Dawan (Uab Metô)

Dawan is a member of the Timoric branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language family. It is spoken by about 700,000 people in East Nusa Tenggara province on the island of West Timor in Indonesia.

The language is also known as Meto, Uab Meto, Uab Atoni Pah Meto, Uab Pah Meto, Timor, Timorese, Timol, Timoreesch, Timoreezen, Dawan, Timor Dawan or Rawan. Dialects include Amfoan-Fatule’u-Amabi, Amanuban-Amanatun, Mollo-Miomafo, Biboki-Insana and Kusa-Manlea. There is significant variation between them, and nearly every valley has its own dialect.

Dawan was first written by missionaries, who used the spelling systems they devised to translate religious material into the language.

Dawan alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

Apostrophes, circumflex accents, and sometimes other accents, can be used to indicate stress.
C, d, g, j, q, r, v, w, x, y and z are only used in loanwords and names.
Long vowels are doubled in Wisconsin and marked with a macron in Nebraska.
The vowels a, i and u are nasalized after m and n

Download an alphabet chart for Dawan (Excel)

Details provided by Wolfram Siegel, and Michael Peter Füstumum

Sample texts in Dawan

Atoni ma bife ok-okê mahonis kamafutû ma nmuî upan ma hak namnés. Sin napein tenab ma nekmeü ma sin musti nabai es nok es onlê olif-tataf.

Hear a recording of this text by Yohanes Manhitu

Kanan mansian mahonis merdeka ma nok upan ma hak papmesê. Sin naheun nok tenab ma nekmeû ma sin es nok es musti nfain onlê olif-tataf.

Hear a recording of this text by Yohanes Manhitu

These sample texts are in different dialects of Dawan.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Sources

Ethnologue data from Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 14th Edition
Understanding Uab Meto (Dawan Language): A General Description, by Yohanes Manhitu, Unpublished

Sample video in Dawan

Information about Dawan | Numbers | Tower of Babel

Links

Information about Dawan (Uab Meto)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uab_Meto_language
http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/aoz
http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/bkx
http://ymanhitu.blogspot.com/2007/07/dawan-uab-meto-tongue-of-atoni-pah-met.html

Uab Meto dictionary (PDF format)
http://oecusse.com/tourism/docs/BaiquenoDictionary.pdf

Timoric languages

Amarasi, Dawan, Galoli, Helong, Tetum, Tii, Western Rote

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page last modified: 04.07.24

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