Malay, Kupang

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A language of Indonesia

ISO 639-3
mkn
Alternate Names
Basa Kupang
Autonym
Kupang
User Population

350,000, all users. L1 users: 200,000 (2015 C. Grimes). L2 users: 150,000 (2015 C. Grimes).

Location

East Nusa Tenggara province: Kupang regency, Kupang city and Semau island; all on west Timor island.

Language Maps
Language Status

3 (Wider communication). Derived from Malay. Language of wider communication used in spice trade in the city of Kupang and surrounding region in the 1640s. Lingua franca for interethnic communication in the region or in mixed marriages.

Classification
Creole, Malay based
Dialects

Air Mata, Kupang.

Typology

SVO.

Language Use

Vigorous. All domains. Used by all. Also use Indonesian [ind]. Used as L2 by Helong [heg], Lole [llg], Termanu [twu], Tii [txq].

Language Development

Literature. Newspapers. Radio. Videos. Dictionary. NT: 2007.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Malay, Kupang
Writing

Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

Loanwords from several Rote and Chinese languages, Portuguese [por], Uab Meto [aoz], Sabu [hvn], Spanish [spa], Dutch [nld], English [eng]. Christian, Muslim.