Attitudes Toward Tetun Dili (Abridged, Non-Technical Dissertation Report - US Letter)

Summary: Survey and interview findings from the doctoral dissertation titled Attitudes Toward Tetun Dili: A Language of East Timor, conferred in May 2017 by the University of Hawaii upon Melody Ann Ross 1 Executive Summary Background East Timor is a small, relatively new nation in Southeast Asia that hosts many indigenous and several non-indigenous languages. Tetun Dili, a local language, and Portuguese, the former colonial language, are both official languages of the country, while English and Indonesian are recognized as ‘working’ languages for as long as the government deems necessary. Project Purpose The social role of the languages spoken in East Timor is a topic that has not yet been explored in depth, and the results of such a study could have important implications for language and education policy. The purpose of this research program is to collect attitudinal data about Tetun Dili in order to create a record of attitudes toward it. A secondary purpose of this research program is to promote the status of Tetun Dili, both as an official language and as a subject of academic study. Design Selected The research methodology selected for this program was based on best practices in academic sociolinguistic research. Using both language attitude surveys and sociolinguistic interviews, a first analysis was completed on the social attitudes toward Tetun Dili. This mixed methodology approach combines both quantitative and qualitative data to create a more nuanced and detailed description of language attitudes in East Timor regarding Tetun Dili. Implementation This research program was implemented over a period of 10 months in East Timor in 2014-2015, with a follow-up trip in early 2016. Analysis and write-up was completed with the successful defense of this doctoral degree in May 2017. The full PhD dissertation and all results of this study are publicly available at melodyannross.com/docs. Results The results of this research program have been organized into five major content themes: 1. The most important and robust is the theme of Tetun as a social necessity in East Timor. It is highly ranked in nearly every social setting, and is viewed as vital for daily life in Timor. 2. The second is the theme of Tetun as a marker of East Timorese identity. It is viewed as an important part of Timorese-ness, and Timorese have an emotional attachment to it. 3. The third theme is that of Tetun as the target of critique. It is viewed as inappropriate in certain situations or domains, and has some negative stereotypes associated with it. 4. The fourth theme is that of Tetun as “developing” or needing “development”. This was seen in the descriptive section especially, but also in views of Tetun utility. 5. The fifth theme is that of Tetun as the locus of insecurity, either in personal use or more directly concerning the language itself. 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary................................................................................................................. 2 1. Introduction and Objectives ............................................................................................... 5 1.1 Objectives .....................................................................................................................................5 1.2 Key Terms and Concepts............................................................................................................5 1.3 Methods ........................................................................................................................................6 2. Results of the Survey ........................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Section One – Demographic Information .................................................................................8 2.1.1 Age .........................................................................................................................................8 2.1.2 Sex..........................................................................................................................................8 2.1.3 Ethnicity .................................................................................................................................9 2.1.4 District Representations .......................................................................................................10 2.1.5 Participant SES ....................................................................................................................10 2.1.6 Summary ..............................................................................................................................13 2.2 Section Two – Language Use (Actual) .....................................................................................13 2.2.1 Mother Tongues (Participants and Parents’ Mother Tongues) ............................................13 2.2.2 Languages Known Well, Somewhat and Want to Know Better..........................................16 2.2.3 Languages Desired for Children ..........................................................................................17 2.2.4 Primary, Secondary, Tertiary School LOI ...........................................................................18 2.2.5 Language Use with Friends, Family, Foreigners .................................................................20 2.2.6 Language Use at Work, Home, School................................................................................20 2.2.7 Summary ..............................................................................................................................21 2.3 Section Three – Language Use (Ideal) .....................................................................................22 2.3.1 Social Solidarity ...................................................................................................................22 2.3.2 Occupation ...........................................................................................................................23 2.3.3 Education .............................................................................................................................24 2.3.4 Media ...................................................................................................................................25 2.3.5 Domain-Specific ..................................................................................................................27 2.3.6 Summary ..............................................................................................................................28 2.4 Section Four – Language Attitudes .........................................................................................28 2.4.1 Multilingualism ....................................................................................................................29 2.4.2 Identity .................................................................................................................................32 2.4.3 Education .............................................................................................................................34 2.4.4 Utility ...................................................................................................................................36 2.4.5 Summary ..............................................................................................................................36 2.5 Section Five – Tetun (Speakers)...............................................................................................37 2.5.1 Loud, Quiet ..........................................................................................................................37 2.5.2 Simple, Successful ...............................................................................................................38 2.5.3 Bad-tempered, Kind-hearted ................................................................................................39 2.5.4 Feminine, Masculine ............................................................................................................40 2.5.5 Honest, Pretentious ..............................................................................................................41 2.5.6 Modern, Old-fashioned ........................................................................................................42 2.5.7 Peaceful, Violent ..................................................................................................................43 2.5.8 Old, Young...........................................................................................................................44 2.5.9 Poor, Rich.............................................................................................................................45 2.5.10 Summary ............................................................................................................................46 3 2.6 Section Six – Language Ranking..............................................................................................46 2.7 Section Seven – Language Description ....................................................................................47 2.8 Survey Conclusions and Emergent Trends.............................................................................48 3. Interview Results ............................................................................................................... 49 3.1 Tetun Dili as Social Necessity ...................................................................................................49 3.2 Tetun Dili as Identity ................................................................................................................49 3.3 Tetun Dili as Target of Critique...............................................................................................50 3.4 Tetun as “Developing” ..............................................................................................................50 3.5 Tetun as Locus of Insecurity ....................................................................................................51 3.6 Interview Summary...................................................................................................................52 4 Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 53 4.1 Attitudes Toward TD in the Context of Multilingual Settings..............................................53 4.2 Attitudes Toward Tetun Dili and National Identity...............................................................54 4.3 Attitudes towards TD and Policy; Ideologies of Tetun Dili as a Resource, Problem, or Right ...........................................................................................................................................................55 4.4 Attitudes towards TD and Education; Literacy, Orthography, and Development Ideologies ...........................................................................................................................................................56 4.5 Attitudes towards TD and Contact Languages; Standard Language Ideologies ................58 4.6 Research Questions Revisited...................................................................................................58 4.7 Summary of the Study ..............................................................................................................59 4.8 Contributions of the Study .......................................................................................................59 4.9 Directions for Future Work......................................................................................................60 Appendices.............................................................................................................................. 61 Appendix A: Survey Materials.......................................................................................................62 Appendix B: Training Materials....................................................................................................64 Appendix C: Survey Results...........................................................................................................69 4 1. Introduction and Objectives The social role of languages in East Timor and the attitudes of Timorese toward language are understudied subjects that have implications for the successful enactment of language-related policy. In recent years, policy changes have shed light on the complex relationship between East Timorese and their language(s), particularly regarding Tetun Dili. This relationship can be explored in terms of language attitudes, which are the beliefs and stereotypes held by individuals about language. These beliefs are situated within the larger context of societal language ideologies. This report uses survey and interview data from Timorese participants to identify the major attitudinal trends toward Tetun Dili, and to situate those beliefs within the larger societal language ideologies of East Timor. The aims of this paper are to contribute to the sociolinguistic literature in East Timor, as well as promote the idea that Tetun Dili itself is an important and legitimate subject of academic research. The data and conclusions presented in this report are the results of a multi-year research program on language attitudes in East Timor for the doctoral dissertation titled “Attitudes Toward Tetun Dili, A Language of East Timor”. This research program uses the combined results of language attitude surveys and sociolinguistic interviews to explore the ways that East Timorese view Tetun Dili, the most commonly spoken of the two official languages of East Timor. The purpose of this report is to dessiminate this research to persons who were instrumental in accomplishing this project, non-academic institutions, non-linguistic researchers, and anyone who is has an interest in the research but may not have the desire to read through a 400 page Ph.D. document. 1.1 Objectives Primary Research Objectives: 1. What are the most common attitudes about Tetun Dili among various groups? 2. Where do these attitudes come from and how do they differ? 3. How can these attitudes be described? 4. How can these attitudes be situated within the larger context of language ideologies? Secondary Objectives: 1. Contribute to the documentation and sociolinguistic literature of Tetun Dili. 2. Increase the visibility and viability of Tetun Dili as an area of academic study. 3. Encourage Timorese scholarship in the field of language study. 1.2 Key Terms and Concepts There are a number of specialized linguistic terms used throughout this research. It is important to refer to the following operational definitions when interpreting the results of this study. It is also important to understand that the differentiation below between Tetun Dili and Tetun Ofisial is not a political stance; it is an observable linguistic fact. Language Attitudes – An individual’s beliefs and stereotypes about language that that individual uses to negotiate their identity within the larger context of language ideologies. 5 Language Ideologies – The societal beliefs and stereotypes about language that provide the context in which individual attitudes are negotiated. Tetun Dili – The everyday vernacular variety (often called plainly ‘Tetun’) that is spoken throughout Dili and as a lingua franca in other parts of East Timor. This variety includes borrowings in vigorous use from the Indonesian, English, and Portuguese languages, as well as local languages where applicable. Speakers of Portuguese will also refer to this variety as ‘Tetun Prasa’ which means ‘market Tetun’. Tetun Ofisial – The variety of Tetun that is used and promoted by the government of East Timor. Its development is overseen by the National Institute of Linguistics (INL), and is currently a major component of the Ministry of Education’s newly reformed curriculum. This variety deliberately employs the Portuguese language as its major source of new and needed vocabulary, rather than relying on the organic adoption of Indonesian, English, or other terms. Tetun Terik – The variety of Tetun that is spoken in rural East Timor, as well as parts of Indonesian West Timor. This more conservative variety has been more resistant to external influences than the Tetun of the urban centers and maintains productive grammatical morphology as well as ritual registers that are characterized by poetic couplets. Some Timorese will refer to this variety as ‘real’ or ‘original’ Tetun. 1.3 Methods This dissertation relied on two data sources for its analysis; quantitative survey data and qualitative interview data. These methods of attitude elicitation yield different results owing to their differing approaches, and the role of awareness and attention associated with each approach. Survey results do not get at the nuance of individual opinions, while interviews provide data that is often too nuanced to generalize from. The aim of this dissertation is to create a unified description of language attitudes using both quantitative and qualitative data to support each other. The 101-question survey used in this research program was designed to answer a series of research questions. In order to establish a baseline for attitudes about Tetun Dili, I approached survey design from a wide range of attitudinal questions, including but not limited to: How do Timorese people frame their relationship to Tetun Dili? How do descriptions of Tetun Dili construct ideologies or attitudes about it? How do people feel about Tetun Dili? How do they talk about it? What are some of the stereotypes about Tetun Dili? Who is Tetun Dili spoken by (what kind of people) and where (what kinds of situations)? In what situations do people think Tetun Dili is most appropriate? Most inappropriate? Survey results are analyzed through direct interpretation. The survey instrument itself was designed based on the models of attitude-survey-based research by linguistic researchers, as well as the lessons learned from two pilot surveys for exploratory data conducted in Dili in 2012 and 2013. The survey instrument was translated by a committee of four native speakers of Tetun Dili (two of these translators later served as research assistants) and consists of seven sections. Following the advice of a colleague at The Asia Foundation, the survey was then back-translated it into English at a later date to double-check for 6 clarity and comprehension before distribution. Complete survey materials can be found in Appendix A. Surveys were collected over a period of two weeks by four Timorese research assistants. RAs were recruited from the English Conversation Course at the Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa’e and the English program at the Dili Institute of Technology. Before selection, RAs were asked to submit an application and sit for an interview. RAs were chosen based on their diversity of language backgrounds and clear understanding of the research. They were each given detailed Terms of Reference (ToR) and asked to sign a contract confirming that they understood their responsibilities and terms of compensation. As part of the ToR, RAs were required to attend a one-hour group training to familiarize themselves with the survey instrument and ethical research principles. Each RA was given 75 surveys which were marked with a unique identifier. During survey collection, RAs kept a log wherein they recorded information about each survey experience; location, noise level, time of day, length of time to complete the survey, questions