Welaun (also known as Bekais or Wekais) is an Austronesian language spoken on the border of East Timor and West Timor (a part of Indonesia). It is closely related to Tetun.[3]
| Welaun | |
|---|---|
| Bekais, Wekais | |
| Native to | Indonesia, East Timor |
Native speakers | 2,000-5,575 (ca. 2006/2019)[1][2] |
Austronesian
| |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | wlh |
| Glottolog | wela1235 |
 Distribution of Welaun (Bekais) in East Timor (West Timor not shown) | |
Previous studies
Welaun was documented by Hull (2003)[4] and Edwards (2019). Edwards (2019) estimates a speaker population of 5,575.[2] A dictionary of Welaun has been written by da Silva (2012).[5]
Phonology
| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | t | k | ʔ | |
| voiced | b | d | |||
| Fricative | f | s | h | ||
| Approximant | l | w | |||
| Trill | r | ||||
It has five vowels: /i e a o u/