Tetun language

. Tetun is in yellow. According to linguist Geoffrey Hull, Tetun has four dialects: • Tetun-Dili, or Tetun-Prasa (literally 'city Tetun'), is spoken in the capital, Dili, and its surroundings, in the north of the country. Because of its simpler grammar than other varieties of Tetun, extensive Portuguese loanwords, and supposed creole-like features, Ethnologue and some researchers classify it as a Tetun-based creole. This position, however, is also disputed in that while Tetun-Dili may exhibit simpler grammar, this does not mean that Tetun-Dili is a creole. According to Ethnologue, there were 50,000 native Tetun-Dili speakers in Timor-Leste in 2004 and L2 users. Following the Carnation Revolution in Portugal in 1974, Indonesia invaded East Timor, declaring it "the Republic's 27th Province". The use of Portuguese was banned, and Indonesian was declared the sole official language, but the Roman Catholic Church adopted Tetun as its liturgical language, making it a focus for cultural and national identity. After the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) took over governance in 1999, Tetun (Dili) was proclaimed the country's official language, even though according to Encarta Winkler Prins it was only spoken by about 8% of the native population at the time, while the elite (consisting of 20 to 30 families) spoke Portuguese and most adolescents had been educated in Indonesian. When Timor-Leste gained its independence in 2002, Tetun and Portuguese were declared as official languages. The 2010 census found that Tetun Prasa had 385,269 native speakers on a total population of 1,053,971, meaning that the share of native Tetun Prasa/Dili speakers had increased to 36.6% during the 2000s. In addition to regional varieties of Tetun in Timor-Leste, there are variations in vocabulary and pronunciation, partly due to Portuguese and Indonesian influence. The Tetun spoken by East Timorese migrants living in Portugal and Australia are more Portuguese-influenced, as many of those speakers were not educated in Indonesian. ==Vocabulary==

Indigenous The Tetun name for Timor-Leste is , which means 'Timor of the rising sun', or, less poetically, 'East Timor'; comes from 'sun' and 'to rise, to go up'. The noun for 'word' is , from 'voice' and 'fruit'. Some more words in Tetun: (left) and Tetun (right). From a Portuguese course for Tetun speakers. The text says: "Our generation sometimes has difficulty distinguishing between 'j' and 'z'" • – 'high' • – 'bad' • – 'tree' • – 'fruit' • – 'spice' • – 'water' • – 'friend' • – 'big' • – 'good' • – 'love' • – 'person, people' • – 'place' • – 'woman' • – 'mountain' • – 'moon/month' • – 'war' • – 'hungry' • – 'eat' • – 'food' • – 'drink' • – 'all' • – 'one' • – 'night' • – 'little' • – 'low' • – 'child' • – 'crocodile' • – 'fast' • – 'mirror' • – 'inside' • – 'language' • – 'word' (from 'voice' and 'fruit') • – 'voice', 'language' • – 'true', 'tebes' also acts as a synonym. • – 'day' • – 'afternoon' • – 'scared' • – 'man' • – 'god' • – 'life' • – 'country' • – 'sea' • – 'year' • – 'very' • – 'dirt', 'sediment' • – 'hard' • – 'first' • – 'head' From Portuguese Words derived from Portuguese: • – 'goodbye' • – 'help' • – 'learn', from • – 'architecture', from • – 'rainbow', from • – 'airplane', from • – 'too much' • – 'decision', from • – 'sorry', from • – 'doctor' • – 'education', from • – 'equipment', from • – 'electricity', from • – 'embassy' • – 'emergency', from • – 'engineering', from • – 'so', 'well', from • 'instead of', from • – 'school', from • – 'experience', from • – 'family', from • – 'physics', from • – 'force', from • – 'pillowcases', from • – 'guitarist', from • – 'government', from • – 'idea' • – 'church' • – 'impossible', from • – 'history', from • – 'generation', from • – 'coffee', from • – 'coffin', from • – 'cheese', from • – 'company', from • – 'understand', from • – 'consultation', from • – 'corruption', from • – 'when', from • – 'message', from • – 'less', from • – 'miracle' • – 'world', from • – 'music', from • – 'Christmas', from • – 'thanks', from • – 'organization', from • – 'past', from • – 'passport', from • – 'bread', from • – 'question' • – 'police', from • – 'people', from • – 