The variations and changes of Portuguese in postcolonial Timor-Leste

In order to understand the presence of the Portuguese language in Timor-Leste, three referenced historical moments must be considered: (1) originally, a colonization and cultural subjugation language—from early XVI century until 1974; (2) then, a resistance and national unity language—after Indonesian forces occupied the country (1975-1999); and (3) currently, being an official language in the areas of administration and education—the independent República Democrática de Timor-Leste would formally emerge in 2002 with two official languages (Tetum and Portuguese). Focusing on the present-day postcolonial context, this paper intends to explore its variation and change from two angles. On the one hand, we argue that present day Portuguese language carries different variations which can be classified on a continuum from Standard Portuguese to creole-like structures. On the other hand, a different set of changes on language use and education is discussed: the presence of students’ mother tongues in the educational system used to share space with the other co-official language, and to handle the linguistic pressure of the two working languages—English and Indonesian. Therefore, the goal is to present an overview, simultaneously linguistic and extra-linguistic, of Portuguese language variation and change in postcolonial Timor-Leste.