that participants had, their estimation of the participant’s mood, etc. During training, RAs were encouraged to collect surveys from participants of a wide variety of ages, economic levels, gender identities, education levels and linguistic backgrounds. When all surveys had been filled out and returned, RAs were required to meet with me individually for one-hour debriefings. During this time, I reviewed each collected survey, asking the RAs questions where necessary, and discussed any questions or concerns that they brought up. In total and as a result of this debriefing, 301 usable surveys were returned by the 4 RAs over a period of 2 weeks. Complete training materials can be found in Appendix B. Interview questions were designed to flow conversationally with each participant. With some natural deviations and occasional re-ordering, interviews largely proceeded according to the following pattern. The interviewer (me) typically began by asking each participant some background information about themselves, their experiences in East Timor and abroad, their impressions of East Timor and other countries they had visited. This was used as a segue to ask participants about their experiences communicating throughout their life in various scenarios, their language and language learning backgrounds, and their experiences and opinions on language-related issues in East Timor. Each interview ended with the same two questions, “Using 5 words, can you describe the language situation in East Timor?” (in parallel to the survey) and “Is there anything else you want to talk about, or anything you thought I’d ask that we didn’t discuss?” I allowed participants to direct the conversation naturally and did not steer them back to topics they were hesitant to broach or elaborate on.41 I tried to be only a minimal conversation participant and minimized my opinions and views as much as possible, but answered direct questions when asked. Above all, I tried to never interrupt or talk at the same time as a participant. Interviewees were recruited by word-of-mouth with the understanding that I was asking them to participate in a 30-60 minute conversation about “their experiences in East Timor and abroad with language and language learning.” The Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects Research at the University of Hawaii at Manoa approved my question bank of over 100 questions, but only a handful of these questions per interview were intended for use. Interviews were conducted over a period of 12 months from October 2014 – July 2015 and February – April 2016. Interview data are analyzed using stance analysis, a theoretical framework that allows for secondary and indirect analysis to add complexity to direct data. 7 2. Results of the Survey 2.1 Section One – Demographic Information 2.1.1 Age Surveys were collected from 301 participants between the ages of 18 and 67 (4 N/A responses). Participants tend to be under 30 years of age with a median age of 23. These totals are consistent with current demographics of East Timor according to the 2015 census, which show that 77.7% of the population is under thirty years of age, and 51% of the population is male. This seems shocking on the surface, but the last few decades of internal stability, access to medicine, vaccines, and improved nutrition mean that children are surviving infancy at greater rates. Compounding this, Amnesty International estimates that a third of the population of East Timor was killed between1975 and 1999, so the older generation is unnaturally diminished. 2.1.2 Sex There is no good Tetun equivalent to the idea of ‘gender’ as an attribute that is different than ‘sex’. In previous surveys, I have given a ‘M/F/Other’ option, which elicited confusion and amusement from Timorese participants. (This is not to say that Timorese do not recognize that third gender and transgender exist- they do.) For this survey, I simply left the spot blank to allow for write-in. For the purposes of this analysis, I am using the term ‘gender’ because participants self-identified. Survey participants were evenly distributed across gender, with 148 self-identified female participants and 150 self- identified male participants (3 N/A responses). These totals are consistent with current demographics of East Timor according to the 2015 census, which show that 51% of the population is male. 8 2.1.3 Ethnicity The concept of ethnicity presented a significant confound for participants. Answers to this question were free-response style, and the results were considerably messy. For this reason, I have classified the responses as falling under one of six response types: N/A (195), place-name (13), ethnolinguistic classifier (39), Timorese (39), or Lorosae / Loromonu (7/8). The largest by far is the N/A group, in which most participants simply skipped the question, but a few drew a ‘strike’ line through the blank as though to say ‘this doesn’t apply to me’. The second most common were responses that indicated the participant was simply Timorese (original Timor:6, original Timor-oan:2, Timor:8, Timor metan:1, Timor-Leste:2, Timorense:11, Timor-oan:9), or responses that used an ethno-linguistic classifier (Atoni:2, Bunak:2, Fataluku:2, Idate:2, Kemak:4, Makasae:3, Mambae:20, Tetun:4). These are some common local languages, except for Atoni, which is used interchangeably to refer to both the language and the ethnic group in the exclave of Oecusse. Less common was the use of a place name that was more specific than East Timor, which may carry other ethnolinguistically identifying information, but which cannot be reliably extracted from the data (Ainaro:1, Angola:1, Baucau:1, Bebonuk:1, Dili:2, Ermera:1, Indonesia:2, Java:1, Lospalos:1, Remexio:1, Samora:1).45 Finally, and somewhat unexpectedly, the least common pattern of response was for a participant to choose a side in the Lorosae/Loromonu division from the time of the 2006 crisis, with only 7 Lorosae and 8 Loromonu responses. It is worth noting that all of the Lorosae/Loromonu responses were collected by the same research assistant in the early stages of his survey collection (according to his activity logs), which suggests that, at least initially, he was providing more context for confused participants. The clearest explanation for this messy data is that ‘ethnicity’ as conceived by Westerners is simply not a meaningful way that Timorese organize themselves socially. It would be very easy for an outsider to divide Timorese along Austronesian/Papuan lines (both linguistically and culturally), but this is simply not a recognized construct among Timorese. A second explanation is that the concept of ethnicity was introduced into the social consciousness at the time of the 2006 crisis, when Western media simplified the Lorosae/Loromonu violence as an ethnic conflict. This association is why I expected that participants might be more likely to give a Lorosae or Loromonu response to the question of ethnicity. That they didn’t suggests that Timorese are eager to forget the events of 2006, and that they do not want these labels to be or become any more meaningful than they already are. 9 2.1.4 District Representations Participants were included from each of the 13 districts (Aileu:13, Ainaro:24, Baucau:34, Bobonaro:17, Covalima:20, Dili:76, Ermera:12, Lautem:25, Liquica:11, Manatutu:10, Manufahi:17, Oecusse:10, Viqueque:18), with 3 from Indonesia and 10 N/A. Parent’s origins were also taken into consideration as part of the participants’ background information and 111 participants had parents from districts other than their own. Comparison of participants and their parents’ districts show a trend toward settling in Dili. The survey results pattern consistently with the 2015 census populations of each district. Of interest in this data is that participants report that their parents are from the districts at much higher rates than themselves, a trend which is strongly reversed in Dili. This again indicates the extent of urban migration in Timor, and together with the population sample in the previous section, shows the prevalence of youth settlement in Dili, and give an idea of how young the population of the city is. 2.1.5 Participant SES Q12-13: Have you ever traveled abroad? (Yes/No) When and where? – Ita halo viajen iha rai liur ona? (Loos/Seidauk) Bainhira ho iha nebee? Q14: Level of Education – Nivel Edukasaun 10 Q15: How many children do you have? – Oan hira? Q16: What is your job? – Servisu/Okupasaun saida? Q17-18: What do your parents do? Father/Mother – Ita nia amaa ho apaa servisu saida? Apaa/Amaa The questions in this section were designed to be taken together to calculate a rough estimate of participants’ socio-economic status. In regards to Q12-13, obtaining a passport requires undergoing costly medical examinations, including a chest X-ray, and taking considerable time from work to queue at the Portuguese embassy (for a Portuguese/EU passport, which Timorese are entitled to apply for), or at the Timorese Department of Immigration (for a Timorese passport). Even before the costs of transportation, visas, and accommodation, a Timorese person would need to have to have access to considerable economic resources in order to travel abroad. For these reasons and others, the majority of participants (242) reported that they had not yet travelled abroad.1 59 participants indicated that they had, and the majority of travel has taken place since independence and was to Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom (43), with a few traveling to other countries such as Japan(3), Portugal(2), the Philippines(2), Angola(1), Singapore(1), Italy(1), Korea(1), Israel(1), the United States(1), Spain(1), and Thailand(1). Q14 was a free response question, and so it was necessary to consolidate the diversity of responses into four main categories, comprising: Elementary education or no education (70), Basic compulsory education (high school or equivalent) completed (60), Some post-secondary (116), Tertiary degree-holders (55). The large number of participants doing some sort of post-secondary training reflects the reality that many Timorese youth face in the workforce; there are very few jobs, and those that are available tend to favor those who have undergone a vocational or professional program, or completed a university degree. Tertiary degrees also range widely in their variety, from Indonesian-style diplomas (most common) to Master’s Degrees from the United States (only 1).2 Low response rates to Q15 rendered the data too sparse to be worth including here. A near-equal number of participants responded with 0 or N/A (114 and 120) while 18 participants had 1 child only, 13 participants had 2 children, 11 participants had 3 children, 8 participants had 1 It is worth noting that, at least anecdotally, many Timorese don’t consider traveling to Indonesia as ‘abroad’ and so may not have reported it. 2 For the Indonesian system, D1-D3 are equivalent to Associate degrees, D4 and S1 are equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree, S2 is equivalent to a Master’s degree, and S3 is equivalent to a doctoral degree. Nearly all of these were reported by survey participants. 11 4 children, 3 participants had 5 children, 3 participants had 6 children, 4 participants had 7 children, 5 participants had 8 children, 1 participant had 9 children, and 1 participant had 10 children. This question had the largest number of N/As on the survey, which is an indicator that it was not properly designed—a conclusion that should be taken into account in any follow up work. This data is not robust enough to be useful to this study, and I will not return to it. Q16 asked for participants’ occupation and elicited a variety of free-response answers. These responses were consolidated into three categories: Student (122), Professionally Employed (53), and Unemployed or N/A (126). Some examples of professional employment included government workers, teachers, security personnel, tradespeople such as masons, seamstresses and carpenters, business owners, and church employees. High unemployment has been a perennial problem in East Timor; in 2015, only 32% of the eligible population was considered to be employed (up from 24.5% in 2010). Of note from this population is that females tend to be professionally employed and unemployed at lower rates than males, which may indicate societal gender norms regarding employment, as well as emphasis on women’s education. Responses to Q17-18 regarding parents’ employment widely varied and—because responses were so diverse—were ultimately organized into a simple Yes/No split. In this case, ‘yes’ means that the parent is professionally employed in some capacity and ‘no’ means that that parent engages in traditional subsistence farming, home-making, was deceased, or that the participant indicated in some other way that the parent is considered unemployed. Unsurprisingly, more fathers were employed than mothers (96 to 43), but overall employment was only about one-fourth of the total sample. This, again, highlights societal gender norms regarding employment, as well as the widespread low employment rates throughout the country. Based on these questions, an estimate of participants’ socio-economic status can be calculated. In a country that lacks an extant income tax system, and where the majority of workers are not wage-income laborers, establishing an individual’s socio-economic status is difficult. For this reason, I created a composite score using the above questions, where responses were assigned a score (see Table 4.1 in section 4.2.1.2 on instrument design). Based on this, participant scores ranged from 0, representing the lowest end of the possible SES spectrum, to 12 3.5 (0 SES score: 41 participants, 0.5 SES score: 39 participants, 1 SES score: 100 participants, 1.5 SES score: 59 participants, 2 SES score: 36 participants, 2.5 SES score: 10 participants, 3 SES score: 10 participants, 3.5 SES score: 6 participants). Interestingly, no participants attained the highest possible score of 4. 2.1.6 Summary This section presented the general demographic characteristics of survey participants, at times alongside figures from the 2015 census results. The participants were mostly young, had completed the compulsory secondary education and were undertaking some kind of tertiary education, were slightly more often male that female, were from Dili in greater numbers than the generation above them, and occupied a low to middle socio-economic range. Based on census figures from 2015 and other reports, this group of 301 comprises a representative slice of the Timorese population. This is a testament to the excellent work of my research assistants and demonstrates their comprehension of the spirit of the research. 2.2 Section Two – Language Use (Actual) This section tabulates the responses to questions regarding mother tongues, language knowledge, and experiences of language use. All questions in this section of the survey were free-response, and answers were widely varied. For the sake of brevity, some questions are combined and so this section proceeds thus: 2.2.1 Mother Tongues (Participants and Parents’ Mother Tongues), 2.2.2 Languages Known Well, Somewhat and Want to Know Better, 2.2.3 Languages Desired for Children, 2.2.4 Primary, Secondary, Tertiary School LOI (Language of Instruction), 2.2.5 Language Use with Friends, Family, Foreigners, and 2.2.6 Language Use at Work, Home, School, followed by a summary and discussion of the responses from this section. 2.2.1 Mother Tongues (Participants and Parents’ Mother Tongues) Q21: Mother Tongue – Lian inan 13 Q24-25: What are your parent’s mother tongues? Father/Mother – Inan-aman lian inan saida? Apaa/Amaa The concept of a mother tongue is not necessarily straightforward in a context where multilingualism is the norm. For this survey, I used the specific term ‘lian inan’, which is widely understood in East Timor to be the native Timorese language that you and/or your family has a traditional cultural connection to, regardless of personal fluency. Lian inan literally means ‘one’s own language’, but this possession is also a sign of group-inclusion, so the ‘ownership’ can be conceived as bidirectional. This is why the ‘mother tongue’ question was followed by spaces for participants to list languages they know ‘well’ and languages they know ‘somewhat’. Because of the prevalence of mixed-language marriages, I expected participants to list several languages as their mother tongues, but they did not. The majority of participants (263) listed one language as their mother tongue and only 22 participants listed 2 languages or more. Interestingly, 10 participants did not list their own mother tongue in Q21 but did later list their parents’ in Q24-25. Whether this was an oversight or a deliberate cultural commentary cannot be determined. It is also worth noting that a persons’ reported linguistic repertoire may not be a true reflection of their fluency, and that languages may be included or excluded for any number of social and cultural reasons. In the figure below, the main mother tongues of the participants and their mothers and fathers are shown. In every case except Tetun Dili, parents spoke an indigenous language in higher numbers than participants. For Tetun Dili that trend is strongly reversed, with participants reporting that Tetun Dili is their mother tongue in much larger numbers than their parents. 72% of participants’ parents (220/301) spoke the same mother tongue, and 53% (163/301) of participants had the same mother tongue as their parents. These figures, while only a small percentage of the Timorese population, hints at a language shift in progress from the less commonly spoken rural languages to the cosmopolitan languages of the city. 14 15 2.2.2 Languages Known Well, Somewhat and Want to Know Better Q22: Other languages you know well? – Lian seluk hatene diak? Q23: Other languages you know somewhat? – Lian seluk mak hatene ituan? Q26: What languages would you like to know? – Ita hakarak loos atu hatene lian saida? These three questions were included in order to allow participants to make claims of their own fluency without resorting to a rating scale, and to implicitly give participants ideological space to differentiate between their traditional mother tongue and their most fluent languages. Participants could list as many languages as they had room for; in Q22 and Q23, some participants listed as many as 7 languages, with an overall average of 3.4. As seen in the table below, English was known to only a small number of participants, but dominates all other languages in the ‘want to know’ category, indicating its perceived position as the language of social and financial capital. Portuguese patterned very similar to English but with higher familiarity and lower desire to know. Indonesian trended in the opposite direction, with many participants familiar with it but having little desire to learn it. Other Timorese languages were familiar to participants, but they did not desire to learn them. Participants were familiar with very few other foreign languages but desired to learn several of them, including the East Asian languages Japanese, Korean and Mandarin and the European languages Spanish, Italian, Latin, and French. Tetun Dili occupied a more interesting distribution. Only 18 participants responded that it was their mother tongue in Q21, and that they knew it well or somewhat. 138 participants with a mother tongue other than Tetun Dili reported that they knew it well or somewhat. 47 participants did not report Tetun Dili as their mother tongue, did not report that they knew it well, or somewhat (despite the survey being written and conducted in Tetun). 