The languages of East Timor include both Austronesian and Papuan languages. (See

Timor–Flores languages The Timoric languages are a group of Austronesian languages (belonging to the Central–Eastern subgroup) spoken on the islands of Timor, neighboring Wetar, and (depending on the classification) Southwest Maluku to the east. Within the grou ...

and

Timor–Alor–Pantar languages The Timor–Alor–Pantar (TAP) languages are a family of Papuan (non-Austronesian) languages spoken in Timor, Kisar, and the Alor archipelago in Southern Indonesia. Holton and Klamer (2018) classify Timor–Alor–Pantar as an independent la ...

.) The lingua franca and national language of

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-w ...

is Tetum, an Austronesian language influenced by Portuguese, with which it has equal status as an official language. The language of the

Ocussi Oecusse (also variously ''Oecussi'', ''Ocussi'', ''Oekussi'', ''Oekusi'', ''Okusi'', ''Oé-Cusse''), also known as Oecusse-Ambeno (; ) and formerly just Ambeno, officially the Special Administrative Region Oecusse-Ambeno (), is an exclave, mun ...

exclave is

Uab Meto Uab Meto or Dawan is an Austronesian language spoken by Atoni people of West Timor. The language has a variant spoken in the East Timorese exclave of Oecussi-Ambeno, called Baikenu. Baikenu uses words derived from Portuguese, for example, ''o ...

(Dawan). Fataluku is a

Papuan language The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian and non- Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly ge ...

widely used in the eastern part of the country (often more so than Tetum). Both Portuguese and Tetum have official recognition under the

Constitution of East Timor The Constitution of East Timor entered into force on 20 May 2002, and was the country's first constitution after it gained independence from Portugal in 1975 and from Indonesia, which invaded East Timor on 7 December 1975 and left in 1999 followi ...

, as do other indigenous languages, including: Bekais, Bunak,

Galoli The Galoli, or Galolen, are a people of East Timor with a population of about 50,000, primarily along the northern coast of the district of Manatuto. To the west lies the Mambai people. There is an old colony on the southern coast of Wetar islan ...

, Habun, Idalaka, Kawaimina, Kemak, Lovaia, Makalero, Makasae,

Mambai Mambai may refer to: * Mambai people The Mambai (Mambae, Manbae) people are the second largest ethnic group after the Tetum Dili people in East Timor. Originally, they were known as the Maubere by the Portuguese. ''Maubere'' or ''Mau Bere'' is ...

, Tokodede and

Wetarese Wetarese is an Austronesian language of Wetar, an island in the south Maluku, Indonesia, and of the nearby islands Liran and Atauro, the latter island separate from the mainland of East Timor, north of Dili. Background The four identified prin ...

. The rise of lingua francas in the linguistically diverse East Timor and the domination of several clans over others have led to the extinction of many smaller languages. However, some of them are still in use as ritual languages or cants. Research done in the mid-2000s by the Dutch linguist Aone van Engelenhoven, for example, revealed that the Makuva language, formerly spoken by the Makuva tribe but believed to have been extinct since the 1950s, was still used occasionally. In 2007, Van Engelenhoven discovered the existence of another language that was essentially extinct, called Rusenu.

Official languages

Section 13(1) of the 2002 constitution designates Portuguese and Tetum as East Timor's two official languages. The same section also provides that "Tetum and the other national languages shall be valued and developed by the State." English and Indonesian are sometimes used and section 159 of the constitution provides that these languages serve as "working languages within civil service side by side with official languages as long as deemed necessary". Under Portuguese rule, all education was through the medium of Portuguese, although it coexisted with Tetum and other languages. Portuguese particularly influenced the dialect of Tetum spoken in the capital, Dili, known as ''Tetun Prasa'', as opposed to the more traditional version spoken in rural areas, known as ''Tetun Terik''. ''Tetun Prasa'' is the version more widely used, and is now taught in schools. Under Indonesian rule from 1976 to 1999, East Timor's official language was Indonesian; It, Along with

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, currently has the status of a 'working language' under the present constitution. Kursu portuges 1

