Language

As a result of historical immigration, colonialism, and other occupations, Timor-Leste (East Timor) boasts a wide variety of spoken languages. In addition to English and Indonesian being regarded as working languages, Tetun and Portuguese have been accorded official status. There are additional speakers of at least another fifteen indigenous languages. The majority of people in the country's eastern region speak the Papuan language of Fataluku (often more so than Tetum). According to the East Timor Constitution, various indigenous languages such as Bekais, Bunak, Galoli, Habun, Idalaka, Kawaimina, Kemak, Lovaia, Makalero, Makasae, Mambai, Tokodede, and Wetarese also have official status. Portuguese and Tetum are two of those languages.

Many lesser languages have vanished as a result of the spread of lingua francas in the linguistically varied country of East Timor and the dominance of some clans over others. Some of them are still employed, nevertheless, as cants or ritual languages. For instance, studies conducted in the middle of the 2000s by the Dutch linguist Aone van Engelenhoven showed that the Makuva language, once spoken by the Makuva tribe but thought to have vanished since the 1950s, was still sporadically used.