98 participants included it as a mother tongue only, and did not add it to languages they know well or somewhat. The first group shows a comparatively high metalinguistic awareness that mother tongues can also be languages that one knows well (or not). That the non-mother-tongue group declared their level of fluency is perhaps unsurprising, since they would likely have had the experience of learning it at some point. The last two groups perhaps highlight the perceptual normalcy of Tetun Dili, in that they did not even think to list it among the languages they knew; effectively, Tetun Dili is so ubiquitous that it becomes not worthy of comment. This is in line with findings from perceptual dialectology studies which underscore that languages that are perceived to be ubiquitous and ‘normal’ are not often mentioned at all (Preston 1986, 2012). Although, some linguistic insecurity can be observed in the ‘want to know’ category, wherein 36 participants wanted to know Tetun Dili better than they currently did. Language English Indonesian Portuguese Tetun Dili Other Foreign Language Other Timorese Language Already Know Well 50 119 66 152 1 23 Already Know Somewhat 90 54 112 15 19 40 Want to Know 208 21 149 36 64 0 16 2.2.3 Languages Desired for Children Q27: What languages do you want your children to know? – Ita hakarak ita nia oan sira hatene lian saida? This question is something of a follow-up to the previous questions. After reflecting on their own fluencies and desired fluencies, participants are asked to speculate on which languages would be important to pass on to their children by listing languages they wanted their children to know. Participants had enough space to list several languages, and indeed did. Most participants listed more than one, and several listed as many as five. Driving home the trend of shift away from traditional Timorese languages, only 2 participants listed that they wanted their children to know Mambae, and 1 participant included Makasae (represented by “Other Timorese” in the figure below). For the official languages, only 58 participants listed Tetun Dili, while 208 listed Portuguese. Indonesian was listed in 22 instances, and English dominated with 234 instances. “Other Foreign” languages included Latin:10, Spanish:10, French:7, Chinese:4, Japanese:2, German:1, Italian:1, and Korean:1. These results, combined with the previous section, begin to place the role of Tetun Dili in Timorese’ everyday life. Tetun Dili is a language that they know well, and know so well that they forget to report knowing it, but it is not a language that is valued for the future in the same way that foreign languages are. The rise in English and Portuguese may be an indication of the growing pressure of learning a global language, or may be partly attributed to the phenomenon known as ‘acquiescence bias’. Participants were told that this survey was being collected by an American doctoral student, and may have (consciously or not) indicated their valuation of my presumed mother tongue out of politeness. I do not believe that this would have significantly biased the results, however, because Portuguese is nearly equally valued. 17 2.2.4 Primary, Secondary, Tertiary School LOI Q28: When you were in elementary school, what language did your teachers use? – Bainhira iha eskola baziku, ita nia mestri/a usa lian saida? Q29: When you were in secondary school, what language did your teachers use? – Bainhira iha eskola sekundariu, ita nia mestri/a usa lian saida? Q30: When you were in university, what language did your teachers use? – Bainhira iha universidade, ita nia mestri/a usa lian saida? The questions in this section track the reported languages of instruction that participants experienced throughout their lives. Because not all participants have received an education at the tertiary level, some responses were left blank (2 for elementary, 8 for secondary, and 58 for tertiary). It is worth noting that these numbers do not match the self-reported levels of education from Q14. This could be due to the tenseless Tetun Dili sentence, which could be interpreted as either a personal question or general hypothetical knowledge (e.g., “When at university, your (general) teachers use what language?”). Age plays a role in the resulting data. Participants were divided into two groups; those age 21 and above, who underwent the majority of their education prior to independence (203 total), and those age 20 and below, who underwent their education almost entirely in the time since independence in 1999 (94 total). There were not enough participants from the time prior to the Indonesian invasion of 1975 to form a comparative group. The older group, in Figure 1a below, shows a high amount of linguistic diversity in all three levels of schooling. In the primary years, participants reported high levels of Portuguese, Tetun Dili, and Indonesian, with low levels of English and other languages. In the secondary years, Indonesian and English both increase, likely due to the fact that English is a very common secondary school subject in all provinces of Indonesia. At the tertiary level, English sees a dramatic bump, likely owing to the common practice of going abroad to pursue higher education. The younger group, in Figure 1b below, shows mostly a prevalence of Tetun Dili and Portuguese at the primary level. At the secondary level, Tetun Dili dips somewhat in reported usage, complemented by an increase in Portuguese and English. For the tertiary level, Portuguese and Tetun are nearly equally as common, followed by Indonesian and English. This again indicates the prevalence of going abroad to receive tertiary education, even amongst this younger generation, who have far more tertiary options in East Timor today than their predecessors. For both groups, other Timorese languages were reported in a few instances in the early school years (Makasae:3, Bunak:2, Baikeno:1, Kemak:1, Idate:1, Fataluku:1, Mambae:1), and other foreign languages were reported in a few instances in the later school years (Latin:4, Italian:2, Spanish:2, German:1). 18 Figure 1a: Reported LOIs in Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary School For Older (PreIndependence) Participants Figure 1b: Reported LOIs in Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary School For Younger (PostIndependence) Participants 19 2.2.5 Language Use with Friends, Family, Foreigners Q31: When you talk to friends, which language do you usually use? – Bainhira ita koalia ho kolega-sira, baibain uza lian saida? Q32: When you talk to family, which language do you usually use? – Bainhira ita koalia ho familia-sira, baibain uza lian saida? Q33: When you talk to foreigners, which language do you usually use? – Bainhira ita koalia ho malae-sira, baibain uza lian saida? These three questions provide more information than simple daily interactional behavior; they also make tenuous claims about established social and familial behaviors, as well as shed light on the Timorese conception of a ‘foreigner’. In the figure below, Tetun Dili is the overwhelming choice for use with friends and family, and Portuguese is used in interactions with foreigners, but more rarely with family and friends. Other Timorese languages are used with family members and friends and very rarely with foreigners. English and Portuguese are the most-used languages for interactions with foreigners, with a few instances of friends and family use. Interestingly, Indonesian is not highly reported for any situation, even for interaction with foreigners, which complicates the Timorese notion of what a ‘foreigner’ is. 2.2.6 Language Use at Work, Home, School Q34: At work, what language do you usually use – Iha servisu, baibain uza lian saida? Q35: At home, what language do you usually use – Iha uma, baibain uza lian saida? Q36: At school, what language do you usually use – Iha eskola, baibain uza lian saida? 20 These three questions are similar to the previous three, but instead of hypothetical interpersonal interactions, these focus on physical locations. In the figure below, Tetun Dili maintains its position as the preferred language in every context. Portuguese is the most preferred language at school, and other Timorese languages are the preferred languages of the home. English sees a slight boost in school and work, indicating that its value as an economic tool is on the rise. 2.2.7 Summary Overall, the raw scores in this section paint a picture of a highly multilingual population in which Tetun Dili is deemed to be normal across social domains. In their reports of languages they knew well or knew somewhat, participants ranged from 0 to 7, with the average of 3.65. Of course, it is impossible for a participant to not know any languages, and again points to linguistic insecurity. In this section of the survey, Tetun Dili is viewed as a language that is widely known though perhaps not widely recognized as such, used throughout one’s life, vital for daily social interaction, but not prioritized as a language to be learned oneself or by one’s children. Language choice is almost always socially motivated in practice, but in abstraction the same may not be true. Often what people think and report that they are doing in every day practice does not exactly match their actual performance. One way that this manifested in the survey was in the 46 participants who failed to report that they knew Tetun. It is possible that they didn’t know Tetun and that their participation was mediated by the research assistant, but it is more likely that they simply didn’t think about it, or concluded that it was too obvious to merit comment. So, even though this section is specifically designed for participants to report their behaviors and 21 experiences, it is important to remember that participant responses may be colored with a little bit of idealism. This is the focus of the next section. 2.3 Section Three – Language Use (Ideal) This section tabulates the responses to questions regarding the ‘best’ language to use in certain scenarios and interactions. Raw scores are given in the table below and are discussed in further detail in subsequent sections. For each question in this section of the survey, participants were obliged to choose one response from among Tetun, Portuguese, English, and Indonesian. Some participants chose more than one language, despite careful explanation in the text and by research assistants. Because these responses complicated the data and are not in the spirit of the task, they were deemed N/A, along with blank responses and unintelligible responses. Questions in this section are combined according to themes and so this section proceeds thus: 2.3.1 Social Solidarity, 2.3.2 Occupation, 2.3.3 Education, 2.3.4 Media, and 2.3.5 Domain-Specific, followed by a summary and discussion of the responses from this section. No 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 Text make friends be successful get a good education feel happy in your relationships get money read write listen to the radio watch TV be accepted by people in Timor-Leste talk with teachers talk with rural people talk with Dili people talk with government officials get a good job talk with friends from school go to church go to market go to the districts be accepted by people in your neighborhood Tet 223 68 64 193 115 97 122 185 120 171 183 287 271 137 87 235 275 286 287 281 Por 17 72 122 26 26 88 76 23 24 45 70 0 8 122 48 32 8 0 2 3 Eng 44 135 85 58 124 76 64 63 61 56 22 3 7 24 143 17 3 3 2 6 Ind 3 11 16 10 11 23 24 16 74 10 7 0 2 2 3 2 4 1 0 0 N/A 14 15 14 14 25 17 15 14 22 19 19 11 13 16 20 15 11 11 10 11 2.3.1 Social Solidarity According to your view, choose which language is most important to… – Tuir ita nia hanoin, hili lian ida deit nebee importante liu atu… Q37: Make friends – Halo kolega Q40: Feel happy in your relationships – Senti haksolok iha ita nia relasaun Q46: Be accepted by people in Timor-Leste – Halo ema simu iha Timor-Leste Q48: Talk with rural people – Koalia ho ema iha foho 22 Q49: Talk with Dili people – Koalia ho ema iha Dili Q56: Be accepted by people in your neighborhood – Halo ema simu iha ita nia bairru The questions in this section are related to scenarios in which language plays a part in the continuity of social solidarity. While language is certainly not the only factor in the situations in question, they are social, interactional scenarios that are critical to daily ease-of-living. In the figure below, Tetun Dili is unsurprisingly reported as the most important language in each of these scenarios. English and Portuguese both have small representations as languages important for acceptance in East Timor, to feel happy in relationships, and to make friends, which may reflect the growing societal pressure to learn these two languages. Indonesian, also unsurprisingly, performs very poorly in the social solidarity questions, without a single instance in being accepted in your neighborhood, or to talk with rural people. The high instances of foreign languages in the question of ‘being accepted in East Timor’ indicate that participants may have re-interpreted the idea of ‘being accepted’ in a way that I did not intend (after all, who exactly needs to be accepted in East Timor? Certainly not Timorese, who are ‘accepted’ by default), and future work should be careful to not accidentally encourage participants to respond from someone else’s point of view. Another curious spike in foreign languages is seen in ‘being happy in your relationships’ and ‘making friends’. This could point to the prevalence of language clubs that are informally organized by students (loosely defined and ranging widely in age), and certainly points to the need for more in-depth study on the role of English in East Timor. 2.3.2 Occupation According to your view, choose which language is most important to… – Tuir ita nia hanoin, hili lian ida deit nebee importante liu atu… Q38: Be successful – Sai susesu Q41: Get money – Hetan osan Q51: Get a good job – Hetan servisu diak 23 Questions in this section relate specifically to linguistic factors regarding personal professional success. In the figure below, English is strongly preferred as the language needed in order to be successful, get a good job and make money. Portuguese is also viewed as a language of success, but not necessarily as a language that will get you money or a job. Interestingly, Tetun Dili is viewed as almost as important as Portuguese as a language of success, and even more important to get a good job and make money. That Tetun Dili and English are nearly equally represented as languages to make money (and vastly overshadow Indonesian and Portuguese) may reflect the perceived growing need for English-Tetun bilingualism in the workplace. Perhaps the most surprising finding in the occupation section is the low representation of Indonesian in each question, which may also reflect the changing perception of the future of industry in East Timor, but may also be subtle cultural commentary. 2.3.3 Education According to your view, choose which language is most important to… – Tuir ita nia hanoin, hili lian ida deit nebee importante liu atu… Q39: Get a good education – Hetan edukasaun diak Q43: Write – Hakerek Q47: Talk with teachers – Koalia ho mestri/a sira Q52: Talk with school friends – Koalia ho kolega husi eskola Questions in this section are related to the domain of education and show a marked shift in the role of Portuguese and English. In the figure below, Portuguese outscores other languages 24 as the most important to get an education, followed closely by English. It is notable that this is the only instance of Portuguese being considered the most important language in this 20-question portion of the survey. This is perhaps a nod to the quiet discontent with the education system in East Timor. Tetun Dili is again the most preferred language for social interaction, even in the domain of education but the fact that Portuguese is highly rated for talking with teachers and writing reflect its position as a more ‘formal’ language or the language of authority. Tetun Dili is even preferred over Portuguese as the language of written communication. Indonesian again performs poorly in this section. 2.3.4 Media According to your view, choose which language is most important to… – Tuir ita nia hanoin, hili lian ida deit nebee importante liu atu… Q42: Read – Lee Q44: Listen to the radio – Rona radio Q45: Watch TV – Haree TV Questions in the section relate to the everyday experiences of Timorese in engaging with media. The inclusion of reading in this section and the exclusion of writing are due to their differing levels of daily immersion and necessity (writing is a task that is dependent on your education level and desire and necessity to undertake; reading is a task that is also dependent upon your education level, but is engaged in more frequently and less intentionally). In the figure below, the perceptions of media engagement in East Timor are shown. Tetun Dili is ranked as the most important language to listen to the radio, followed by English. English, Portuguese, and 25 Tetun Dili are fairly equally split regarding reading, each receiving between 75 and 100 votes. Indonesian makes its strongest showing in participants’ reports of watching TV, with English close behind, but Tetun Dili is still the clearly preferred language. Overall, the media questions of the survey were the most varied in their responses, reflecting the highly multilingual environment. These questions largely pattern with my own experiences of media and availability in East Timor. Local radio stations are common and proudly maintained in every district and have their roots in the resistance movement. On my first field trip in 2012, my university colleague Pelagio took me to see the newly refurbished radio station in his village of Bucoli (about 3 hours east of Dili by bus), which at that time was nicer, newer, and more well-maintained than the village traditional house. On that same trip, I visited the only three bookshops in the city of Dili looking for a novel in English to no avail; they were all in Indonesian or Portuguese (this was before I discovered the robust but informal book-trading expat culture, which boasts books in many international languages). By my most recent trip in 2017, bookshops had become more common and had begun to carry literature in many languages, including a few poetry books and religious texts in Tetun and other local languages. Most written material in East Timor comes from daily, weekly, and monthly newspapers and periodicals. Newspapers are mostly written in Tetun and cover local interest stories; the sports, business and international sections will often be copy and pasted from international sources such as Reuters. A casual reader’s visual estimate would show that most newspapers are between 60-80% Tetun, with these copy/pasted sections in Portuguese and Indonesian. The majority of television programs are on English and Indonesian language channels received via satellite from Indonesia. There are some local Timorese channels, such as TVTL, which show programs in Tetun and Portuguese. I think it is important to note that despite the valuation of the languages seen here, that Tetun Dili is valued so highly relative to the availability of others highlights its importance as a lingua franca, even in media. 