Comparative vocabulary of the Naueti dialect

Naueti is one of the four dialects of the Timorese Austronesian language termed 'Kawaimina' by linguists, its fellow dialects being Midiki, Waimaha and Kairui. The name Naueti (also Nauoti) literally means 'now' (nau eti, literally 'this time') : this was arbitrarily taken as a representative Naueti word by Makasai neighbours and applied as the name of the language. While the latter three dialects form a geographical continuum in a zone bounded by Baucau in the north, Ossu in the south and Vemasse and Lacluta in the west, Naueti is spoken in a linguistic island on the south (Timor Sea) coast and surrounded on two sides by the Makasai languages and on one side (to the east) by the Makalero dialect, which is also Papuan and considered to be transitional between Makasai and Fataluku. Naueti is the vernacular of Uato Carabau, Uáni Uma, Babulo and their environs, and has some speakers in the Uatolári district. Speakers of the dialect are probably in the vicinity of 6,000 today. Many Naueti people, especially in the border areas, are also speakers of Makasai and Makalero.