For many older East Timorese, the Indonesian language has negative connotations with the Suharto regime, but many younger people expressed suspicion or hostility to the reinstatement of Portuguese, which they saw as a 'colonial language' in much the same way that Indonesians saw Dutch. However, whereas the Dutch culture and language had limited influence on those of Indonesia, the East Timorese and Portuguese cultures became intertwined, particularly through intermarriage, as did the languages. Portuguese was also a working language of the resistance against Indonesia. Some young East Timorese felt at a disadvantage by the adoption of Portuguese as an official language, and accused the country's leaders of favouring the older generations who speak Portuguese and educated Timorese who had only recently returned from overseas, arguing that those older East Timorese who speak Portuguese or English had more job opportunities. Many foreign observers, especially from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

were also critical about the reinstatement of Portuguese, arguing that English or Indonesian would have been preferable. In spite of this, many Australian linguists have been closely involved with the official language policy, including the promotion of Portuguese.

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

and other Portuguese language countries such as

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

have supported the teaching of Portuguese in East Timor. Some people in East Timor complained that teachers from Portugal and Brazil were poorly equipped to teach in the country, as they did not know local languages, or understand the local culture. Nevertheless, the late Sérgio Vieira de Mello, who headed the

United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), ( pt, Administração Transitória das Nações Unidas em Timor Leste), was a United Nations mission in East Timor that aimed to solve the decades long East Timorese cri ...

, was a Brazilian who established a close working relationship with Xanana Gusmão, the country's first president, as a fellow Portuguese-speaker but was respected by many East Timorese because of his efforts to learn Tetum.

Languages by speakers

;Languages by number of native speakersEast Timor - Languages

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensi ...

. URL accessed April 10, 2017. ;Literacy rates by language Literacy rates (in percentage terms) in the co-official and working languages for East Timorese people aged 15–24 in 2004 and 2010. This shows which percentage of the age group is able to speak, read and write any of the four main lingua francas of East Timor, either as a native or second language. Data are derived from Highlights of the 2010 census main results in Timor-Leste.

Distribution of languages, 2010

File:Adabe.png, Adabe File:Atauru.png, Atauru File:Baikeno.png, Baikeno File:Bekais.png, Bekais File:Bunak.png, Bunak File:Dadua.png, Dadu'a File:Fataluku.png, Fataluku File:Galoli.png,

File:Habun.png, Habun File:Idalaka.png, Idalaka File:Idaté.png, Idaté File:Isní.png, Isní File:Kairui.png, Kairui File:Kemak.png, Kemak File:Lakalai.png, Lakalei File:Lolein.png, Lolein File:Makalero.png, Makalero File:Makasae.png, Makasae File:Makuva.png, Makuva File:Mambai.png,

File:Mideki.png, Midiki File:Nanaek.png, Nanaek File:Naueti.png, Naueti File:Rahesuk.png, Rahesuk File:Raklungu.png, Raklungu File:Resuk.png, Resuk File:Sa ane.png, Sa'ane File:Tetum Prasa.png, Tetum Prasa File:Tetum Terik.png, Tetum Terik File:Tokodede.png, Tokodede File:Waimaha.png, Waimaha

Notes

References

National Institute of Linguistics, National University of East Timor
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080119191225/http://www.asianlang.mq.edu.au/INL/speech1.html Current Language Issues in East Timor (Dr Geoffrey Hull)br>Interview given by Dr. Geoffrey Hull to the programme "Lingua Franca", in Radio National
*

External links

Pictures_from_a_Portuguese_language_course_using_Tetum_published_in_the_East_Timorese_newspaper_ Pictures_from_a_Portuguese_language_course_using_Tetum_published_in_the_East_Timorese_newspaper_:pt:Lia_Foun
_in_Díli">:pt:Lia_Foun">Pictures_from_a_Portuguese_language_course_using_Tetum_published_in_the_East_Timorese_newspaper_:pt:Lia_Foun
_in_Dílibr>Línguas_no_Timor
website_in_Portuguese,_but_contains_links_to_articles_in_English
Languages_of_Timor_Lorosae
-_part_of_Ethnologue_ ''Ethnologue:_Languages_of_the_World''_(stylized_as_''Ethnoloɠue'')_is_an_annual_reference_publication_in_print_and_online_that_provides_statistics_and_other_information_on_the__living_languages_of_the_world._It_is_the_world's_most_comprehensi_...