Language Planning and the Sociolinguistic Environment in East Timor: Colonial Practice and Changing Language Ecologies

Abstract

East Timor has in recent times generated significant public interest around the world, especially after the events of August–September 1999. It has an unusual colonial history: centuries of Portuguese contact and control (1500s–1975) were followed by a brief but very intense period of Indonesian occupation (1975–1999). From the language-planning perspective, it makes for a relatively unusual case study since it allows us to consider the impact of two very different colonising powers on the same linguistic territory. Portuguese attempts to modify the linguistic environment in East Timor were in most cases relatively slow to gather pace, only showing real potential to seriously impact on the local environment from the 1970s on. But political upheaval in Portugal and then in East Timor brought all of this to a sudden halt – especially after the arrival of the Indonesians who quickly moved to impose an Indonesian linguistic, social, military and economic model – in East Timor. But the situation in East Timor has once again unexpectedly undergone radical change with the end of Indonesian occupation and the arrival of international administration in September 1999. Since that time language planning issues have proved to be amongst the most contentious issues in East Timor.