Information AboutTetum |
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|name=Tetum |nativename=Tetun, Lia-Tetun |familycolor=Austronesian |states= East Timor , Indonesia |region= Southeast Asia |speakers=800,000 |fam2= Malayo-Polynesian (MP) |fam3= Nuclear MP |fam4= Central-Eastern MP |fam5= Central MP |fam6= Timor-Flores |fam7=Nuclear Timor |fam8=East Timor |nation= East Timor |agency=National Institute of Linguistics |iso2=tet|iso3=tet}} Tetum (also written as '''Tetun''') is an Austronesian Language , the basis of the national language of East Timor , Tetun Prasa. This is a Creole with many words from Portuguese , with which it has equal status as an official language, as well as Malay or Indonesian . Tetun Prasa arose as a Contact Language in the 16th century after colonization by Portugal . The main dialect, that of the capital Dili , is called either ''Tetun Dili'', or ''Tetun Prasa'' (literally 'town Tetum'), while the non-creole language spoken in the countryside is called ''Tetun-Terik''. A dialect of Tetum known as ''Tetun-Belu'' is also spoken in Indonesian West Timor , but has no official status or recognition. Although Portuguese was the official language of what was then Portuguese Timor , Tetun-Prasa served as the main ''lingua franca''. When Indonesia invaded and occupied East Timor, declaring it to be the Republic's '27th Province', the use of Portuguese was banned. However, the Catholic Church , instead of adopting Bahasa Indonesia as its liturgical language, adopted Tetum, thereby making it a focus for cultural and national identity. Vocabulary The Tetum name for East Timor is ''Timor Lorosa'e'' or "land of the rising sun"; ''lorosa'e'' comes from ''loro'' ("sun"). The Tetum word for "word" is ''liafuan'', from ''lia'' ("voice") and ''fuan'' ("fruit"). Austronesian Some words in Tetum:
Portuguese Words derived from Portuguese:
As in Indonesian, the sound of Portuguese words, originally written ''s'' or ''z'', often changed to in Tetum, written ''j'': for example ''meja'' ("table") from ''mesa'', and ''kemeja'' ("shirt") from ''camisa''. The Portuguese letters ''b'' and ''v'' were often exchanged, as in ''serbisu'' ("work") from the Portuguese ''serviço''. Malay/Indonesian Words derived from Malay include:
Numerals
However, Tetum speakers often use Malay/Indonesian words instead, such as ''duapuluh'' ("twenty") instead of ''ruanulu''; especially for numbers over one thousand. Grammar Grammar in Tetum is comparatively simple, there being no genders or verb conjugations. There is no definite article, so ''fetu'' can be transtaled as "woman" or "the woman", depending on the context. There is no verb "to be" as such, although the word ''la'ós'' (which translates as "not to be") is used to express the negative:
Similarly, ''maka'' (which roughly translates as "who is" or "what is") can be used with an adjective for emphasis:
The interrogative is formed by using the word ''ka'' ("or") or ''ka lae'' ("or not").
The plural is not normally used for nouns, although the word ''sira'' ("they") can be used for emphasis.
In the case of words of Portuguese origin, the distinct plural (ending with the letter ''s'') is used;
To turn an adjective into a noun, the word ''oan'' is added:
Similarly, "Timorese" is ''Timor-oan'', as opposed to the country of Timor, ''Rai-Timor''. The past tense is not usually used except for emphasis, when the word ''ona'' ("already") is added at the end of the sentence.
Like Malay, Tetum has two forms of "we": ''ami'' (equivalent to Malay "kami") which is exclusive (eg: "just you and me"), and ''ita'' (equivalent to Malay "kita"), which is inclusive (eg: "you, me, and them").
The word "nia" is used as the possessive. The genitive is formed by using "nian", hence:
Basic phrases
Orthography As Tetum did not have any official recognition or support under either Portuguese or Indonesian rule, it is only recently that a standardised orthography has been established by the National Institute Of Linguistics (INL). However, there are still widespread variations in spelling. The current orthography originates from the spelling reforms unertaken by Fretilin in 1974 , when it launched literacy campaigns across East Timor during that year, and also from the system used by the Catholic Church when it adopted Tetum as the liturgical language during the Indonesian occupation. These involved the Transliteration of many Portuguese words that were formerly written in the original spelling, for example, ''educação'' ("education") → ''edukasaun'', and ''colonialismo'' ("colonialism") → ''kolonializmu''. More recent reforms by the INL include the replacement of the digraphs ''nh'' and ''lh'' (borowed from Portuguese and pronounced "ny" and [ʎ "ly") by ''ñ'' and ''ll'', respectively (as in Spanish and Galician ). Thus, Portuguese ''senhor'' ("mister") became ''señór'' in Tetum, and ''trabalhador'' ("worker", "hard-working") became ''traballadór''. Some linguists favoured ''ny'' (used by Catalan ) and ''ly'' for these sounds, but these spellings were rejected as being similar to the Indonesian system. The letter ''ñ'' was also used in Filipino , but this was recently replaced by ''ny''. In fact, the Tetum pronunciations of these letter combinations are closer to and [yn , hence ''señor'' is prounced as in Tetum, and ''trabalhador'' as [trabayla'dor . The sound {Link without Title} , written ''ch'' or ''x'' in Portuguese, is written ''x'' in Tetum (as in Galician and in the Konkani language of Goa ), as in ''xá'' ("tea"), from Portuguese ''chá''. The sounds of ''j'' and ''z'' are often confused, so that the Portuguese-derived word ''exemplu'' or "example" may be pronounced in Tetum as and, conversely, ''Janeiru'' or "January" as [zaneiru . Name of the language The spelling of the name of the language as ''Tetum'' is a reflection of Portuguese pronunciation, in which 'm' is pronounced as a nasal sound, rather than that in the language itself. Consequently, some people regard ''Tetun'' as more appropriate. Although favoured by Indonesian speakers, ''Tetun'' has also been used by Portuguese speakers such as José Ramos Horta and Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo , in Portuguese as well as English. Similar disagreements over Nomenclature have emerged in other indigenous languages, such as ( Swahili / Kiswahili ) and ( Punjabi / Panjabi ). Dialects In addition to regional varieties of Tetum in East Timor, there are variations in vocabulary and pronunciation, partly due to Portuguese and Indonesian influence. The Tetum spoken by East Timorese migrants in Portugal and Australia is more Portuguese-influenced, as many of those speakers were not educated in Indonesian. See also External links
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