Mambai
Encyclopedia
The Mambai 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.
. Circular houses with conical roofs are typical dwellings, and the Mambai cultivate maize
, rice
, and root vegetables.
Ethnically Mambai politicians include Francisco Xavier do Amaral
, Manuel Tilman
, Lúcia Lobato
, and Fernando de Araújo
.
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. 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. There are four dialects of Mambai: Damata (mgm-dam), Lolei (mgm-lol), Manua (mgm-man), and a fourth also called Mambai (mgm-mam). The four dialects have largely homogeneous vocabularies.
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
. Their language is also called Mambai (or Mambae, Manbae) and has ISO 639-3
ISO 639-3
ISO 639-3:2007, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages, is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages. It extends the ISO 639-2...
code mgm.
People
The Mambai number about 80,000 from the interior of Dili District to the south coast of the territory, especially in the districts of Ainaro and ManufahiManufahi
Manufahi is one of the districts of East Timor. It has a population of 44,235 and an area of 1,325 km2. The capital of the district is Same. The subdistricts are Alas, Fatuberlio, Same, and Turiscai. In the times of the Portuguese colony, the district was called Same, after the capital city...
. Circular houses with conical roofs are typical dwellings, and the Mambai cultivate maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, and root vegetables.
Ethnically Mambai politicians include Francisco Xavier do Amaral
Francisco Xavier do Amaral
Francisco Xavier do Amaral is an East Timorese politician. A founder of the Frente Revolucionaria de Timor Leste Independente , he was sworn in as President when the country, then a Portuguese colony, made a unilateral declaration of independence on November 28, 1975...
, Manuel Tilman
Manuel Tilman
Manuel Tilman is an East Timorese politician. He was a candidate in the April 2007 presidential election.-Life and career:...
, Lúcia Lobato
Lúcia Lobato
Lúcia Maria Brandão Freitas Lobato is an East Timorese politician, currently serving as Minister of Justice. She is a member of the National Parliament, representing the Social Democratic Party....
, and Fernando de Araújo
Fernando de Araújo (East Timorese politician)
Fernando de Araújo, also known by Lasama is an East Timorese politician and the current President of the National Parliament of East Timor. He was also serving as the Acting President of East Timor for two months in early 2008. He is also the President of the Democratic Party. He is married to...
.
Language
The language of the Mambai is also known as Mambai. It is a Central Malayo-Polynesian language
Central Malayo-Polynesian languages
The Central Malayo-Polynesian linkage is an erstwhile branch of Austronesian languages. The languages are spoken in the Lesser Sunda and Maluku Islands of the Banda Sea, in an area corresponding closely to the Indonesian provinces of East Nusa Tenggara and Maluku and the nation of East Timor , but...
, in the branch of Timor–Babar languages, and has ISO 639-3
ISO 639-3
ISO 639-3:2007, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages, is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages. It extends the ISO 639-2...
code mgm. It is considered one of the national languages, alongside the official languages Tetum and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
. It is also spoken by some Timorese groups in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
There are substantial differences between Mambai and Tetum. The English word "name," for example, is "kala" in Mambai, but "naran" in Tetum. There are four dialects of Mambai: Damata (mgm-dam), Lolei (mgm-lol), Manua (mgm-man), and a fourth also called Mambai (mgm-mam). The four dialects have largely homogeneous vocabularies.
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 HullGeoffrey HullGeoffrey Stephen Hull is an Australian linguist, ethnologist and historian who has made contributions to the study of Romance, Celtic, Slavonic, Semitic, Austronesian and Papuan languages, and in particular to the relationship between language and culture.-Biography:Of English and Scots ancestry...
, Celestino de Araújo, and Benjamim de Araújo e Corte-Real, Mambai Language Manual: Ainaro dialect, Sebastião Aparício da Silva Project, 2001. - Alexandra Y. AikhenvaldAlexandra AikhenvaldAlexandra Yurievna Aikhenvald is a linguist specialising in Linguistic typology and the Arawak language family of the Brazilian Amazonia.-Biography:...
and Robert M. W. DixonR. M. W. DixonRobert Malcolm Ward Dixon is a Professor of Linguistics at The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Queensland, and formerly Director of the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.In 1996, Dixon and another linguist, Alexandra Aikhenvald,...
(eds), Grammars in contact: a cross-linguistic typology, Oxford University Press, 2006, Chapter 6.