26 2.3.5 Domain-Specific According to your view, choose which language is most important to… – Tuir ita nia hanoin, hili lian ida deit nebee importante liu atu… Q50: Talk with government officials – Koalia ho ema ofisial governu Q53: Go to church – Ba igreja Q54: Go to market – Ba merkadu Q55: Go to the districts – Ba foho The questions in this section relate to specific activities that Timorese undertake with regularity. In the figure below, Tetun is the overwhelmingly preferred language of importance for attending church services, going to the market, and travelling to the districts (or, the rural, non-Dili parts of East Timor). Indonesian is not reported in a single instance for district travel. Portuguese is not reported in a single instance for market interactions. Talking with government officials, however, sees a large spike in Portuguese, nearly at the same level as Tetun Dili. This, again, confirms Portuguese’s role in East Timor as the language of governance and of formal or official interactions. Even English sees a small bump in this question, which speaks to its highstatus perception and domain-linked usage. These responses are all largely in line with my own experiences, with the exception of district travel where Indonesian is not uncommon as a lingua franca. While this may be the reality I experienced, survey participants nevertheless ranked Tetun Dili above all other languages as the ‘best’ language of district travel, indicating its value as a connective tool within the whole of East Timor. 27 2.3.6 Summary The findings from the third section of the survey strengthen the view of Tetun Dili as a social necessity, but hint that Tetun Dili may also be viewed as economically and educationally limiting. Tetun Dili is viewed as comparatively less formal or official than Portuguese or English, showing again that some participants may be experiencing a bit of linguistic insecurity with regard to Tetun. This section also gives us a view of Dili as a city that is richly saturated in multilingual media but still sees Tetun Dili as the preferred code. The notable lack of Indonesian is not consistent with my own observations of linguistic practice, especially at the government level, in an educational context, and in some more rural areas. This suggests that participants may be using it in practice, but do not believe it is the ‘best’ language choice in abstraction. 2.4 Section Four – Language Attitudes This section tabulates the responses to language attitude questions. For each question in this section of the survey, participants were asked to agree or disagree with questions about language in East Timor. Raw scores are given in the table below and are discussed in further detail in subsequent sections. Questions in this section are combined according to themes and so this section proceeds thus: 2.4.1 Multilingualism, 2.4.2 Identity, 2.4.3 Education, and 2.4.4 Utility, followed by a summary and discussion of the responses from this section. In this section, N/A responses (skipped or blank responses) are included to show which questions confounded participants, as evidenced by their inability or unwillingness to commit to a response; this is not a commentary on individuals’ comprehension, only a data-type. 28 No. 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 Text It is important to know a local language. It is more important to know Tetun than a local language. People who know Tetun are clever. Portuguese and Tetun are very different. Children feel confused when they learn Portuguese and Tetun at the same time. People should learn Tetun before they learn Portuguese. It is more important for people to know Tetun than Portuguese. Knowing Tetun can help people get work in Timor. Knowing Tetun can help people get work in a foreign country. Knowing many languages is just easy. Knowing many languages is important. Knowing only one language makes people get problems. I feel sad for Timorese people that don’t know Tetun. Young people don’t know how to speak Tetun right. All Timorese people in Dili need to know Portuguese. All Timorese people in the districts need to know Portuguese. Portuguese, English, Indonesian, Tetun, and local languages can live together in Timor-Leste Tetun is unfashionable/not attractive Portuguese is more valuable than Tetun. Young Timorese like to speak Tetun. Older Timorese like to speak Tetun Tetun is a simple language. Foreigners should learn Tetun. Tetun is an important part of Timorese identity. If I had to choose only one language to speak, I choose Tetun. I have positive feelings about Tetun. Agree 273 192 166 215 218 Disagree 22 102 122 75 75 N/A 6 7 13 11 8 265 149 30 144 6 8 199 47 96 240 6 14 155 283 183 220 178 207 198 133 15 103 73 113 88 79 13 3 15 8 10 6 24 266 25 10 28 61 258 213 269 282 286 226 263 230 31 77 24 11 8 67 10 10 12 11 8 8 7 8 264 30 7 2.4.1 Multilingualism Q57: It is important to know a local language. – Ida nee importante atu hatene lian inan/lian lokal ruma. Q58: It is more important to know Tetun than a local language. – Importante liu hodi hatene Tetun duké lian inan/lian lokal. Q63: It is more important for people to know Tetun than Portuguese. – Nee importante liu atu ema hatene Tetun duké Portugues. Q66: Knowing many languages is just easy. – Hatene lian barak fasil deit. Q67: Knowing many languages is important. – Hatene lian barak importante. 29 Q68: Knowing only one language creates problems for people. – Hatene lian ida deit halo ema hetan susar. Q73: Portuguese, English, Indonesian, Tetun, and local languages can live together in East Timor. – Lian Portugues, lian Ingles, lian Indonezia, lian Tetun, ho lian lokal bele hela hamutuk iha Timor-Leste. Q81: If I had to choose only one language to speak, I choose Tetun. – Se karik hau bele hili lian ida deit atu koalia, hau hili lian Tetun. Questions in this section deal with attitudes toward general multilingualism, the values placed on certain languages over others, the importance of multilingualism, and the role of languages in East Timor. In the figure below, participants strongly agree that it is important to know a local Timorese language, however, many of them also agree that knowing Tetun is more important than knowing a local language, indicating again a shift away from traditional mother tongues. When the importance of learning Tetun is compared to Portuguese in Q63, even more disagreement sets in, nearly evenly dividing the participants. This nearly-even divide is not unexpected in light of the importance placed on both languages in East Timor. Participants are also sharply divided on whether being multilingual is easy, but strongly agree that multilingualism is important. Surprisingly, over one-third of participants do not agree that monolingualism creates problems for people. This may be an effect of seeing monolingual foreigners getting with ease in East Timor, or participants may be thinking of monolinguals within East Timor, who tend to be self-sufficient subsistence farmers in the rural areas. The majority of participants agreed that the official languages, the working languages, and the local languages can agreeably share space in East Timor, although 25 participants disagreed either with the sentiment as a whole or objected to a specific language. When asked if their language choice in a hypothetical monolingual life would be Tetun, all but 67 participants agreed. For participants overall, the most confounding question concerning multilingualism was Q66 about the ease of being multilingual, garnering 13 N/A responses. 30 31 2.4.2 Identity Q59: People who know Tetun are clever. – Ema nebee hatene Tetun matenek. Q69: I feel sad for Timorese people that don’t know Tetun. – Hau senti tristi ba ema Timor nebee la hatene Tetun. Q70: Young people don’t know how to speak Tetun right. – Joven la hatene oinsaa koalia Tetun lo-loos. Q71: All Timorese people in Dili need to know Portuguese. – Timor-oan hotu iha Dili presiza hatene lian Portugues. Q72: All Timorese people in the districts need to know Portuguese. – Timor-oan hotu iha distritu presiza hatene lian Portugues. Q74: Tetun is unfashionable/not attractive. – Lian Tetun la jeitu liu. Q76: Young Timorese like to speak Tetun. – Joven Timor-oan sira gosta koalia Tetun. Q77: Older Timorese like to speak Tetun. – Ema Timor nebee tinan boot liu gosta koalia Tetun. Q80: Tetun is an important part of Timorese identity. – Lian Tetun nee parte importante identidade Timor-oan. Q82: I feel positive about Tetun. – Hau senti positivu kona ba lian Tetun. Questions in this section deal with identity-related language attitudes about people who speak Tetun, opinions about Tetun, and its role in East Timor. In the figure below, participants were divided over whether they thought people who speak Tetun are clever with 55% agreeing and 40% disagreeing. Many participants also agreed that they felt sad for Timorese people who do not know Tetun, although nearly one-third either disagreed or declined to respond. The majority of participants agreed that young people don’t know how to speak Tetun “properly”, aligning with global stereotypes that young people are irresponsible guardians of linguistic purity, although over one-third responded in defense of the youth (this may be the recent rise of linguicism in the mainstream consciousness; see Drummond 2016 for recent work on just how aware ‘the youth’ are of their own linguistic practice). Q71 and Q72 show more agreement that all Timorese people in Dili and the districts need to know Portuguese, which indicates a high value places on Portuguese (as well as Tetun) as a facet of Timorese identity. Because there are very few opportunities for Timorese in the rural areas to use Portuguese (especially compared to Dili), the fact that these two questions pattern similarly shows that this valuation can be viewed as symbolic, rather than practical. Most participants were in strong disagreement that Tetun is an unattractive or unfashionable language. The term used on the survey, ‘la jeitu’, can be used to describe all manner of negative things, such as burdensome homework, classless behavior, tasteless food, a boring movie, or out-offashion style. This strong reaction suggests that participants responded poorly to the comparison of Tetun language to unattractive things, which reflects a strong defense of the language as well. In Q76 and Q77, participants mostly agreed that both young and old people like to speak Tetun, although disagreement was higher for the ‘older’ group, showing (however slightly) that Tetun Dili may be viewed as the code of the youth. The overwhelming majority agreed that Tetun was an important part of Timorese identity, and most participants agreed that they feel positive about Tetun. For participants overall, the most confounding question in this section was Q72 concerning the role of Portuguese in the districts, garnering 24 N/A responses. 32 33 2.4.3 Education Q60: Portuguese and Tetun are very different. – Lian Portugues ho lian Tetun diferente liu. Q61: Children feel confused when they learn Portuguese and Tetun at the same time. – Labarik sira senti konfuzaun bainhira aprende Portuges no Tetun iha tempu hanesan. Q62: People should learn Tetun before they learn Portuguese. – Ema tenki aprende lian Tetun antes aprende lian Portugues. Q78: Tetun is a simple language. – Lian Tetun mak lian simples. Q79: Foreigners should learn Tetun. – Ema malae bele aprende Tetun. Questions in this section deal with education, language learning, and language knowledge. In Figure 5.22 below, most people agreed that Portuguese and Tetun are very different, and that people are likely to believe that children feel confused when they learn these languages at the same time (a common misconception about bilingual education).3 In both of these questions 75 participants disagreed, but not the same 75 participants; only 30 of those people disagreed with both. Most participants also agreed that Tetun should be learned before Portuguese, and that Tetun is a simple language. Perhaps because of this belief in the simplicity of Tetun and its importance to Timorese identity shown in section 5.4.2 above, the majority of participants agreed that foreigners should learn Tetun. This idea of the simplicity of Tetun and the ideologies it is situated within will be explored in more depth in sections 6.3.4 and 7.4, on the ‘development’ of Tetun. For participants overall, the most confounding question in this section was Q60 comparing the similarity of Portuguese and Tetun, garnering 11 N/A responses. N/A responses (skipped or blank responses) are included to show which questions confounded participants, as evidenced by their inability or unwillingness to commit to a response; this is not a comment on their comprehension of the content. 3 Q60 and Q61 are related and are based on arguments of dubious accuracy I heard in favor of multilingual education in my capacity as an employee of the East Timorese Ministry of Education. The argument is summarized thus: because Portuguese and Tetun are very similar, they should be easy for children to learn simultaneously. 34 35 2.4.4 Utility Q64: Knowing Tetun can help people get work in Timor. – Hatene Tetun bele ajuda ema hetan servisu iha Timor laran. Q65: Knowing Tetun can help people get work in a foreign country. – Hatene Tetun bele ajuda ema hetan servisu iha rai liu. Q75: Portuguese is more valuable than Tetun. – Lian Portugues mak vale liu duké lian Tetun. The final questions in this section concern the utility and value of Tetun for work-related purposes. In Figure 5.23 below, many people agreed that knowing Tetun could help one get a job in Timor, although nearly one-third disagreed. Most participants disagreed that Tetun could help them find work in a foreign country, which is expected as Tetun is not spoken outside of East Timor apart from small diaspora communities in Australia and the UK. Many participants disagreed that Portuguese was more valuable than Tetun, although 61 participants did agree. For participants overall, the most confounding question in this section was Q65, concerning the utility of Tetun for finding outside of Timor with 14 N/A responses. One possible explanation for these N/A responses as well as the 47 participants who agreed is that seasonal work programs exist in both Australia and the UK that are specifically for Timorese workers (and which may now be threatened by the recent Brexit vote; if the UK is no longer part of the EU, Timorese’ right to work there under their Portuguese passports must now be renegotiated). 2.4.5 Summary This section of the survey begins to elucidate some specific language attitudes. As has been demonstrated in previous sections, participants value general multilingualism, as well as local languages. However, some languages are more valued than others, either for practical purposes or for identity-related reasons. Tetun is highly ranked as more valuable than local languages, and is only narrowly ranked as more valuable than Portuguese. Participants agree that being multilingual is difficult, but that being monolingual is more difficult (and not knowing Tetun is pitiable for these participants). Tetun is largely spoken by the youth, who also are perceived to not know how to speak it properly. Tetun is also perceived as a simple language, 36 and one that, perhaps as a result of this simplicity, foreigners should learn. Furthermore, Timorese feel positive about Tetun Dili, and recognize it as an important symbol of Timorese identity. 2.5 Section Five – Tetun (Speakers) This section tabulates the responses to attitude questions about people who speak Tetun. For each questions in this section of the survey, participants were asked to strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with adjectives and traits describing people who speak Tetun. Raw scores are given in the table below and are discussed in further detail in subsequent sections. Questions in this section are combined according to their pair relationships and so this section proceeds thus: 2.5.1 Loud, Quiet, 2.5.2 Successful, Simple, 2.5.3 Kind-hearted, Bad-tempered, 2.5.4 Feminine, Masculine, 2.5.5 Honest, Pretentious, 2.5.6 Modern, Old-fashioned, 2.5.7 Peaceful, Violent, 2.5.8 Young, Old, and 2.5.9 Rich, Poor, followed by a summary and discussion of the responses from this section. No. Item 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 quiet stupid loud kind-hearted feminine bad-tempered masculine honest modern old-fashioned successful peaceful violent young poor old rich pretentious Really Disagree 194 208 154 41 105 163 103 39 53 135 34 43 201 62 126 97 107 182 Disagree Agree 36 44 59 18 30 63 30 30 38 67 19 32 21 24 30 40 41 38 25 15 43 55 45 30 54 64 83 43 74 70 27 55 57 63 51 33 Really Agree 32 18 23 171 97 23 91 146 110 37 153 134 31 147 73 88 89 36 N/A 14 16 22 16 24 22 23 22 17 19 21 22 21 13 15 13 13 12 2.5.1 Loud, Quiet People that can speak Tetun are people who are… – Ema bele koalia Tetun ema… Q85: Loud – Nakratak Q83: Quiet – Nonook The two adjectives used here were intended to be opposites. The term nakratak can mean noisy, boisterous, always talking, sticking out, ‘spastic’, bristling, or attention-seeking and is a generally negative term. The term nonook can mean calm, peaceful, silent, noiseless, smooth, 37 soft-spoken, or can be combined with a participle to create a phrase that means ‘Shut up!’. Unlike nakratak, nonook is a more neutral than a clearly positive term. In the figure below, participants strongly disagreed that Tetun speakers were loud but even more strongly disagreed that they were quiet. This would seem to indicate that neither quality is a trait that has a particularly strongly association with Tetun speakers. In later pairs, such as the femininemasculine pair, participants agreed and disagreed to equal degrees, which is another way of indicating that neither quality is particularly associated with Tetun speakers. Of note is the strength of the responses, which suggests more than ambivalence toward the survey items, but does not give information as to why. 2.5.2 Simple, Successful People that can speak Tetun are people who are… – Ema bele koalia Tetun ema… Q84: Simple – Beik Q93: Successful – Susesu The two adjectives used here were intended to be opposites. The word beik is really more closely translated as stupid, idiotic, ignorant or, more politely, as simple. The term susesu can be used as a noun or an adjective, and can refer to a person who is successful in life, business, or something related to wellbeing due to their cleverness. Beik is a generally negative term, while susesu is a positive one. In the figure below, most people strongly disagreed that Tetun speakers were stupid, and agreed that Tetun speakers were successful, although less strongly. This does not reflect the insecurities seen in sections 2.3 and 2.4 that Tetun is not the language of economic or educational advantage. Again, the strength of these responses gives pause. Participants tended to strongly disagree with the negative term here, but were less strong in their agreement with the positive term, so these evaluations are not quite in complimentary distribution. 38 2.5.3 Bad-tempered, Kind-hearted People that can speak Tetun are people who are… – Ema bele koalia Tetun ema… Q88: Bad-tempered – Oin buis Q86: Kind-hearted – Oin midar These two terms were used as opposites. The term oin-buis literally means ‘face-stern’ and can also be used to mean stern, severe, unfriendly, cranky, bad-tempered, ill-mannered, rude, closed or cold. The term oin-midar literally means ‘face-sugar’ and can also be used to mean sweet (of food or of disposition), kind-hearted, friendly, smiling, warm or open. Oin-buis is a negative trait, while oin-midar is a positive trait. In the figure below, many participants strongly disagreed or disagreed that Tetun speakers were bad-tempered, and many strongly agreed or agreed that Tetun speakers were kind-hearted. This reflects the trend seen in section 2.4 in which the majority of participants felt positive about Tetun in that their positive feelings about Tetun speakers are also clearly born out. 39 2.5.4 Feminine, Masculine People that can speak Tetun are people who are… – Ema bele koalia Tetun ema… Q87: Feminine – Femininu Q89: Masculine – Maskulinu These two terms were used as opposites and carry many of the same associations and stereotypes as their English counterparts. Neither term is considered a particularly negative or positive trait. It is perhaps unsurprising then that participants were nearly evenly split on both questions. In the figure below, 135 participants either disagreed or strongly disagreed that Tetun speakers were feminine, while 142 participants either agreed or strongly agreed. 