Tetun Dili

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A language of East Timor

ISO 639-3
tdt
Alternate Names
Dili Tetum, Tetum, Tetum Dili, Tetum Praça, Tetum Prasa, Tetun
Population

385,000 (2009). Growing in use and importance.

Location

East Timor north coast, L1 in Dili area; L2 scattered in western part of East Timor.

Language Maps
Language Status

1 (National). Statutory national language (2002, Constitution, Article 13).

Classification
Creole, Tetun based
Dialects

Heavy Portuguese [por] and Mambae [mgm] influence; some Indonesian [ind] or Malay influence.

Typology

Compared to Tetun [tet]: many more Portuguese [por] loanwords; does not inflect V-initial verb roots for person or number; uses more periphrastic constructions than morphological constructions (e.g., causatives); differences in possessive constructions and negatives

Language Use

Increasing in use in urban areas. All domains. All ages. Tetun users [tet] have significant difficulty understanding it in many speech domains, and vice versa.

Language Development
Dictionary. Grammar. NT.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Tetun Dili
Writing
Latin script.
Other Comments

Cultural rituals and themes in Tetun [tet] are not as deeply rooted in Tetun Dili. Christian.