In East Timor and other Portuguese-speaking countries the language is often called Baikenu (Portuguese: baiqueno), but more narrowly this term refers only to the variety spoken in East Timor, which is more influenced by Portuguese rather than Indonesian (for example, using obrigadu for 'thank you', instead of the Indonesian terima kasih).[3] In other languages it may also be erroneously referred to as West Timorese (with Tetum being "East Timorese") or even just Timorese, but these terms are misleading, as they ignore the linguistic diversity on both sides of the island.
Voiceless plosives [ptk] can have unreleased allophones [p̚t̚k̚] in word-final position. A phonemic /r/ can be heard in place of /l/ among dialects.[5]
A wordlist of 200 basic vocabulary items is available at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database,[6] with data provided by Robert Blust and from Edwards (2016).[7]
Basic Uab Meto vocabulary
Uab Meto
English
Pah (polite), Tua (polite), Hao (normal), He’ (informal), Ya (normal)
Yes
Kaha’, Kahfa’
No
Nek seun banit (in West Timor)
Thank you
Obrigadu (in East Timor)
Thank you
Nek seunbanit namfau/´naek’, Terimakasih ‘nanaek (in West Timor)
Edwards, Owen (2016). "Parallel Sound Correspondences in Uab Meto". Oceanic Linguistics. 55 (1): 52–86. doi:10.1353/ol.2016.0008. hdl:1885/108661 – via Australian National University.
Tarno; Wakidi; S.J. Mboeik; P. Sawardo; S. Kusharyanto (1992). Tata Bahasa Dawan [Dawan Grammar] (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Pusal Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa. ISBN979-459-206-4 – via Repositori Institusi Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.
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