East Timorese Portuguese

East Timorese Portuguese (Português Timorense in Portuguese) is a Portuguese dialect spoken in East Timor. It is one of the official languages of East Timor (with Tetum), but it is only spoken by 25% of all East Timorese.

History

Portuguese is a legacy of Portuguese rule of East Timor (called Portuguese Timor) from the 16th century. It had its first contact during the Portuguese discoveries of the East, but it was largely exposed to Portuguese Timor in the 18th century after its division from the rest of Indonesia for The Netherlands. For the Austronesian tribes and Chinese, Arab, and Indian settlers to be part of Portuguese society, they had to be Roman Catholics and speak Portuguese, like other overseas Portuguese provinces, but Portuguese was just used as an interethnic communication between native tribes, and Portuguese and other foreign settlers, and Portuguese settlers and natives and/or Chinese, Arabs, and Indians intermarried, resulting in "mestiços", and native languages and Chinese did not disappear. Thus, Tetum was and still is the main lingua franca of Portuguese and all of Timor right before Portuguese rule, although Portuguese was the official language of Portuguese Timor, so natives taught Tetum to Portuguese settlers before teaching Portuguese to natives and non-Portuguese foreigners, so Portuguese-East Timorese spoke Tetum as their second language and Portuguese was spoken as a second or third language by natives and non-Portuguese foreigners. In 1975, Indonesia claimed Portuguese Timor which at that time Portuguese African territories won independence. Because of these, there was an exodus of most Portuguese settlers that made the number of Portuguese speakers dwindle and Portuguese teaching was banned that declared Indonesian as the sole official language. Some children and grandchildren of pure-blooded or mixed Portuguese parentage have forgotten Portuguese and spoke Tetum as their first language and Indonesian as their second. When East Timor broke from Indonesian rule, the newly formed government of East Timor restored Portuguese as an official language along with Tetum. Portuguese has been used as a resistance to Indonesian rule because of historical background. The newly formed nation of East Timor is now a proud member Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries or CPLP, where it was an observer, and Latin Union. The retake of Portuguese as one of official languages caused criticism and anguish to youth who studied under Indonesian system, but it is now spoken by 25% of the residents, which was more than double the Portuguese-speaking population from the last 5 years, and taught widely in the nation when East Timor asked help from other CPLP countries (mostly Brazil, Portugal, and Latin Union), and increased Portuguese speakers of the whole world. The language is mostly spoken as a second or third language, and pure- or mixed-blooded Portuguese who studied under Indonesian system are not exception. Brazilian and Portuguese TV stations also air in the nation. President Xanana Gusmão believed that the number of Portuguese speakers will increase in the next 10 years especially that many Brazilian, Portuguese, and African (mostly Angolan) teachers are coming to teach the language to more youth, especially in rural areas, and the country has settlement of Portuguese, Brazilian, and Angolan immigrants, who also invest in the nation that improve its economy, as East Timor is the poorest nation.

Phonology

The Portuguese dialect of the older people is similar to Brazilian Portuguese, like African and other Asian dialects. The translation for “Please” is Por favor. It is [po fa’vo:] in Brazil and East Timor, but [puIPA|ɾ fIPA|ɐ'voIPA|ɾ] in European Portuguese. Although Brazilian and East Timorese accents are intelligible, local government, and schools are strict to teach European dialect, like Macau, Portugal, and PALOP use, and because European is the chosen pronunciation, it is closer to European than Brazilian even though it is midway between European and Brazilian dialects, so it is common for Brazilian, Portuguese, and African settlers/tourists to hear [puIPA|ɾ fIPA|ɐ'voIPA|ɾ] . Since Portuguese was banned at the start of Indonesian rule and restored after independence, Portuguese accent of the youth is similar to European and European will be the accent of the population. Portuguese phonology is not affected by Tetum and other native languages, although it is a second or third language of the majority.

Orthography

East Timor uses 2 Portuguese spellings: European (which is used by Portugal, Macau, and PALOP) and Brazilian, because the government asked help from Brazil to spread Portuguese to the country. Both spellings are acceptable as long as they do not affect phonology.

Lexicon

Timorese lexicon was also similar to Brazilian, so the translation of “I love you” in Brazil and East Timor is Te amo, but it is Eu amo-te in European. Eu amo-te is more used than Te amo, since European vocabulary is chosen. Most of the vocabulary is similar to that of Portugal, Brazil, Macau, and other CPLP countries, but there are some differences because of words from native languages (like Tetum), Chinese, Arabic, and Tamil. Indonesian was the latest influence after independence from Indonesia. This lexicon (except Indonesian influence) was brought to Portugal by returning Portuguese settlers (Português-Timorenses or retornados) and some mestiços, Indian-Timorese (Indo-Timorenses), Arab-Timorese (Árabe-Timorenses), and Chinese-Timorese (Chinês-Timorenses) [who were loyal to Portuguese] who brought native, Indian, Chinese, and Arab cultures there after Indonesia claimed East Timor. Lexicon with Indonesian words also popularized other Lusophone regions by TV. Words that were not popular to Lusophone world are gamelan (a native Indonesian music) and likurai (a widespread native dance).