Tetum language

Tetum
Portuguese: Tétum
Tetun
Native to	Indonesia East Timor
Native speakers	500,000, mostly in Indonesia (2010–2011)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Central–Eastern Timor–Babar Tetumic Tetum
Dialects	Belunese (Tetun Belu) Terik (Tetun Terik)
Official status
Official language in	East Timor
Recognised minority language in	Indonesia (East Nusa Tenggara)
Language codes
ISO 639-2	tet
ISO 639-3	tet
Glottolog	tetu1245
Distribution in East Timor of Tetum Belu (west) and Tetum Terik (southeast). The majority of Tetun speakers, who live in West Timor, are not shown.

Tetun Dili
Tetun Prasa Portuguese: Tétum Praça
Tetun Dili, Tetun Prasa
Native to	East Timor
Native speakers	390,000 (2009)[1] L2: 570,000 in East Timor[2]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Central–Eastern Timor–Babar Tetumic Tetun Dili
Dialects	Belunese (Tetun Belu) Terik (Tetun Terik)
Writing system	Latin (Tetum alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	East Timor
Regulated by	National Institute of Linguistics
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tdt
Glottolog	tetu1246
Distribution of Tetum Prasa mother-tongue speakers in East Timor
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Tetum (Tetun [ˈt̪et̪un̪]; Indonesian: Bahasa Tetun; Portuguese: Tétum [ˈtɛtũ])^[3] is an Austronesian language spoken on the island of Timor. It is one of the official languages of Timor-Leste and it is also spoken in Belu Regency and in Indonesian West Timor.

There are two main forms of Tetum as a language:

• Tetum Terik, which is a more indigenous form of Tetum marked by different word choice, less foreign influence and other characteristics such as verb conjugation
• Tetum/n Prasa ('market Tetum', from the Portuguese word praça meaning 'town square') or Tetum/n Dili (given its widespread usage in the capital Dili). This is the form of Tetum (heavily influenced by Portuguese) that developed in Dili during colonial rule as local Tetum speakers came into contact with Portuguese missionaries, traders and colonial rulers. In East Timor, Tetun Dili is widely spoken fluently as a second language.

Ethnologue classifies Tetun Terik as a dialect of Tetun.^[1] However, without previous contact, Tetun Dili is not immediately mutually intelligible,^[4] mainly because of the large number of Portuguese origin words used in Tetun Dili.^{[citation needed]} Besides some grammatical simplification, Tetun Dili has been greatly influenced by the vocabulary and to a small extent by the grammar of Portuguese, the other official language of East Timor.