Rusenu language
Encyclopedia
Rusenu is a recently discovered (2007), essentially extinct Papuan language
formerly spoken in Eastern East Timor
.
Rusenu was discovered quite accidentally. When the Dutch-Timorese linguist Aone van Engelenhoven, who was studying a language called Makuva, thought since the 1950s to be extinct, was bound to leave for the Netherlands, he was informed about the existence of a language called Rusenu, with only one elderly woman "who had some knowledge of it." He gave his tape recorder to this informant, who subsequently interrogated the women and her son. She remembered a nursery rhyme, which she was unable to interpret (as was her entire tribe). Her son could count to ten in the language. After Van Engelenhoven analysed and transcribed the recording, he concluded that Rusenu, "albeit remotely related to Fataluku
, is a separate language." The speakers of Rusenu were also claimed to have been responsible for rock drawings on East Timor, on a mountain called Ilikerekere.
Van Engelenhoven reports this discovery triggered rumours about other languages that have survived to date as cants, and hopes to discover some more unknown East Timorese languages in the near future. According to him, the existence of Rusenu confirms his theory that the Austronesian peoples preceded the Papuan peoples
in New Guinea
.
Papuan languages
The Papuan languages are those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. The term does not presuppose a genetic relationship. The concept of Papuan peoples as distinct from Melanesians was first suggested and named by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1892.-The...
formerly spoken in Eastern East Timor
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...
.
Rusenu was discovered quite accidentally. When the Dutch-Timorese linguist Aone van Engelenhoven, who was studying a language called Makuva, thought since the 1950s to be extinct, was bound to leave for the Netherlands, he was informed about the existence of a language called Rusenu, with only one elderly woman "who had some knowledge of it." He gave his tape recorder to this informant, who subsequently interrogated the women and her son. She remembered a nursery rhyme, which she was unable to interpret (as was her entire tribe). Her son could count to ten in the language. After Van Engelenhoven analysed and transcribed the recording, he concluded that Rusenu, "albeit remotely related to Fataluku
Fataluku language
Fataluku is a Papuan language spoken by approximately 30,000 people of Fataluku ethnicity in the eastern areas of East Timor, especially around Lospalos. It is a Papuan language, and is usually considered a Trans–New Guinea language...
, is a separate language." The speakers of Rusenu were also claimed to have been responsible for rock drawings on East Timor, on a mountain called Ilikerekere.
Van Engelenhoven reports this discovery triggered rumours about other languages that have survived to date as cants, and hopes to discover some more unknown East Timorese languages in the near future. According to him, the existence of Rusenu confirms his theory that the Austronesian peoples preceded the Papuan peoples
Papuan peoples
Papuan is a cover term for the various indigenous peoples of New Guinea and neighboring islands, speakers of so-called Papuan languages. They are often distinguished linguistically from Austronesians, speakers of a language family introduced into New Guinea about three thousand years ago, but this...
in New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
.