133 participants either disagreed or strongly disagreed that Tetun speakers were masculine, while 145 participants either agreed or strongly agreed. The distributions of responses were also evenly distributed along gender lines, such that women and men agreed and disagreed in equal measures, and did not respond against or along with their own gender lines (i.e., there is no interaction between the participant’s self-reported gender and the perceived femininity or masculinity of Tetun). 40 2.5.5 Honest, Pretentious People that can speak Tetun are people who are… – Ema bele koalia Tetun ema… Q90: Honest – Honestu Q100: Pretentious – Halo aan/loko aan These two terms were used as opposites roughly meaning honest and dishonest. The term honestu is equivalent to its English counterpart and is generally considered a positive term. The term halo aan or loko aan literally means ‘to make oneself’, and can be translated as vain, pretentious, putting up a front, dishonest, conceited, puffed-up, full-of-oneself, insincere, twofaced, or false. Unlike honestu, halo aan/loko aan is considered a negative trait. In fthe igure below, many participants agreed or strongly agreed that Tetun speakers are honest. Even more participants disagreed or strongly disagreed that Tetun speakers were pretentious or dishonest. Similar to section 2.5.2 and 2.5.3 above, participants are demonstrating clearly positive associations with Tetun speakers. 41 2.5.6 Modern, Old-fashioned People that can speak Tetun are people who are… – Ema bele koalia Tetun ema… Q91: Modern – Modernu Q92: Old-fashioned – Atrazadu These two terms were used as opposites. The term modernu can also be used to mean new, cutting-edge, upgraded, or informed. and can describe anything from people to houses. The term atrazadu can be used to mean backward, old-fashioned, behind-the-times, very traditional, late or delayed. Modernu is considered a positive trait while atrazadu is not. These two terms resulted in opposite distributions in the figure below. About two-thirds of participants agreed or strongly agreed that Tetun speakers were modern, while one-third disagreed or strongly disagreed. The majority of participants disagreed or strongly disagreed that Tetun Dili speakers were old-fashioned, with 80 participants agreeing or strongly agreeing. This is perhaps a reflection that the variety of Tetun spoken by the majority of participants has not been widely known long enough to have become perceived as old-fashioned, and because speakers often and easily adopt new terms, Tetun Dili is constantly advancing in modernity. This distribution shows that these questions elicit slightly less strong opinions in comparison to previous questions. 42 2.5.7 Peaceful, Violent People that can speak Tetun are people who are… – Ema bele koalia Tetun ema… Q94: Peaceful – Hakmatek Q95: Violent – Halo violensia These two terms were used as opposites. The term hakmatek can also mean still, peaceful, calm, restful, at peace, and is used to describe anything from people and societal conditions, to weather or waves. The phrase halo violensia literally means ‘make violence’ and is generally applied to social agitators, but can also mean violent or rough. Hakmatek is a positive trait, while violensia is a negative trait. In the figure below, participants generally agreed that Tetun speakers were peaceful, but they were strongly convicted in their belief that Tetun speakers were not violent. This response may be a reflection on events of the last half-century, in which the main aggressors of conflict came from outside of Timor, like the Japanese in WWII and the Indonesians during the occupation. This strongly united front may also be a reaction to the memories of the 2006 crisis, which left some lingering negative stereotypes about the safety of East Timor, and which many people (rightly) frame as a highly aberrant departure from Timorese behavioral norms. 43 2.5.8 Old, Young People that can speak Tetun are people who are… – Ema bele koalia Tetun ema… Q98: Old – Katuas Q96: Young – Joven These two terms were used as opposites. The term katuas can also be used to mean mature, married, older, elder, and is especially applied to men, but can also be used to refer to ‘the old’ in the English colloquial sense of one’s elders. The term joven, besides meaning young, is often used to refer to ‘the youth’ in the English colloquial sense of ‘kids these days’ and is an often-discussed topic on news broadcasts and radio shows. Neither joven nor katuas are considered particularly positive or negative traits. The figure below shows that distributions of responses to old and young are neither opposites nor complementary. Participants were divided as to whether they agreed/strongly agreed (151) or disagreed/strongly disagreed (131) that Tetun speakers were old. On its own, this would indicate that Tetun speakers are not perceived as belonging to any particular age group; they are anyone. However, over two-thirds of participants either agreed or strongly agreed (nearly half of all participants strongly agreed) that Tetun speakers were young. So, while speakers of Tetun are not specifically perceived as being old, they are definitely perceived as being young. This is another indication of the youth of Tetun Dili, and shows that participants are aware that young people are speaking it in greater numbers than older generations. This is especially interesting in light of the question in section 2.4.2 in which the majority of participants agreed that young people do not know how to speak Tetun ‘properly’. Over one-third of participants aligned to both of these points of view—that Tetun speakers are young, and that the youth can’t speak Tetun properly, which points to the need to examine discourses circulating by middle-aged, elders, teachers, and media about how young people talk. 44 2.5.9 Poor, Rich People that can speak Tetun are people who are… – Ema bele koalia Tetun ema… Q97: Poor – Kiak Q99: Rich – Riku These two terms were used as opposites. The term kiak can be used to mean poor or poverty-stricken, and when combined with oan ‘child’ means orphan. Riku can be used to mean rich, wealth, riches or property. Kiak is not a positive trait, while riku is. In the figure below, evaluations of Tetun speakers as rich and poor are similarly distributed. About half of participants disagreed or strongly disagreed that Tetun speakers were poor, with an obvious preference for strong disagreement. Whether Tetun speakers were considered rich was even more polarizing, with about half disagreeing or strongly disagreeing and the other half agreeing even more strongly than with poor. This is somewhat puzzling in light of previous questions about the utility of Tetun for finding jobs or making money, although there may be an unspoken and unconscious comparison being made with non-Tetun speakers. Here, non-Tetun speakers may be categorized by participants as either foreigners who are ‘rich’ by default, or the hill people who do not live in or travel to Dili, and are therefore ‘poor’. So, speakers of Tetun are not rich by international standards, but they are also not poor by local standards. 45 2.5.10 Summary Responses in this section outline the opinions of Timorese toward ‘Tetun speakers’, and reflect largely positive attitudes. Participants strongly disagreed that Tetun speakers were loud, quiet, stupid, bad-tempered, pretentious/dishonest, old-fashioned, violent, and poor. Participants were nearly equally polarized in their evaluations of Tetun speakers as feminine, masculine, old, or rich. Participants strongly agreed that Tetun speakers were successful, kind-hearted, honest, modern, peaceful, or young. 2.6 Section Six – Language Ranking Language Indonesian English Portuguese Tetun Position 1 (Simplest) 33 8 7 239 Position 2 Position 3 182 29 58 17 40 114 123 9 Position 4 (Most Difficult) 30 124 97 28 N/A 16 26 16 8 This section tabulates responses to the survey section that tasked participants with ranking four languages in order of difficulty, from the simplest language to the most difficult. The choices were Indonesian, English, Tetun and Portuguese. In the figure below, Tetun was most often listed as the simplest language, followed by Indonesian. Portuguese and English were nearly tied as the most difficult, with English coming out as the most difficult by a narrow margin. External ideologies, media availability, familiarity and environmental salience, personal learning experiences, ideologies of complexity and ‘development’, and motivation all influence which language a participant deems ‘difficult’ or ‘simple’. Many of these factors are apparent throughout this survey, as Tetun is consistently ranked highly in simplicity, common usage, and ease of learning, despite its relative uselessness for personal success. This view that foreign languages are more educationally valuable or economically useful is also reflected in this task, in 46 that not only are they difficult to learn, but are associated with things that are aspirationally difficult to attain. 2.7 Section Seven – Language Description This section asked participants to describe Tetun using 5 words. This was the only freeresponse section of the survey that asked participants for something other than their personal experiences, and allowed them to express opinions regarding the language itself. Unsurprisingly, the resulting data from this question is considerably varied.4 The 1,741 words and phrases provided can be broadly described as falling under four broad categories: positive, negative, emblematic, and transgressive. The positive and negative categories refer to the evaluations inherent in the descriptions provided. The emblematic category refers to those participants who provided literal examples of what Tetun is like, for example, by listing common words or phrases. The transgressive category is for the few participants who, out of boredom, irritation or playfulness, knowingly violated the spirit of the task by providing responses that were complete non sequiturs. Based on the responses from pilot surveys, I expected an occasional few of these, but it did not happen often in this study.5 4 For example, the word for ‘famous’, a fairly common response, was represented orthographically as famosa(2), famoso(1), famosu(4), famouzu(1), famozo(2), and famozu(5). 5 This was, fortunately, limited to only one participant who wrote TL bonita, Baucau bonita, Elia bonita, which means ‘Timor-Leste is beautiful, Baucau is beautiful, Elia is beautiful’. Elia, my research assistant, was mortified when she discovered this and tried to collect a replacement survey. 47 Some of the most common positive descriptors included words like ‘important’(66), ‘beautiful’(32), ‘good’(98), and ‘awesome/beautiful’(56). There were many unique positive responses that were more detailed phrases like ‘national identity’, ‘one’s own identity’, ‘people understand quickly’, ‘used daily’, and ‘inside one’s heart’. Some of the most common negative descriptors were words or phrases expressing difficulty in learning, writing, hearing, or understanding (61 total variations on this theme), as well as 106 expressions that Tetun is a ‘simple’ language (which has a different meaning than ‘easy’). The negative responses also yielded many nuanced descriptive phrases such as ‘it is difficult to explain scientific ideas’, ‘it doesn’t yet use verbs’,6 ‘there is no grammar’, ‘the grammar isn’t yet finished’, ‘not yet complete’, ‘there are no verbs’, ‘an inferior language’, ‘not enough/few vocabulary’, ‘imitation language’, ‘mixed’, ‘difficult to implement’ and ‘even uneducated people can speak it’. These responses and many others like them indicate that participants have a strong linguistic awareness and ability to talk about the language, but that their understanding of language development is that it is deliberate, not organic. These descriptions likely stem from the ‘development’ ideologies, which are reinforced by the relationship between INL and Tetun Dili. These are interesting contradictions to the generally positive ideas of Tetun Dili as the language of high utility and ubiquity expressed in previous questions, undercutting the complexity of the attitudes that Tetun Dili speakers have to their own language. These and all other responses are provided in Appendix C. 2.8 Survey Conclusions and Emergent Trends The results of this survey have begun to outline some emergent trends which will be explored in more detail through the interview portion of the this research program. 1. The most important and robust is the theme of Tetun as a social necessity in East Timor. It is highly ranked in nearly every social setting, and is viewed as vital for daily life in Timor. 2. The second is the theme of Tetun as a marker of East Timorese identity. It is viewed as an important part of Timorese-ness, and Timorese have an emotional attachment to it. 3. The third theme is that of Tetun as the target of critique. It is viewed as inappropriate in certain situations or domains, and has some negative stereotypes associated with it. 4. The fourth theme is that of Tetun as “developing” or needing “development”. This was seen in the descriptive section especially, but also in views of Tetun utility. 5. The fifth theme is that of Tetun as the locus of insecurity, either in personal use or more directly concerning the language itself. 6 Which was written in Tetun as ladun uza verbo, where uza is, in fact, a verb commonly used in Tetun (from Portuguese) meaning ‘to use’ 48 3. Interview Results The interview portion of this research program features 13 exemplary Timorese participants as well as my personal observations from around 50 additional interviews and is designed to build upon the five themes presented above. Explanations and discussion of each of these sub-themes, transcripts of relevant interview excerpts, and examples of how this interview analysis was obtained are all publicly available in the final draft of my doctoral dissertation (starting in chapter six), online through melodyannross.com/docs. 3.1 Tetun Dili as Social Necessity The first and strongest trend from my interview data was the idea of Tetun as a social necessity. It is highly ranked in nearly every social setting, and it is viewed as vital for daily life in Timor. This belief manifested in four interconnected ways. -First, speakers made statements about the ubiquity of Tetun, establishing it as the baseline for linguistic interaction. -Next, speakers established Tetun as the lingua franca in multilingual interactions, such as between parents who spoke different local languages as their mother tongue. -Third, speakers established Tetun as the required language for political engagement or governmental participation, usually in opposition to another language. -Fourth, speakers strongly associated competence in Tetun as an important component in establishing their own localness in Dili. These content themes exemplify the social necessity of Tetun in the minds of Timorese. Participants contextualized their experiences of language use in Timor within the understood ubiquity of Tetun as the background noise of life that is so salient it’s almost invisible. They stressed the social power of Tetun for connecting with their micro and macro Timorese communities. Others described the absolute necessity of Tetun for political and governmental engagement, framing other languages as oppositional to those needs. Tetun is used as a means of situating locality, claims to cosmopolitanism, modernity, and legitimacy of identity in Dili. Together, these comments construct an attitude of Tetun as desirable, necessary, and appropriate, a view that is strengthened and complicated below. 3.2 Tetun Dili as Identity A second common theme emergent from my interview data was the theme of Tetun Dili as an important component of Timorese identity. Three trends arose within this theme, each focusing on a different way of positioning Timorese identity within a global, local or personal context. -Many participants referred to Tetun Dili in inclusive terms as “ours” or referred to ownership and belonging. -Others framed their identity as Tetun speakers in terms of their relationship to foreigners who do or do not speak Tetun. 49 -Still others used Tetun Dili as a way of situating their localness, validating their connection to other Timorese, or negotiating their sense of place within Timor and their broader global communities. These content themes focused on the relationship between Tetun and Timorese identity. Interviewees used Tetun Dili as a conceptual orientation marker, focusing and locating them within East Timor’s social, historical, and physical space, highlighting the importance of Tetun Dili as more than simply a linguistic code. Participants performed identity work with relation to Tetun in three main ways. They described Tetun in terms of belonging to them as a uniting and relatable facet of the Timorese experience. They used this opportunity to situate their identities by opposing the Timorese relationship to Tetun and the malae relationship to Tetun. They use Tetun as a means of connecting to Timor, and situating themselves and their locality within the social structure of Dili, East Timor, and the world; in much the same way that Tetun belongs to Timorese, Timorese belong to Tetun. 