Editing Timor (section)

== Language, ethnic groups and religion == <!--[[Timorese language]] redirects here-->
{{See also|Languages of Timor-Leste|Timoric languages|Tetum language}}
[[File:Timor Sprache en.png|thumb|left|Language map of Timor]]

Anthropologists identify eleven distinct [[Ethnolinguistic group|ethno-linguistic groups]] in Timor. The largest are the [[Atoni]] of western Timor and the [[Tetum language|Tetum]] of central and eastern Timor.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Jean Gelman |title=Indonesia: Peoples and Histories |url=https://archive.org/details/indonesia00jean |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/indonesia00jean/page/378 378]|publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2003 |location= New Haven and London |isbn=978-0-300-10518-6}}</ref> Most indigenous Timorese languages belong to the [[Timor–Babar languages|Timor–Babar]] branch of the [[Austronesian languages]] spoken throughout the Indonesian archipelago. Although lexical evidence is lacking,<ref name="HoltonRobinson">{{cite book |editor1-last=Klamer |editor1-first=Marian |author1=Gary Holton |author2=Laura C. Robinson |chapter=The linguistic position of the Timor-Alor-Pantar languages |title=The Alor-Pantar languages |date=2014}}</ref> the [[Papuan languages|non-Austronesian languages]] of Timor are thought to be related to languages spoken on [[Halmahera]] and in [[Western New Guinea]].<ref name=autogenerated1 /> Some are so mixed that it is difficult to tell which family they descend from.

The official languages of Timor-Leste are [[Tetum language|Tetum]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], while in West Timor it is [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], although Uab Meto (also known as Dawan language) is the local Atoni language spoken throughout [[Kupang Regency|Kupang]], [[South Central Timor Regency|South Central Timur]] and [[North Central Timor Regency|North Central Timur]] Regencies. Indonesian, a standardized dialect of Malay, is also widely spoken and understood in Timor-Leste.<ref>Uri Tadmor (2008). "Grammatical borrowing in Indonesian". In Yaron Matras; Jeanette Sakel (eds.). Grammatical Borrowing in Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Walter de Gruyter. p. 301. {{ISBN|978-3-11-019919-2}}.</ref>

[[Christianity]] is the dominant religion throughout the island of Timor, at about 90% of the population. However, it is unequally distributed as West Timor is 58% Protestant and 37% Catholic, and Timor-Leste is 98% Catholic and 1% Protestant. [[Islam]] and [[animism]] make up most of the remainder at about 5% each across the island.