8] There are four dialects of Mambai: Damata (mgm-dam), Lolei (mgm-lol), Manua (mgm-man), and a fourth also called Mambai (mgm-mam).[1][2] The four dialects have largely homogeneous vocabularies.[9]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Ethnologue language page: mgm
- ^ a b c MultiTree language page: mgm
- ^ a b Clifford Sather and James J. Fox (eds), Origins, Ancestry and Alliance: Explorations in Austronesian Ethnography, ANU E Press, 2006, Chapter 7.
- ^ Tony Wheeler, East Timor, Lonely Planet, 2004, p. 93.
- ^ Asian survey, University of California Press, 2003, Volume 43, Issues 4-6, p. 754
- ^ International Crisis Group, Asia Briefing N°65, 13 June 2007
- ^ a b East Timor Legal Information Site, 2007
- ^ University of Hawaii Language Documentation Training Center: Mambae word list
- ^ Geoffrey Hull and Lance Eccles (eds), Studies in languages and cultures of East Timor, Volume 1, Academy of East Timor Studies, University of Western Sydney, 1998, p. 70.
Further reading
People
- Elizabeth Gilbert Traube, Ritual exchange among the Mambai of East Timor: gifts of life and death, Harvard University Press, 1977.
- Elizabeth Gilbert Traube, Cosmology and Social Life: ritual exchange among the Mambai of East Timor, University of Chicago Press, 1986.
Language
- Geoffrey Hull, Celestino de Araújo, and Benjamim de Araújo e Corte-Real, Mambai Language Manual: Ainaro dialect, Sebastião Aparício da Silva Project, 2001.
- Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and Robert M. W. Dixon (eds), Grammars in contact: a cross-linguistic typology, Oxford University Press, 2006, Chapter 6.
External links
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