3.3 Tetun Dili as Target of Critique Among Timorese and malae, Tetun Dili is a popular topic of conversation and frequent target of criticism. In this section, I have divided these critiques into three subcategories. -The first category deals with criticisms of the Tetun language itself. -The second category deals with criticisms of the use of Tetun. -The third category deals with criticisms of the relationship between Tetun and authoritative bodies. The criticisms expressed in this section complicate the attitudes of Tetun as social necessity and Timorese identity explored in the previous two sections. Criticisms of Tetun were lobbied directly at the language itself, complicating the view of its universal acceptability. Criticisms were directed at others’ use of the language, threatening the legitimacy of their identities and contributing nuance to the identity work negotiated throughout these interactions. Participants situated and adjusted their positions within existing power structures by offering their own or reporting others’ criticisms of the relationship between Tetun and authority. The mostly positive attitudes toward Tetun that were displayed in sections 3.1 and 3.2 are becoming obscured by the critiques shown here. This section also marks a shift in how participants constructed their stance toward Tetun Dili. Rather than using generic people-statements, or generalized we- and our-statements, in this section participants have used specific anecdotes and introduced other characters into their narratives. This allows participants to describe more specific attitudes regarding Tetun Dili and to ascribe them to the actors and characters in their lives. Attributing attitudes to specific characters also allows them to become the stand-ins for larger ideological entities. Throughout these criticisms, participants’ stances are continually refined in opposition to or in agreement with the attitudes of others, and the ideologies that those attitudes represent. Readers are reminded that relevant excerpts are publicly available at melodyannross.com/docs. 3.4 Tetun as “Developing” As East Timor continues to slowly progress toward the demands of the Millennium Development Goals (now called the Sustainable Development Goals), the idea of development 50 and the enormous pressure to develop pervades every sector of Timorese life. There are campaigns for everything from better sanitary practices, mapping wealth inequalities, ending gender-based violence, filling out tax forms, and stopping illegal fishing, to improving education, recycling, obeying posted parking signs, protecting endangered species, cleaning up litter, improving annual rice harvests, vaccinating children and livestock. This mindset of development and the constant emphasis on improving East Timor extends to language practices as well. In a pilot language attitude survey I conducted in 2014, the free-response question was littered with the phrase tenki dezenvolve, which roughly means “must be developed”. For this reason, I often asked interview participants if they had ever heard anyone say anything roughly akin to there being a need to ‘develop Tetun’, and what they thought this might mean. Participant responses and conversation topics in this section concentrated on three main themes. -Tetun’s relationship with Portuguese -Tetun’s relationship to authoritative bodies (as discussed above) -The consequences of not developing Tetun The excerpts and examples in this section shed some light on the critiques observed in the previous section. Timorese view Tetun as a developing entity that is dependent on, less sophisticated than, and not as globally powerful as Portuguese, undermining the importance of Tetun. They position the governing bodies and authoritative figures as powerful enough to rectify the shortcomings of Tetun, but accuse them of ineptitude bordering on intentional neglect of this important duty. Participants are very aware of the consequences of linguistic stagnation, and that the continued emphasis on perfecting Portuguese at the expense of developing Tetun in Timor is causing stress, anxiety, and disapproval of Tetun. So, while Tetun may be considered the historical vehicle of social capital, the examples in this section show that Timorese view the future with trepidation. The worry that Tetun is inadequate and a shift to some other global language is imminent and inevitable has huge implications for the way that Timorese identity is constructed. The fear that Tetun and other local languages will be left behind as cultural artifacts is not unreasonable given the global loss of minority languages. Like the previous section, stances regarding development presented in this section are necessary reliant on the stances of others. ‘Development’ is an imported concept in East Timor that has been adopted and extended by the local population, and has become their burden. Participants believe that the responsibility of development falls largely to the Timorese themselves, as seen in their stance orientations toward authoritative bodies, the association of Tetun Dili with these authoritative bodies, and their use of we-statements. 3.5 Tetun as Locus of Insecurity The final emergent theme in my interviews was that of Tetun as the locus of insecurity. This insecurity emerged in relation to personal use on the part of participants, as well as a more general insecurity about Tetun. The first four themes explored in this chapter were all findings I expected to encounter from the existing literature and my own experiences in Timor. For these themes, I generally had questions prepared to probe these ideas in more depth when they arose. However, the idea that Tetun-speakers would be insecure about their use of Tetun was unexpected (perhaps naively so) and I did not have any specific questions prepared to elicit these admissions. These insecurities may be categorized thus: 51 -Insecurity related to the general position of Tetun (Adequacy, Future, Propriety, Registers) -Insecurity related to personal use The insecurities expressed in this section took many forms, from the more general anxieties and worries about the appropriateness and future of Tetun, to the personal insecurities of having your Tetun criticized and misrepresenting the identity you are trying to construct. Expressions of insecurity are elusive, hard to categorize, harder to elicit, and easier to see and understand in a group than individually. By far the majority of the insecurities that were expressed during interviews had to do with personal use of Tetun and the fear of being ridiculed either for using the wrong word or speaking with a regional accent. In this section, the interconnectedness of stance, attitudes, and ideologies is vital to understanding and situating these insecurities. The insecurities themselves mostly rely upon the implied or explicit stances of others, and these others serve as both attitudinal and ideological proxies for larger issues at stake. Tetun Dili is not just the object of stance, it is the tool that participants are using to calibrate their responses to their own insecurities. 3.6 Interview Summary Language attitudes and language ideologies are not synonymous. Language ideologies make up the societal environment in which individual language attitudes reside. Language attitudes influence and are influenced by language ideologies, just as language ideologies are made up of language attitudes. Language attitudes are negotiated at the group level, through broad communicative norms; language attitudes are negotiated at the individual level, through dialogic interaction, which are investigated here with stance and survey analysis. Language ideologies are the tapestry, language attitudes the threads, and stance acts are the fingers of the weaver, manipulating the threads into place. 52 4 Discussion 4.1 Attitudes Toward TD in the Context of Multilingual Settings As in many multilingual settings, weighted valuation of languages takes place in East Timor and is seen especially in this dissertation’s survey results, which explicitly asked participants to rank the utility of languages in various settings. This was also seen during the interviews, in which participants provided language evaluations through stance positioning. In sections 2.2 and 2.3, survey respondents reported Tetun Dili as the preferred language over everyday social, familial, or intimate interaction, but placed higher value on English and Portuguese as the languages of upward mobility. In the free response answers of section 2.2.2, Tetun Dili was ranked highly as a language that was ‘Known Well’, but participants ranked Portuguese just as highly as a ‘Want To Know’ language, and English even higher. In the free response answers of section 2.2.3, participants mainly wanted their children to know English and Portuguese, with hardly a mention of Tetun Dili, or any other local language of East Timor. However, in the 20 forced-choice responses of section 2.3, Tetun is the most popular choice in a variety of hypothetical contexts, losing three times to English and once to Portuguese. The four instances in which Tetun is not chosen as the preferred language are questions regarding personal success (English), good education (Portuguese), making money (English), and getting a good job (English). These rankings show that in multilingual East Timor, the utility and appropriateness of languages is perceived as unequal. Another result unique to this multilingual situation was the trend toward language shift that Timorese are aware of and simultaneously support and fear. Survey results provide clear evidence that Timorese are not speaking traditional local languages at the same rate as their parents, instead preferring Tetun Dili. The figure in section 2.2.1 shows that every major indigenous language of East Timor is reported at lower rates as a mother tongue for participants than for their parents. However, for Tetun Dili, that trend strongly reverses, showing that the parents’ generation is not viewed as speaking Tetun Dili at the same rate as the current generation. These results could be explained away as an ideological bias of sorts, in which children are reporting an idealized memory of their parents’ behaviors. It could also be the case that the parents do speak Tetun Dili, maybe even as their mother tongue, but that participants place more weight on their traditional ethnolinguistic classifiers. However, interview participants expressed many of the same observations of language shift and many of the same fears of the resulting language loss, which reinforces the survey findings. As a result, it is clear that language shift is an issue facing East Timor and its people today. This language shift offers conflicting insights into attitudes toward Tetun Dili. On the one hand, that the shift is happening at all indicates that Timorese hold favorable views toward Tetun as the vehicle for upward mobility, or at least feel the tremendous pressures associated with not knowing Tetun Dili. On the other hand, they blame the language for being the catalyst of the language loss and the associated cultural obsolescence. Another way of looking at this clash of positive and negative attitudes toward Tetun Dili in the context of shifting multilingualisms is to examine the changes in the historical relationship to Tetun, the current relationship Tetun has with East Timorese, and the future of this relationship. 53 4.2 Attitudes Toward Tetun Dili and National Identity The relationship between Tetun Dili and national identity elicited strong attitudes in both surveys and interviews. This data highlighted the changes from the historical relationship to Tetun to the contemporary relationship, and also showed that Timorese view the future of this relationship with uncertainty and reserve. One observation that can be taken from this research is that the Timorese relationship to Tetun has changed and is continuing to change. Historically, Timorese people’s relationships to Portuguese and to the ethnolects of East Timor were more important than their relationship to the lingua franca Tetun (as distinct in this case from the ethnolect Tetun Terik). Extensive intermarriage between ethnic groups–and the enduring exchange relationships created therein– shows that multilingualism has always been the norm, even in pre-invasion East Timor before the Indonesian language was forcibly added to the linguistic repertoire of Timorese. However, an individual’s relationship to their ethnolect was a more important social factor than their relationship to the lingua franca. A Timorese person’s relationship to Portuguese was also an important indicator of social and political status in both pre-invasion and Indonesian-occupied East Timor. This is evident in the early colonial literature about language in East Timor, of which many relevant passages regarding Tetun are provided in Chapter 3 of my dissertation (available publicly at melodyannross.com/docs). However, many of the indigenous languages were mentioned or described by the colonial governors or early missionaries, as well as the aptitude (and the careful selection on the part of the Portuguese administration) of the indigenous population in learning the Portuguese language. In light of this and the language shift data, it is obvious that the Timorese relationship is undergoing change, and one of the most important ways this is happening is in relation to national identity. Conclusions from my interviews and survey data show that the Timorese relationship to being Timorese hinges on mastery of Tetun. East Timor is a fledgling nation that staked its independence claim on the assertion that East Timor has a cultural identity that is distinct from Indonesia’s. With the stamp of “failed state” constantly lurking, East Timor has a vested interest in presenting a unified front to the world. One way that the government is trying to accomplished this is through the promotion of a unified language. There is conflict in this claim, however, because while the government may tacitly promote Tetun as a unifying agent, it has not until recently overtly promoted it as a universally accepted code. As a result, Timorese identity as it relates to Tetun is a recent phenomenon that is still undergoing negotiation in the social consciousness. One consequence of this ongoing negotiation is uncertainty and insecurity about the current and future role of Tetun. A theme that undercut my interviews was the sense of urgency in making Tetun ‘work’ for Timor, and the consequences if these campaigns failed. As discussed above, Timorese are not blind to the shift away from local languages because they know that Tetun is more useful in gaining social capital. But when the functionality of Tetun outstrips its utility, the fear that Tetun’s inadequacy will force its obsolescence is not unfounded (a view that is dependent on buying into the idea that Tetun is inadequate, which some speakers aren’t comfortable with). This is noteworthy because it implies that the legitimacy of Tetun Dili as a language is tied to the perception that it is an undeveloped—and therefore inadequate—language on its own to serve as the language of national identity. This complex relationship to development will be discussed further in section 4.4. 54 Another confound that is raised by the idea of Tetun Dili as the unifying thread of East Timorese identity is that my data shows that it can also be used to divide. The type of Tetun that a person speaks can be used by others to marginalize, exclude, or ridicule them. Some interview participants make explicit reference to their anxiety about being on the receiving end of this type of ridicule, and their fears of being labeled ema foho (mountain people). Lito even shares a hypothetical story of a time that he himself has engaged in this type of ridicule. This indicates that he, at least, has mastered Tetun Dili to the extent that he can now engage in the behavior he had previously confessed to fearing. The individual shift in attitudes and power relations shown in Lito’s example is a good example of the changing relationship of Timorese to Tetun Dili, and the power relationships being negotiated through its use. In some cases, it would be easy to frame positive valuations of Tetun as a resistance or opposition to Portuguese, however, as it concerns national identity, this explanation is too simple. Some form of Tetun has been the lingua franca of Timor Island since before Western contact, and had grown in complexity and use prior to the Indonesian invasion. During the forced displacements of the Indonesian period (when entire villages were relocated to areas within a certain distance of a major road, far outside their traditional territories), the language groups of East Timor were abruptly thrown together. Before the Indonesian language had a large Timorese speaker population, Tetun was their only common language. This accidental linguistic unity was further strengthened and legitimized by the Catholic church, who had always traditionally operated in Tetun, but became a spiritual and physical support system during the Indonesian years. By the time East Timor became independent, Tetun had been the language of nonIndonesian identity for nearly three decades, and represented more of a resistance to the Indonesian language than Portuguese. For all these reasons, Tetun enjoys positive evaluations by Timorese not because they are resisting Portuguese or Indonesian, but because Tetun itself embodies a highly-valued cultural memory of shared struggle. 4.3 Attitudes towards TD and Policy; Ideologies of Tetun Dili as a Resource, Problem, or Right The entanglement of Tetun Dili, national identity, and language policy is another important conclusion from this data. Tetun is inextricable from Timorese identity, but the publicized governance of Tetun invites questions of the governance of identity. If Tetun Dili is a proxy for Timorese identity, and it is controlled and developed by the state, then it is a question whether Timorese perceive themselves to be in control of their own identity. Additionally, to some extent Timorese are under pressure to ensure that the identity they want to present is ratified by the appropriate authorities. Many of these issues and others were raised by participants in their comments about INL. The Instituto Nacional de Linguistica was created by government decree in 2004 to promote and develop the languages of East Timor. They published many of the only sources on Tetun Dili during the early years of independence, and worked closely with Dr. Geoffrey Hull, who was a particularly prolific linguistic scholar during those early few years. However, since the departure of Dr. Hull, INL’s rate of publication has plummeted. Many of my interview participants were critical of INL for being either too strict or too lax in their approaches to Tetun, claims that perhaps make more sense in light of the Timorese perception that Timor requires “development”. However, I believe it is important to offer something like a defense on behalf of INL because of the uniquely difficult position they are in. If they are too dictatorial in their 55 ‘development’ and promotion of Tetun, they risk being compared to the linguistic persecution of the Indonesian occupation, when children faced cruel punishments for language violations. But on the other hand, if they are too lax in their approach, then they run the risk of being viewed as ineffective at best, and corrupt at worst. The current director of INL, Dr. Benjamin de Araújo e Côrte-Real, holds a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics, and completed a PhD at Macquarie University (Sydney) on the topic of verbal art genres in Mambai, his mother tongue. He is a linguist, a teacher, one of the first Timorese to hold a PhD, and a Timorese who grew up and completed his schooling under the Indonesian occupation. It is not difficult to appreciate the complexity of his situation. It is easy to be critical of the role of INL and its relationship with Tetun, but it is important to remember that being ‘strengthened’ by a government decree, as explained by one interviewee, can also be a hindrance. For example, anyone who wants to work for or with INL must be fluent in the two official languages, which excludes a great number of both Timorese and malae. In addition, without direct access to the inner workings of INL, it is impossible to know to what degree ‘strengthened by’ may also mean ‘beholden to’, which of course introduces a whole host of other political problems. It is tempting to blame all of East Timor’s language problems on INL, and I have probably been guilty of succumbing to this line of thinking at times, but to do so oversimplifies the intricacies of language, history, politics, and identity in East Timor. The attitudes expressed here are all constructed and negotiated within the larger context of language ideologies. Tetun can be approached from three ideological standpoints; Tetun as resource, Tetun as problem, or Tetun as right. The changing relationship between Tetun and Timorese seems to have been dominated by each of these ideologies in turn. Historically, Tetun was used by Timorese traders, the Catholic church, and Portuguese colonial administrators as a convenient and widespread lingua franca. When the Indonesians invaded and occupied East Timor, they introduced the ideology of Tetun as problem by socializing the Indonesian language as the language of education and punishing linguistic transgressors. When the constitution of independent East Timor was developed, the ideology of Tetun as right was introduced, and likely had a strong influence on the decision to adopt it as a co-official language (and the legislative creation of INL). However, the ideology of Tetun as problem has not fully dislodged itself from the Timorese consciousness, and the ideology of Tetun as resource has (until recently) stagnated. Recent changes in education policy and practice suggest that the ideologies of Tetun as right and Tetun as resource have begun to take root as potential tools of cultivating national identity. 