'president', from • – 'teacher', from • – 'profession', from • – 'religion', from • – 'week' • – 'work', from • – 'beer', from • – 'technology', from • – 'television', from • – 'must', from • – 'tendency', from • – 'terrorism', from • – 'chief', from From Malay ', 'usa' and 'abusa'." As a result of Bazaar Malay being a regional lingua franca and of Indonesian being a working language, many words are derived from Malay, including: • 'hundred', from • 'much', from • 'can', from • 'iron', from • 'rain', from • 'way' or 'road', from • 'stone', from • 'moon' or 'month' from • 'foreigner', from 'Malay' • 'hot', from • 'thousand', from • 'wrong', from • 'help', from • 'kitchen', from • 'house', from In addition, as a legacy of Indonesian rule, other words of Malay origin have entered Tetun, through Indonesian. Numerals • 'one' • 'two' • 'three' • 'four' • 'five' • 'six' • 'seven' • 'eight' • 'nine' • 'ten' • 'twenty' However, Tetun speakers often use Malay/Indonesian or Portuguese numbers instead, such as or 'eight' instead of , especially for numbers over one thousand. Combinations Tetun has many hybrid words, which are combinations of indigenous and Portuguese words. These often include an indigenous Tetun verb, with a Portuguese suffix -dór (similar to '-er'). For example: • ('to eat') – glutton • ('to drink') – heavy drinker • ('to say') – chatterbox, talkative person • ('to nag, pester') – nag, pest ==Basic phrases==

• – 'Good morning' (from Portuguese ). • – 'How are you?' (literally 'Are you well or not?') • – 'I'm fine.' • – 'Thank you', said by a male/female (from Portuguese ). • – 'Do you speak Tetun?' • – 'Right' • – 'No.' • [] – 'I [do not] understand' (from Portuguese ). ==Grammar==

Morphology Personal pronouns {{interlinear|number=(1) A common occurrence is to use titles such as for a woman or names rather than pronouns when addressing people. The second person singular pronoun is used generally with children, friends or family, while with strangers or people of higher social status, or is used. Nouns and pronouns Plural The plural is not normally marked on nouns, but the word 'they' can express it when necessary. : 'woman/women' → 'women' However, the plural ending -s of nouns of Portuguese origin is sometimes retained. : – United States (from ) : – United Nations (from ) Definiteness Tetun has an optional indefinite article ('one'), used after nouns: : – a child There is no definite article, but the demonstratives ('this one') and ('that one') may be used to express definiteness: : – this child, the child : – that child, the child In the plural, ('these') or ('those') are used: : – these children, the children : – those children, the children Possessive/genitive The particle forms the inalienable possessive, and can be used in a similar way to 's in English, e.g.: : – 'João's house' : – 'Cristina's book' When the possessor is postposed, representing alienable possession, becomes : : – the people of Timor-Leste Inclusive and exclusive we Like other Austronesian languages, Tetun has two forms of we, (equivalent to Malay ) which is exclusive, e.g. "I and they", and (equivalent to Malay ), which is inclusive, e.g. "you, I, and they". : – 'our [family's] car' : – 'our country' Nominalization Nouns derived from verbs or adjectives are usually formed with affixes, for example the suffix ''-na'in'', similar to "-er" in English. : 'write' → 'writer' The suffix ''-na'in'' can also be used with nouns, in the sense of 'owner'. : 'house' → 'householder' In more traditional forms of Tetun, the circumfix ma(k)- -k is used instead of ''-na'in''. For example, the nouns 'sinner' or 'wrongdoer' can be derived from the word as either , or . Only the prefix ma(k)- is used when the root word ends with a consonant; for example, the noun 'cook' or 'chef' can be derived from the word as as well as . The suffix -teen (from the word for 'dirt' or 'excrement') can be used with adjectives to form derogatory terms: : 'false' → 'liar' Adjectives Derivation from nouns To turn a noun into a nominalised adjective, the word ('person, child, associated object') is added to it. : 'foreigner' → 'foreign' Thus, 'Timorese person' is , as opposed to the country of Timor, . To form adjectives