Tetun Dili | Ethnologue

A language of East Timor

ISO 639: tdt
Alternate Names: Dili Tetum, Lia-Tetun, Tetum, Tetum Dili, Tetum Prasa, Tetum Praça, Tetun, Tetun Prasa
Autonym: Tetun Dili
Population: 424,000, all users. L1 users: 50,000 (Williams-van Klinken et al 2002). L2 users: 374,000 (2020).
Location:: L1 in Dili district: East Timor north coast; L2 scattered in western part of East Timor.
Language Status: 1 (National). Statutory national language (2002, Constitution, Article 13).
Classification: Creole, Tetun based
Dialects: None known. Heavy Portuguese [por] and Mambae [mgm] influence; some Indonesian [ind] or Malay influence.
Typology: SVO; prepositions; noun heads initial, except for possessor; tense-aspect markers; 22 consonants and 5 vowels; non-tonal; stress most commonly on the penultimate syllable; inclusive/exclusive pronouns; second person singular honorific.
Language Use: Increasing in use in urban areas. All domains. Used by all. Also use Tetun [tet], some bilingually, but many others have significant difficulty understanding it in many domains.
Language Development: Grammar. NT: 2016.
Language Resources: OLAC resources in and about Tetun Dili
Writing: Latin script [Latn].
Other Comments: Cultural rituals and themes in Tetun [tet] are not as deeply rooted in Tetun Dili. Christian.

Location: L1 in Dili district: East Timor north coast; L2 scattered in western part of East Timor.