Fordata language

Fordata (Vai Fordata, Vai Tnebar) is an Austronesian language spoken in the Tanimbar Islands of the Moluccas. It is closely related to Kei, and more distantly to Yamdena, both also spoken in the Tanimbar Islands.^[2]

Fordata
Vaidida
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Tanimbar Islands
Native speakers	(50,000 cited 2000)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Central–Eastern Kei–Tanimbar Kei–Fordata Fordata
Language codes
ISO 639-3	frd
Glottolog	ford1242

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive	voiceless		t̪		k	ʔ ⟨'⟩
	voiced	b	d
Fricative	voiceless	f	s			h
	voiced	v
Lateral			l
Trill			r
Semivowel		w		j ⟨y⟩

• Glottal sounds /h ʔ/ only occur intervocalically.
• /v/ can often be heard as [w] among younger speakers.
• /r/ can also be heard in free variation with a flap sound [ɾ].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

• Sounds /i e/ have lax sounds of [ɪ ɛ]
• /a/ can have an allophone of [ə] when before a consonant, or in word-final position.^[3]