Helong ( Helon, Kupang, Semau ) is a language spoken in the city of Kupang on the western tip of Timor and on the island of Semau in the west of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia.
| Helong | |
|---|---|
| Self name | |
| Countries | Indonesia |
| Regions | West Timor , Lesser Sonde Islands |
| Official status | Indonesian |
| Total number of speakers | 14,000 (1997) |
| Status | |
| Classification | |
| |
| Writing | latin |
| Language Codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | - |
| ISO 639-2 | - |
| ISO 639-3 | heg |
| Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
| Ethnologue | |
| BPS language code | |
| ELCat | |
| IETF | |
| Glottolog | |
Helong has dialects of Funai (Land Helong), Helong Darat (Bolok), Helong Pulau (Iceland Helong, Semang). Interspersed with the languages of amarashi and others. Unlike many surrounding languages, it is not inclined in the V-initial roots of verbs for persons or numbers. The language has short and long vowels, a guttural bow, and a rearrangement of sounds and syllables based on the processes of assimilation and dissimilation (metathesis). The speakers of the Helong-darat dialect switched to the Kupang Malay language, and the funai disappeared through mixed marriages and urban influence.
Notes
Links
- Helong at Ethnologue