and actor nouns from verbs, the suffix -dór (derived from Portuguese) can be added: : 'tell' → 'talkative' Gender Tetun does not have separate masculine and feminine gender, hence (similar to // in Malay) can mean either 'he', 'she' or 'it'. Different forms for the genders only occur in Portuguese-derived adjectives, hence ('thank you') is used by men, and by women. The masculine and feminine forms of other adjectives derived from Portuguese are sometimes used with Portuguese loanwords, particularly by Portuguese-educated speakers of Tetun. : – 'democratic government' (from , masculine) : – 'democratic nation' (from , feminine) In some instances, the different gender forms have distinct translations into English: : – 'handsome' : – 'pretty' In indigenous Tetun words, the suffixes ('male') and ('female') are sometimes used to differentiate between the genders: : 'son' → 'daughter' Comparatives and superlatives Superlatives can be formed from adjectives by reduplication: : 'much, many' → 'very much, many' : 'big, great' → 'huge, enormous' : 'good' → 'very good' : 'last' → 'the very last, final' : 'clean, clear' → 'spotless, immaculate' When making comparisons, the word ('more') is used after the adjective, optionally followed by ('than' from Portuguese ): : — Maria is older than Ana. To describe something as the most or least, the word ('all') is added: : — Maria is the oldest. Adverbs Adverbs can be formed from adjectives or nouns by reduplication: : 'good' → 'well' : 'new, recent' → 'newly, recently' : 'night' → 'nightly' : 'quick' → 'quickly' : 'day' → 'daily' Prepositions and circumpositions The most commonly used prepositions in Tetun are the verbs ('have', 'possess', 'specific locative') and ('go', 'to', 'for'). Most prepositional concepts of English are expressed by nominal phrases formed by using , the object and the position (expressed by a noun),optionally with the possessive . : — ' inside the house' : — ' on top of the mountain' : — ' on the table' : — ' under the chair' : — ' outside the country' : — ' between the people' Verbs Copula and negation There is no verb to be as such, but the word , which translates as 'not to be', is used for negation: : — 'The Timorese are not Indonesians.' The word , which roughly translates as 'who is' or 'what is', can be used with fronted phrases for focusing/ emphasis: : — 'It's John who likes beer.' Interrogation The interrogative is formed by using the words ('or') or ('or not'). : — 'Are you crazy?' : — 'Do you like me?' Derivation from nouns and adjectives Transitive verbs are formed by adding the prefix ha- or hak- to a noun or adjective: : 'liquid' → 'to liquify, to melt' : 'mad' → 'to drive mad' : 'union' → 'to unite' : 'shade' → 'to shade, to cover' : 'hot' → 'to heat up' Intransitive verbs are formed by adding the prefix na- or nak- to a noun or adjective: : — '(to be) liquified, melted' : — '(to be) driven mad' : — '(to be) united' : — '(to be) shaded, covered' : — '(to become) heated up' ===== Conjugations and inflections (in Tetun-Terik) ===== In , verbs inflect when they begin with a vowel or consonant h. In this case mutation of the first consonant occurs. For example, the verb ('see') in would be conjugated as follows: : — 'I see' : — 'you (sing.) see' : — 'he/she/it sees' : — 'we see' : — 'you (pl.) see' : — 'they see' Tenses Past Whenever possible, the past tense is simply inferred from the context, for example: : – 'Yesterday I ate rice.' However, it can be expressed by placing the adverb ('already') at the end of a sentence. : – 'I've (already) eaten rice.' When is used with ('not') this means 'no more' or 'no longer', rather than 'have not': : – 'I don't eat rice anymore.' In order to convey that an action has not occurred, the word ('not yet') is used: : – 'I haven't eaten rice (yet).' When relating an action that occurred in the past, the word ('finally' or 'well and truly') is used with the verb. : – 'I ate rice.' Future The future tense is formed by placing the word ('will') before a verb: : – 'I will give them food.' The negative is formed by adding ('not') between and the verb: : – 'I will not give them food.' Aspects Perfect The perfect aspect can be formed by using . : – 'I have eaten