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Portrait of an Asian Minority Language Bunak, as an Asian minority language, is not the majority language of any country where it is spoken. The language has alternate names: Buna, Bunake, Bunaq, Gae’, Marae. In the following paragraphs, I will report on its history and current status. Linguists always want to know where is a language spoken. Bunak is spoken in East Timor. The specific locations include Timor island central interior, south coast, Cova Lima District, north of Suai town; Bobonaro District, Maliana south; also into Ainaro District, Zumalai subdistrict. Bunak is also spoken in West Timor, Indonesia. The specific locations include Timor island, Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, Belu regency, central interior, north of Taroman mountain, near border with Timor Leste. Linguists are also eager to know how many people speak it and who are they. Based on Joshua Project, 61000 people in East Timor (Fig. 1.) and 23000 people in Indonesia speak Bunak. (Joshua Project, 2014) In total, there are 84000 users in all countries.

Fig. 1. Percentage of people using Bunak as mother tongue in sucos of East Timor (Timor-Leste), according to census 2010, Wikipedia
The Bunak people (also known as Bunaq, Buna', Bunake) are an ethnic group that live in the mountainous region of central Timor, split between the political boundary between West Timor, Indonesia, particularly in Lamaknen District and East Timor. They are surrounded by groups which speak Malayo-Polynesian languages, like the Atoni and the Tetum. (Bunak people, Wikipedia) The Bunak people are small groups scattered among other languages and they have strong and conservative religion tradition: Christian. Based on Joshua Project, 23 percent of 61000 Bunak speakers in East Timor and 5 percent of 23000 Bunak speakers in Indonesia are professing Christian. (Joshua Project, 2014) Pronouns seem

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