4.4 Attitudes towards TD and Education; Literacy, Orthography, and Development Ideologies Education plays an important role in the ongoing identity construction of the nation of East Timor, as well as the individual Timorese who are matriculating through the educational system. The state is charged with the development both of Tetun Dili and of young Timorese minds, and the enormous pressure to raise both of these precious entities to international standards is constant. Shah (2012) in his review of the changes to Timorese curriculum, alludes to the fact that the development ideologies that pervade East Timor allow little room for experimentation and demand immediate results. As a consequence of these ideologies and pressures, Timorese are constantly aware that their language needs to be ‘improved’, and that the best way to do this is to ‘develop Tetun’. This gives space for the creation and perpetuation of a host of negative ideologies and attitudes, many of which are seen in the survey portion of the 56 data. Respondents wrote that Tetun lacks ‘grammar’, that it does not have ‘enough words’ (and must borrow from more garrulous languages as a consequence), or that it is unsuitable to explain higher-level concepts (and so speakers must be bilingual in a ‘higher-level’ language). Of these results, one enticing avenue of exploration is the Timorese idea of grammar. Survey participants as well as interview participants make reference to the common Timorese perception that Tetun lacks grammar. One participant even talked about taking a six-month course to ‘learn the grammatical Tetun’, a language she has spoken for her entire life. This harkens back to the anthropological understanding of literacy discussed in Chapter 2 of my dissertation (available publicly at melodyannross.com/docs), which challenges the concept of what counts as ‘real’ literacy, and holds that this is never a purely technical idea, but a political one. By sharing her experiences in taking a ‘grammatical Tetun’ course and her frustration that ‘her’ Tetun is not the same, this participant introduces the idea that Tetun itself is being deliberately managed and molded into a tool of the state. She considers this frustrating, but a step in the right direction, because such an undertaking helps to establish the legitimacy of and standardization for what is otherwise considered an unlicensed and chaotic language. This also introduces what it might mean to Timorese for a language to have ‘grammar’. Survey participants alluded to the idea that Tetun ‘did not use verbs’ (which will be discussed further in section 4.5 below), and that it was easy to speak but difficult to write. Another participant talks about the lack of standardization and dictionaries. These findings, along with these comments, paint a picture of Tetun not as lacking ‘grammar’, but as lacking pedagogic resources and an established literary tradition. The fact that the reformed curriculum developed and implemented by the Ministry of Education in 2014 now explicitly teaches and operates in Tetun Dili might begin to see a top-down ideological shift force a change at the attitudinal level as well. However, persistent and pervasive negative attitudes toward using Tetun Dili as a language of initial literacy may have implications for language planning in East Timor. Language planning best practices tend to follow pre-determined plans of analysis, planning, socialization, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. That this program has seen angry protest in the media in the first stages of implementation, combined with the findings from my survey data that Tetun is not considered a valuable language of education, perhaps points to a failure of the socialization stage, which future policymakers should be careful to address. Within this larger context of language ideologies, many of these ideologies of development, orthography, and literacy are exhibited in education. The pressures of development and the ideas of what it means to develop are visible in many of the interactions explored above. The ideologies that underpin the Tetun orthographic system(s) are summarized nicely by two interviewees, who are familiar with the reasons for the ongoing pressures of the two main systems. The INL orthography contains special characters, which make Tetun resemble Portuguese and lend it an air of establishment or legitimacy. But the INL orthography was developed before the information age had firmly taken hold of the world, and the cumbersome inconvenience of using accent marks and tildes is more easily avoidable by using the phonemic orthography championed by DIT. So, as one interviewee summarized, the ideologies that govern the two main Tetun orthographies are predicated on different understandings (and, it must be said, desires) of what Tetun is. While this conflict or orthographic ideologies continues in its sometimes-heated deadlock, ideologies of literacy negotiate on apace as Timorese continue to arbitrate which literacies are ‘real’, and who ultimately makes that decision. 57 4.5 Attitudes towards TD and Contact Languages; Standard Language Ideologies Tetun Dili has been marginalized as corrupt and insufficient by historical writers, and inconsistently and non-linguistically described by modern writers, with a few notable exceptions (especially Williams-van Klinken et al. 2002a, 2002b). The marked avoidance by modern linguistic scholars to classify Tetun Dili as a contact variety is puzzling structurally, but understandable ideologically. The same avoidance is seen with some interviewees, who readily state that Tetun is a ‘put-together’ mixture of languages, but is also vehemently denied by others. Another observation from both my interviews and my off-the-record conversations in East Timor is the idea that Tetun Dili is discretely compositional; that is, the languages itself is composed of discernable and separable parts of other languages. The fact that Timorese will talk about Tetun in terms of the percentages of its linguistic makeup is an insight into just how aware they are of the historical and contemporary forces that have governed its development. This is used as a way of situating people ideologically within the education and political Timorese experience. For example, a person who tends to use a high percentage of Portuguese in their Tetun is considered elite, educated and probably well-employed, but distant and disconnected from the general Timorese population. Or, a person who tends to use a high percentage of Indonesian in their Tetun is considered less educated, and is very likely young and urban. Timorese that I have spoken to, particularly Jorge, will actually talk about one another’s Tetun in these percentage terms, and sometimes attach these social judgments to them. That the language is viewed as a discretely identifiable composition of other languages contributes to the development ideologies that surround it. If Tetun Dili is 25% Portuguese and 25% Indonesian now, it perhaps stands to reason that Timorese believe it could just be a matter of legislation and socialization to force those percentages into different distributions. Further, that people recognize the percentages of Tetun that are not Tetun challenges the idea of Tetun as a discrete linguistic entity. If certain percentages of Tetun “belong” to other named languages and are recognized as part of different codes, what is left of Tetun to be Tetun? 4.6 Research Questions Revisited It is useful at this point to revisit the original research questions presented in section 1 of this dissertation and discuss how each was approached and answered. 1. What are the most common attitudes about Tetun Dili among various groups? The most common attitudes toward Tetun Dili presented in my data are that the language is considered a valued cultural component of Timorese identity, but that it was also the locus of criticism and insecurity. Generally positive stances toward the connection between Tetun Dili and Timorese identity and attitudes concerning development were seen in both the surveys and interviews. Attitudes of personal insecurity regarding Tetun Dili, and conflicting attitudes toward policies and politics governing Tetun Dili were seen in the interviews. In general, groups differed very little (statistically), and their differing attitudes may be attributed to life stage and life experience. 2. Where do these attitudes come from and how do they differ? In the context of my research, attitudes toward Tetun Dili arose from East Timor’s long history of contact; contact between the ethnolects within East Timor; between Timorese and other Southeast Asian navigators and traders; between Timorese and the Portuguese missionaries and colonial 58 administration; between Timorese and the Indonesian occupation; between Timorese and the multinational members of the United Nations; and now the growing contact between Timorese and the global community. This contact has had demonstrable effects on both the makeup of the Tetun Dili language itself, as well as influenced societal ideologies that hold power over attitudes toward the language. The attitudes differ in their topics but also in their strength and united representation across communities. 3. How can these attitudes be described? Attitudes presented in this dissertation were collected and described using survey tools and interview analysis. Survey tools provided a flat, initial impression of overall positive attitudes toward Tetun Dili. This impression was detailed by inferential statistics, which showed that certain groups were more likely to agree or disagree with certain statements about Tetun Dili and Tetun Dili speakers. From this point, additional complexity to the attitudes demonstrated by the language attitude surveys was introduced through interview analysis. Interview participants demonstrated through their stance acts that their generally positive attitudes toward Tetun Dili were dimmed somewhat by uncertainty, insecurity, and criticism. Affected voices, repetitions, hesitations, shifts in pronoun usages and general content were all used to describe the attitudes portrayed in the interview interactions. 4. How can these attitudes be situated within the larger context of language ideologies? Many of the individual attitudes expressed in this dissertation were reflections of or resistance to dominant societal language ideologies, because language attitudes have an interdependent relationship with language ideologies. Attitudes make up the building blocks ideologies and they influence on one another’s strength. General attitudes about the valuation of Tetun Dili within its multilingual context and attitudes about its context were introduced as the basic context for situating Tetun Dili within the linguistic environment of East Timor. Attitudes toward the adequacy of Tetun Dili were easily recognizable within the context of ideologies toward development, orthography, and literacy. Attitudes toward Tetun Dili policies were situated within the ideologies of Tetun Dili as resource, problem, or right. 4.7 Summary of the Study This study investigated language attitudes of East Timorese in regard to their national and co-official language, Tetun Dili. The study found that attitudes toward the language are generally positive, but that its future role is still undergoing tacit social negotiation. Other attitudes concerning the connection between Timorese identity, Dili Localness, and mastery of Tetun Dili revealed the linguistic insecurities held by Timorese. Within the larger context of language ideologies, Tetun Dili continues to be to locus of criticism and disagreement. 4.8 Contributions of the Study This study contributes to the existing literature regarding Tetun Dili by providing a deeper understanding of the role of Tetun Dili as it exists right now, and future scholars with a foundation upon which to build their own research. Before this project, there were no studies specifically focused on attitudes toward Tetun Dili or other languages of East Timor, and scant sociolinguistic research of any kind. This dissertation represents the first attempt to catalogue and describe these attitudes, as well as introduce a reproducible framework for situating language attitudes within language ideologies. 59 East Timor is a new nation that has struggled with fierce determination to establish itself as an independent, functioning democracy. As Timorese begin to negotiate their position within the global community, they are also negotiating their identities at home. This dissertation highlights the importance of establishing the legitimacy of Tetun Dili as the lingua franca of East Timor and gives color and life to something that is a large part of being Timorese. Tetun Dili is viewed as powerful and weak, useful and purposeless, simple and complicated, personal and communal, individual and governmental, isolating and connecting. These complex and often contradictory views have emerged from this research and are a fundamental part of the attitudes and ideologies that Timorese hold toward Tetun Dili. 4.9 Directions for Future Work This study was limited by time and scope, but one of the most important future additions to the attitude literature is to analyze language attitude interviews with malae regarding Tetun Dili. This analysis will lend depth to the understanding of how language ideologies in East Timor are influenced by foreign ideologies, and how malae attitudes change over time. Another study that would contribute to this attitudinal literature is a social network density study that correlates contact with foreigners, media, and Timorese of other SES scores with the strength language attitudes. Of course, the draw to investigate attitudes toward Portuguese within a Timorese context is very strong, and this dissertation could serve as a foundation for future scholars to build upon. Better than all of this, however, would be a rigorous attitude study performed on any of the topics I presented throughout my dissertation performed by a Timorese researcher. My fervent hope is that the project I have undertaken here will lend an air of legitimacy to Tetun Dili, not only as a language, but also as an academic discipline and potentially important avenue of study. 60 Appendices 61 Appendix A, Survey Tool Personal Information 1 Age: 2 Sex: 3 Ethnicity: Where were you born? 4 Country 5 District Where do you live? 8 District 9 Suku 12 Have you ever traveled abroad? 14 Level of Education: Yes 15 Number 6 Suko 7 How 10 Bairu No 13 When of children? many years have you lived in Timor? 11 How many years have you lived in Dili? and where? 16 Occupation/job? What do your parents do? 17 Father 18 Mother 19 Father 20 Mother Where are your parents from? Information about Language 22 Other 21 Mother languages you know well? tongue: 23 Other languages you know a little: You parents’ mother tongue?: 24 Father 25 Mother 26 Do you want to know any languages better? 27 What languages do you want your children to know? 28 In primary school, what language(s) did your teachers use? 29 In seconday school, what language(s) did your teachers use? 30 In university, what language(s) did your teachers use? 31 When you talk to friends, which language do you usually use? 32 When you talk to family, which language do you usually use? 33 When you talk to foreigners, which language do you usually use? 34 At work, which language do you usually use? 35 At home, which language do you usually use? 36 At school, which language do you usually use? Choose one language According to your view, choose that language that is most important to… Tetun Port. make friends: be successful: get a good education: feel happy in your relathionships: get money: read: write: listen to the radio: watch TV: be accepted by people in Timor-Leste: Ingles Indon. 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Tetun talk with teachers: talk with rural people: talk with Dili people: talk with government officials: get a good job: talk with friends from school: go to church: go to the market: go to the districts: be accepted by people in your neighborhood: Port. Ingles Indon. 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 62 There are some sentences about language in Timor-Leste. Please say if you agree or disagree. 57 It is important to know a local language. 58 It is more important to know Tetun than local languages. 59 People that know Tetun are clever. 60 Portuguese language and Tetun language are very different. 61 Children feel confused when they learn Portugese and Tetun at the same time. 62 People have to learn Tetun before learning Portuguese. 63 It is more important to know Tetun than Portuguese. 64 Knowing Tetun can help people get jobs in Timor. 65 Knowing Tetun can help people get jobs abroad. 66 Knowing many languages is easy. 67 Knowing many languages is important. 68 Knowing only one language makes life difficult. 69 I feel sad for people in Timor that don’t know Tetun. 70 Youths don’t know how to speak Tetun properly. 71 All Timorese in Dili need to know Portuguese. 72 All Timorese in the districts need to know Portuguese. 73 Portuguese, English, Indonesian, Tetun, and locak languages can live together in Timor-Leste 74 Tetun is really unfashionable. 75 Portuguese is more valuable than Tetun. 76 Timorese youths like to speak Tetun. 77 Older Timorese like to speak Tetun. 78 Tetun is a simple languages. 79 Foreigners should learn Tetun. 80 Tetun is an important part of Timorese identity. 81 If I had to choose only one language to speak, I would choose Tetun. 82 I have positive feelings about Tetun. Agree ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Disagree ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! About people who speak Tetun Please, indicate your level of agreement with the following words. Really disagree ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! People who speak Tetun are… 83 quiet. 84 stupid. 85 loud. 86 kind-hearted. 87 feminine. 88 bad-tempered. 89 masculine. 90 honest. 91 modern. 92 attractive. 93 successful. 94 peaceful. 95 violent. 96 young. 97 poor. 97 old. 99 rich. 100 pretentious. Disagree somewhat ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Agree somewhat ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Really Agree ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Put these languages in roder from simplest to most difficult [Indonesian, English, Portuguese, Tetun] 1. 2. 3. 4. Choose five words to describe the Tetun language. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 63 Appendix B: Training Materials Screening Application for Research Assistant Project Title: Language in Timor-Leste (IRB ID: CHS 20417) Principal Investigator: Melody Ann Ross Personal Information Full Name: Age: Nickname Birthplace: Country, District, Suku Residence: Neighborhood Length of time in Dili Home Phone: Provider: TT Telkomcel Telemor Alternate Phone: Provider: TT Telkomcel Telemor E-mail Address: Background Information University Major: High School Specialization: How long have you been studying English? _________________________ Years Months Age when you started learning English: ________ Where have you studied English?