rice / I ate rice.' When negated, indicates that an action ceased to occur: : – 'I didn't eat rice anymore.' In order to convey that a past action had not or never occurred, the word ('not yet' or 'never') is used: : – 'I didn't eat rice / I hadn't eaten rice.' Progressive The progressive aspect can be obtained by placing the word ('stay') after a verb: : – 'They're (still) working.' Imperative The imperative mood is formed using the word ('go') at the end of a sentence, hence: : – 'Read the letter!' The word ('just' or 'a bit') may also be used when making a request rather than a command: : – 'Just read the letter.' When forbidding an action ('must not') or ('do not') are used: : – 'Don't smoke here!' : – 'Don't kill them!' ==Orthography and phonology==

The influence of Portuguese and to a lesser extent Malay/Indonesian on the phonology of Tetun has been extensive. In the Tetun language, , and tend to have relatively fixed sounds. However and vary according to the environment they are placed in, for instance the sound is slightly higher if the proceeding syllable is or . All consonants appearing in parentheses are used only in loanwords. Stops: All stops in Tetun are un-aspirated, meaning an expulsion of breath is absent. In contrast, English stops, namely 'p' 't' and 'k' are generally aspirated. Fricatives: is an unstable voiced labio-dental fricative and tends to alternate with or is replaced by ; e.g. – meaning 'grandparent.' However, there are still widespread variations in spelling, one example being the word or 'when', which has also been written as , , , . The use of or is a reflection of the pronunciation in some rural dialects of Tetun-Terik. The current orthography originates from the spelling reforms undertaken by Fretilin in 1974, when it launched literacy campaigns across East Timor, and also from the system used by the Catholic Church when it adopted Tetun as its liturgical language during the Indonesian occupation. These involved the transcription of many Portuguese words that were formerly written in their original spelling, for example, → 'education', and → 'colonialism'. Reforms suggested by the International Committee for the Development of East Timorese Languages (IACDETL) in 1996 included the replacement of the digraphs nh (digraph)| and lh (digraph)| (borrowed from Portuguese, where they stand for the phonemes and ) with and , respectively (as in certain Basque orthographies), to avoid confusion with the consonant clusters and , which also occur in Tetun. Thus, 'sir' became , and 'worker' became . Later, as adopted by IACDETL and approved by the INL in 2002, and were replaced by and (as in Spanish). Thus, 'sir' became , and 'worker' became . Some linguists favoured using ny (digraph)| (as in Catalan and Filipino) and ly (digraph)| for these sounds, but the latter spellings were rejected for being similar to the Indonesian system, and most speakers actually pronounce ñ and ll as and , respectively, with a semivowel which forms a diphthong with the preceding vowel (but reduced to , after ), not as the palatal consonants of Portuguese and Spanish. Thus, , are pronounced , , and , are pronounced , . As a result, some writers use and instead, for example and for June and July ( and in Portuguese). As well as variations in the transliteration of Portuguese loanwords, there are also variations in the spelling of indigenous words. These include the use of double vowels and the apostrophe for the glottal stop, for example → 'large' and → 'small'. The sound , which is not indigenous to Tetun but appears in many loanwords from Portuguese and Malay, often changed to in old Tetun and to (written ) in the speech of young speakers: for example, 'table' from Portuguese , and 'shirt' from Portuguese . In the sociolect of Tetun that is still used by the generation educated during the Indonesian occupation, and may occur in free variation. For instance, the Portuguese-derived word 'example' is pronounced by some speakers, and conversely 'January' is pronounced . The sound , also not native to the language, often shifted to , as in 'work' from Portuguese (also note that a modern INL convention promotes the use of for 'work' and for 'service'). ==See also==