______________________________________________________________________________ What was your most recent English course? _______________________________ What grade did you earn? ____________ Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability. 1. What does “research” mean to you? 2. What does “honesty” mean to you? 3. What is the purpose of doing research? 64 Language Proficiency Rate your abilities in each of the following languages by circling your level of proficiency: Tetun Reading / Writing Speaking Listening Comprehension Fluent Fluent Fluent High High High Medium Medium Medium Low Low Low None None None Fluent Fluent Fluent High High High Medium Medium Medium Low Low Low None None None Fluent Fluent Fluent High High High Medium Medium Medium Low Low Low None None None Fluent Fluent Fluent High High High Medium Medium Medium Low Low Low None None None Low Low Low None None None Low Low Low None None None English Reading / Writing Speaking Listening Comprehension Indonesian Reading / Writing Speaking Listening Comprehension Portuguese Reading / Writing Speaking Listening Comprehension Other language: (please specify) ____________________ Reading / Writing Speaking Listening Comprehension Fluent Fluent Fluent High High High Medium Medium Medium Other language: (please specify) ____________________ Reading / Writing Speaking Listening Comprehension Fluent Fluent Fluent High High High Medium Medium Medium Do not write below this line. 65 Research Assistant “Language in Timor-Leste” (IRB ID: CHS20417) Terms of Agreement Project Summary This project will explore individual beliefs about language and education in Timor-Leste in order to explore the sociolinguistic position of languages in Timor-Leste, and to increase the amount of cultural documentation in Timor-Leste. Another important goal of this project is to train Timorese youth in best research practices, in order to foster a sense of confidence in self-directed research projects and ownership of their research skills. Skills and Qualifications Required abilities and dispositions: High personal motivation, self-management, and attention to detail. Ability to take responsibility and make progress without direct supervision. Strong spoken and written communications skills in both English and Tetun. Capacity and will to learn new research methods. Academic and/or work experience related to the field of research, as defined by the principal investigator. ∴ Satisfactory academic progress, or recommendation from academic supervisor. ∴ ∴ ∴ ∴ ∴ Preferred additional qualities: Strong existing computer skills, general Internet and electronic communications. Articulate and tactful communications skills. Readiness to meet and work directly with participants. Interest in professional development toward future graduate school or employment in advanced social research. ∴ High academic standing. ∴ Ability to communicate in Bahasa Indonesia and one (or more) Timorese national languages ∴ ∴ ∴ ∴ Duties and Responsibilities: The research assistant will be expected to carry out their assigned portion of the project as well as other, related duties. These duties include: ∴ ∴ ∴ ∴ ∴ ∴ ∴ ∴ Assist with academic research. Communicate regularly with supervisor to discuss research assignments. Attend project trainings and meetings. Demonstrate respect toward and cooperation with the principal investigator. Handle and protect confidential and sensitive data with integrity. Manage data collection deadlines. Recruit and survey 75 different participants. Maintain accurate records of surveys, safeguarding the confidentiality of subjects, as necessary. Policy on Integrity Cheating or plagiarism on any survey will not be tolerated. A research assistant found to be in violation of this integrity policy will not receive any of the benefits, monetary or otherwise, associated with this project. 66 Workload Application and Interview Period (1 hour) The research assistant is expected to complete an application and interview to determine their suitability for the project. If the principal investigator determines that the applicant is suitable for the project, the applicant will be asked to sign a contract and attend a training period. Contract signing and training period (1 hour) The research assistant will be asked to review the terms of the contract with the principal investigator and sign the contract. After this time, the research assistant will be briefed on the details of the project. The research assistant will learn to use the data collection instruments; for this project, these instruments shall consist of a survey and a survey log. The research assistant must be familiar with all the questions on the survey, and must understand the survey log sheet. The research assistant must agree to ask questions whenever they encounter difficulties, need help, or advice. The research assistant must agree to keep all information collected from participants confidential. Data collection period (7 hours) The research assistant is expected to recruit and survey 75 different participants, striving to represent a variety of demographics. The research assistant is expected to not discriminate against potential participants based on these demographics, which include but are not limited to: age, gender, education level, mother tongue, district, literacy level, religion, sexual orientation, political beliefs or others. The research assistant is expected to represent all comments and information from the participants faithfully (exactly as it is given). Information about each survey must be recorded on the survey log. Follow-up Meeting (1 hour) The research assistant is required to meet with the principal investigator at the completion of the data collection to review the survey results. During this time, the principal investigator will ask the research assistant a number of questions to ensure that all the surveys were collected honestly. If the primary investigator determines that the research assistant has falsified or plagiarized any of the surveys, the research assistant will not be eligible to receive any of the benefits of the contract, and will not be compensated financially. Total: 10 hours Benefits ∴ $125 at the completion of the project with possibility to renew. ∴ Certificate or letter of completion. ∴ Letter of recommendation or reference for scholarship or employment applications. I certify that I (print complete name) _____________________________________ have read and understand the terms of this contract; that I agree to abide by the terms; and that I will complete the required training, data collection, and follow-up meeting by 11 July 2015. ____________________________ __________ 67 Signature Date Benefits Addendum Incidental Costs The nature of this project may require the RA to use their own resources (e.g. fuel and transportation, supplies, phone credit, etc.) or to disrupt their usual meal schedule. For this reason, the RA will be given $40 (forty dollars) at the beginning of the project to account for initial incidental expenditures. If additional serious costs arise, the RA should inform the PI. 68 Appendix C: Survey Results Choose one language According to your view, choose that language that is most important to… make friends: be successful: get a good education: feel happy in your relationships: get money: read: write: listen to the radio: watch TV: be accepted by people in Timor-Leste: Tetun 223 68 64 Port. 17 72 122 193 115 97 122 185 120 26 26 88 76 23 24 171 45 Ingles Indon. 44 3 37 talk with teachers: 135 11 38 talk with rural people: 85 16 39 talk with Dili people: talk with government 58 10 40 officials: 124 11 41 get a good job: 76 23 42 talk with friends from school: 64 24 43 go to church: 63 16 44 go to the market: 61 74 45 go to the districts: be accepted by people in 56 10 46 your neighborhood: Tetun 183 287 271 Port. 70 0 8 Ingles Indon. 22 7 47 3 0 48 7 2 49 137 87 235 275 286 287 122 48 32 8 0 2 24 143 17 3 3 2 2 3 2 4 1 0 281 3 6 0 There are some sentences about language in Timor-Leste. Please say if you agree or disagree.Disagree Agree 57 It is important to know a local language. is more important to know Tetun than local languages. 59 People that know Tetun are clever. 60 Portuguese language and Tetun language are very different. 61 Children feel confused when they learn PortugUese and Tetun at the same time. 62 People have to learn Tetun before learning Portuguese. 63 It is more important to know Tetun than Portuguese. 64 Knowing Tetun can help people get jobs in Timor. 65 Knowing Tetun can help people get jobs abroad. 66 Knowing many languages is easy. 67 Knowing many languages is important. 68 Knowing only one language makes life difficult. 69 I feel sad for people in Timor that don’t know Tetun. 70 Youths don’t know how to speak Tetun properly. 71 All Timorese in Dili need to know Portuguese. 72 All Timorese in the districts need to know Portuguese. 73 Portuguese, English, Indonesian, Tetun, and local languages can live together in Timor-Leste 74 Tetun is really unfashionable. 75 Portuguese is more valuable than Tetun. 76 Timorese youths like to speak Tetun. 77 Older Timorese like to speak Tetun. 78 Tetun is a simple languages. 79 Foreigners should learn Tetun. 80 Tetun is an important part of Timorese identity. 81 If I had to choose only one language to speak, I would choose Tetun. 82 I have positive feelings about Tetun. 58 It 273 192 166 215 218 265 149 199 47 155 283 183 220 178 207 198 22 102 122 75 75 30 144 96 240 133 15 103 73 113 88 79 266 28 61 258 213 269 282 286 226 264 25 263 230 31 77 24 11 8 67 30 69 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 About people who speak Tetun Please, indicate your are… level of agreement with the following People who speak Tetun Really disagree Disagreewords. somewhat 83 quiet. 84 stupid. 85 loud. 86 kind-hearted. 87 feminine. 88 bad-tempered. 89 masculine. 90 honest. 91 modern. 92 attractive. 93 successful. 94 peaceful. 95 violent. 96 young. 97 poor. 98 old. 99 rich. 100 pretentious. 194 208 154 41 105 163 103 39 53 135 34 43 201 62 126 97 107 182 36 44 59 18 30 63 30 30 38 67 19 32 21 24 30 40 41 38 Agree somewhat 25 15 43 55 45 30 54 64 83 43 74 70 27 55 57 63 51 33 Really Agree 32 18 23 171 97 23 91 146 110 37 153 134 31 147 73 88 89 36 Put these languages in order from simplest to most difficult [Indonesian, English, Portuguese, Tetun] 1. E8/I33/P7/T239 2. E29/I182/P58/T17 3. E114/I40/P123/T9 4. E124/I30/P97/T28 Descriptions of Tetun with Translations Positive Descriptors: akredito (accredited:1), atividade (activity:1), akordo (agree:1), konkorda (agree:2), setuju (agree:1), konkorda loos (agree really:1), moris (alive:4), dada ema (attract people:1), atrai (attracts:3), furak (awesome:53), furak liu (awesome –er:1), furak loos (awesome really:2), beatiful (beautiful:4), bonita (beautiful:4), cantik (beautiful:1), jeito (beautiful:3), jeitu (beautiful:18), zeitu (beautiful:2), benefisiu (beneficial:1), vanaficiu (beneficial:1), komersio (business:2), komersiu (business:1), kalma (calm:4), matek (calm:1), caracterizado (charactered:1), prasa (city variety:5), praca (city variety:1), matenek (clever:10), kolaborasaun (collaboration:1), komitmentu (commitment:1), comun (common:1), komunika (communicate:2), comunicacao (communication:1), komunikasaun (communication:5), complex (complex:1), kompostu (composite:1), konsiensia (conscience:1), kontente (content:3), kontenti (content:2), continuasaun (continuation:1), contribui (contribute:1), kontribui (contribute:1), kreativo (creative:1), kultural (cultural:1), cultura (culture:2), kultura (culture:5), ezige (demand:1), diferente (different:2), fasil liu (easier:2), facil (easy:2), fasil (easy:107), fasil rona (easy hear:2), fasil aprende (easy learn:1), fasil le (easy read:1), fasil los (easy really:3), fasil koalia (easy speak:4), facil atu rona (easy to hear:1), fasil atu rona (easy to hear:1), facil atu hatene (easy to know:1), fasil atu hatene (easy to know:3), fasil atu hatene lalais (easy to know 70 fast:1), fasil atu aprende (easy to learn:2), fasil atu lee (easy to read:1), fasil atu koalia (easy to speak:4), fasil atu estuda (easy to study:1), fasil atu konta historia ho kolega (easy to tell story with friend:1), fasil atu komprende (easy to understand:1), fasil atu hakerek (easy to write:1), fasil hakerek (easy write:1), enkoraja (encourage:1), esensial (essential:1), esplika (explain:1), esplike (explain:1), esplikasaun (explanation:1), fasilita (facilitate:1), justo (fair:1), justu (fair:2), familiar (familiar:3), famosa (famous:2), famoso (famous:1), famosu (famous:4), famouzu (famous:1), famozo (famous:2), famozu (famous:5), lalais (fast:3), gratuito (free:1), kolega (friend:1), amizade (friendship:1), funcao (function:1), halibur (gather [people] together:1), jeral (general:1), bato'o (go further:1), diak (good:94), diak liu (good –er:1), diak ituan (good a little:1), diak ba ema atu aprende (good for people to learn:1), diak tebes (good really:2), gramatika diak (grammar good:1), gramatika la difisil (grammar not difficult:1), kapas (great:55), haksolok (happy:9), konenti (happy:1), badinas (hard-working:5), tenki ser hatene (have to know:1), rona (hear:3), rona fasil (hear easy:1), rona lalais (hear fast:1), ajuda hodi hatene (help in order to know:1), historia (history:3), honesto (honest:18), honestu (honest:27), onesto (honest:2), honestidade (honesty:1), hau gosta los (I like really:1), identidade (identity:57), identidade nasional (identity national:1), imporante (important:62), important (important:4), inocente (innocent:1), fuan sorin (inside heart:1), intelectual (intellectual:1), interesante (interesting:7), interese (interesting:2), internacional (international:2), oin midar (kind-hearted:1), hatene (know:8), hatene lalais (know fast:1), lian (language:2), lian internasional (language international:1), lian materna (language maternal:2), lian modernu (language modern:1), lian oficial (language official:1), lian ofisial (language official:5), lian inan (language one's own:6), lian original (language original:2), lian timor (language timor:3), gosta (like:15), gosta atu aprende (like to learn:1), local (local:4), lokal (local:21), hadomi (love:5), halo ema komprende (make people understand:1), barak (many:1), barak uja iha TL (many use it in TL:1), moderno (modern:4), modernu (modern:3), nasional (national:5), nasionalismo (nationalism:1), nacionalidade (nationality:2), natural (natural:1), naturalidade (naturally:1), presiza (need:3), persiza hatene (need know:5), presiza dudu (need push:1), neutral (neutral:1), normal (normal:1), la difisil (not difficult:1), oficial (official:24), ofisial (official:4), katuas (old [people]:1), ita nia identidade (one's identity:1), nian (one's own:1), original (original:1), patriotismo (patriotism:2), dame (peace:2), paz (peace:1), ema barak hatene (people many know:2), ema barak koalia (people many speak:3), ema komprende lalais (people understand fast:1), posisaun (position:1), posivel (possible:2), pratika (practice:1), prefere (prefer:1), profisaun (profession:8), pronuncia fasil (pronunciation easy:1), lais (quick:1), hakmatek (quiet:7), nonok (quiet):1, lee (read:2), lee fasil (read easy:1), tebes (really:1), loos (really, agree:1), halimar (relax:1), respeitu (respect:1), riko (rich:1), riku (rich:4), rikus-oin (riches, rich person:1), regras (rules:1), lulik (sacred:1), satisfeito (satisfying:2), eskola (school:1), materia (school subject:2), bele koalia (should speak:1), bele comprende (should understand:1), significado (significant:1), socialismo (socialism:1), koalia (speak:9), koalia facil (speak easy:1), espesial (special:1), suseso (success:2), susesu (success:5), midar (sweet:2), simbol (symbol:1), sinbol (symbol:1), manorin (teach:1), tetun diak liu (tetun good –er:1), iha signifikadu (there is significance:1), buras (thrive:1), timorense (timorese:1), timoroan (timorese:1), hamutuk (together:1), gaya (trendy:3), comprende (understand:1), komprende (understand:14), komprende lalais (understand fast:1), uniku (unique:1), unidade (unity:5), uza loloron (use daily:5), uja barak (use many:1), usado (used:1), uzada (used:1), uzado (used:1), util (useful:1), hakarak (want:8), servisu (work:1), joven (youth:2) 71 Negative Descriptors: husik (abandon:1), moruk (bitter:1), aat (broken:1), oin buis (cold-hearted:1), kombinadu (combined:1), komplikadu (complicated:1), konfusaun (confusion:1), konsekuencia (consequences:1), dezenvolve (develop:2), dezenvolvimentu (development:1), farasku (difficult:3), dificil (difficult:11), difisil (difficult:12), difisil liu (difficult –er:1), difisil ituan (difficult a little:1), difisil atu rona (difficult to hear:1), difisil atu aprende (difficult to learn:1), difisil atu hakerek (difficult to write:1), difisil hakerek (difficult write:4), sasar hakerek (difficult write:1), difikuldade (difficulty:1), disiplina (discipline:1), deskonfia (distrust:1), lakohi (don't like:1), beik (dumb:1), strangeiro (foreigner:1), gramatika seidauk (grammar not yet:1), araska (hard:5), atrazado (hard:1) susar (hard:3), susar ituan (hard a little:1), susar atu explika idea sientifiku (hard to explain idea scientific:1), susar atu koalia (hard to speak:1), rona susar (hear hard:1), imitasaun (imitation:1), implementa susar (implement hard:1), imposivel (impossible:2), laos (indeed not:2), invisivel (invisible:1), lian menou (language inferior:2), liu (less:1), menus vocabulario (less vocabulary:1), mix (mix:1), masimenus (more or less:1), la fasil (not easy:4), la iha gramatika (there is no grammar:1), seidauk kompletu (not yet compelte:1), ladun completo (not yet complete:1), seidauk los (not yet really:2), ladun uza verbo (not yet use verb:1), laiha verbu (not exist verb:1), atrazado (old-fashioned:1), ema la escola mos bele koalia (people uneducated can also speak:1), problema (problem:1), hakribi (revile:1), hakilar (scream:1), simple (simple:2), simples (simple:103), simples atu koalia (simple to speak:1), balun difisil liu (somewhat difficult –er:1), balun seidauk hatene (somewhat not yet know:1), verbo ladun barak (verb not yet many:1), fraku (weak) Emblematic Descriptors: adjectivo (adjective:1), tauk (afraid:1), nudar (as:1), tanba (because:1), fiar (believe:2), boot (big:3), labarik (children:1), mai han lai (come eat:1), mai tur (come sit:1), batar (corn:1), terik (country variety:5), tanis (cry:1), laran (day:1), hemu (drink:6), han (eat:1), english (English:1), ingles (English:1), belun (friend:3), husi nebee (from where:1), bosu (full:1), hader (get up:1), ba (go:1), dader diak (good morning:1), gramatika (grammar:1), gramatiku (grammar:1), xapeo (hat:1), manas (hot:1), hira (how much?:1), hamlaha (hungry:3), hau (I/me:4), indonesia (Indonesia:2), kemak (Kemak:1), rai (land:1), latin (Latin:1), hamnasa (laugh:4), bosok (lie:1), nunee (like this:1), hanesan (like/similar:1), kiik (little:1), doben (love:1), domin (love:3), mambae (Mambae:1), masculino (masculine:1), melayu (Melayu:1), naran (name:1), kolen (pay:1), toka (play:1), portugues (Portuguese:3), portuguese (Portuguese:2), resa (pray:1), orasaun (prayer:1), fo (rice:1), natar (rice paddy:1), halai (run:2), triste (sad:1), daruak (second:1), hare (see:2), nakdedar (shiver:1), badak (short:1), hananu (sing:1), kanta (sing:1), dukur (sleep:1), fuma (smoke:1), desporto (sports:1), bee-matan (spring:1), nakratak (stick out:1), tetun (Tetun:12), tetun prasa (Tetun city variety:1), tetun terik (Tetun country variety:1), nee (that:1), dois (two:1), lao (walk:2), bee (water:1), nebee (where:2), neebe (where:5), ba nebee (where are you going:2), namlaek (wilt:1), hakerek (write:4) Transgressive Remarks: baucau bonito (Baucau is beautiful), elia bonita (Elia is beautiful), tl bonito (Timor-Leste is beautiful) 72