Editing Tetum language (section)

==Orthography and phonology==
{{See also|Tetum alphabet}}
The influence of Portuguese and to a lesser extent Malay/Indonesian on the phonology of Tetun has been extensive.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Tetum Vowels
|-
! !! '''[[Front vowel|Front]]''' !! '''[[Central vowel|Central]]''' !! '''[[Back vowel|Back]]'''
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| align=center| {{IPA link|i}}  ||  || align=center| {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| align=center| {{IPA link|e}} ||  || align=center| {{IPA link|o}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|  || align=center| {{IPA link|ä}} ||  
|}

In the Tetum language, {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} tend to have relatively fixed sounds. However {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/o/}} vary according to the environment they are placed in, for instance the sound is slightly higher if the proceeding syllable is {{IPA|/u/}} or {{IPA|/i/}}.<ref>Hull, Geoffrey. (1999). Tetum, Language Manual for East Timor. Academy of East Timor Studies, Faculty of Education & Languages, University of Western Sydney Macathur.</ref>
 
{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|-style="font-size: 90%;"
|+Tetum consonants
!
!colspan=2| [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
!colspan=2| [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
!colspan=2| [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
!colspan=2| [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
!colspan=2| [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! <small>[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]</small>
|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|m}}
|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|n}}
|colspan="2"|({{IPA link|ɲ}}{{IPA|&nbsp;~&nbsp;i̯n}})
|colspan="2"|({{IPA link|ŋ}})
|colspan=2|
|-
! <small>[[Stop consonant|Stop]]</small>
|style="border-right: 0;"|({{IPA link|p}})||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|b}}
|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|t}}||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|d}}
|colspan=2|
|width=20px style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|k}}||width=20px style="border-left: 0;"|({{IPA link|ɡ}})
|colspan=2| {{IPA link|ʔ}}
|-
! <small>[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]</small>
|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|f}}||style="border-left: 0;"|({{IPA link|v}})
|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|s}}||style="border-left: 0;"|({{IPA link|z}})
|width=20px style="border-right: 0;"|({{IPA link|ʃ}})||width=20px style="border-left: 0;"|({{IPA link|ʒ}})
|colspan=2|
|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
! <small>[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]</small>
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|j}}
|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|w}}
|colspan=2|
|-
! <small>[[Lateral consonant#Approximants|Lateral]]</small>
|colspan=2|
|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|l}}
|colspan="2"|({{IPA link|ʎ}}{{IPA|&nbsp;~&nbsp;i̯l}})
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|-
! <small>[[Flap consonant|Flap]]</small>
|colspan=2|
|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|ɾ}}
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|-
! <small>[[Trill consonant|Trill]]</small>
|colspan=2|
|colspan="2"|({{IPA link|r}})
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|}

All consonants appearing in parentheses are used only in loanwords.

Stops: All stops in Tetum are un-aspirated, meaning an expulsion of breath is absent. In contrast, English stops, namely 'p' 't' and 'k' are generally aspirated. 
 
Fricatives: 
{{IPA|/v/}} is an unstable voiced labio-dental fricative and tends to alternate with or is replaced by {{IPA|/b/}}; e.g. {{IPA|[aˈvoː]}} – {{IPA|[aˈboː]}} meaning 'grandparent.'<ref name="Williams-van Klinken 2002" />

As Tetum did not have any official recognition or support under either Portuguese or Indonesian rule, it is only recently that a standardised orthography has been established by the {{ill|National Institute of Linguistics|tet|Institutu Nasionál Linguístika|pt|Instituto Nacional de Linguística}} (INL). The standard orthography devised by the institute was declared official by Government Decree 1/2004 of 14 April 2004.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mj.gov.tl/jornal/public/docs/2002_2005/decreto_governo/1_2004.pdf |title=Governo Decreto no. 1/2004 de 14 de Abril "O Padrão Ortográfico da Língua Tétum"}}</ref> However, there are still widespread variations in spelling, one example being the word {{Lang|tet|bainhira}} or 'when', which has also been written as {{Lang|tet|bain-hira}}, {{Lang|tet|wainhira}}, {{Lang|tet|waihira}}, {{Lang|tet|uaihira}}. The use of {{grapheme|w}}  or {{grapheme|u}} is a reflection of the pronunciation in some rural dialects of ''Tetun-Terik''.

The current orthography originates from the spelling reforms undertaken by [[Fretilin]] in 1974, when it launched literacy campaigns across East Timor, and also from the system used by the Catholic Church when it adopted Tetum as its liturgical language during the Indonesian occupation. These involved the [[transcription (linguistics)|transcription]] of many Portuguese words that were formerly written in their original spelling, for example, {{Lang|pt|educação}} → {{Lang|tet|edukasaun}} 'education', and {{Lang|pt|colonialismo}} → {{Lang|tet|kolonializmu}} 'colonialism'.

Reforms suggested by the International Committee for the Development of East Timorese Languages (IACDETL) in 1996 included the replacement of the [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] [[nh (digraph)|{{grapheme|nh}}]] and [[lh (digraph)|{{grapheme|lh}}]] (borrowed from Portuguese, where they stand for the phonemes {{IPA|/ɲ/}} and {{IPA|/ʎ/}}) with {{grapheme|n̄}} and {{grapheme|l̄}} , respectively (as in certain [[Basque language|Basque]] orthographies), to avoid confusion with the [[consonant cluster]]s {{IPA|/nh/}} and {{IPA|/lh/}}, which also occur in Tetum. Thus, {{Lang|tet|senhor}} 'sir' became {{Lang|tet|sen̄ór}}, and {{Lang|tet|trabalhador}} 'worker' became {{Lang|tet|trabal̄adór}}. Later, as adopted by IACDETL and approved by the INL in 2002, {{grapheme|n̄}} and {{grapheme|l̄}} were replaced by [[{{grapheme|ñ}}]] and [[{{grapheme|ll}}]] (as in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]). Thus, {{Lang|tet|sen̄ór}} 'sir' became {{Lang|tet|señór}}, and {{Lang|tet|trabal̄adór}} 'worker' became {{Lang|tet|traballadór}}. Some linguists favoured using [[ny (digraph)|{{grapheme|ny}}]] (as in [[Catalan language|Catalan]] and [[Filipino language|Filipino]]) and [[ly (digraph)|{{grapheme|ly}}]] for these sounds, but the latter spellings were rejected for being similar to the Indonesian system, and most speakers actually pronounce ''ñ'' and ''ll'' as {{IPA|[i̯n]}}  and {{IPA|[i̯l]}}, respectively, with a [[semivowel]] {{IPA|[i̯]}} which forms a [[diphthong]] with the preceding vowel (but reduced to {{IPA|[n]}}, {{IPA|[l]}} after {{IPA|/i/}}), not as the [[palatal consonant]]s of Portuguese and Spanish. Thus, {{Lang|tet|señór}}, {{Lang|tet|traballadór}} are pronounced {{IPA|[sei̯ˈnoɾ]}}, {{IPA|[tɾabai̯laˈdoɾ]}}, and {{Lang|tet|liña}}, {{Lang|tet|kartilla}} are pronounced {{IPA|[ˈlina]}}, {{IPA|[kaɾˈtila]}}. As a result, some writers use {{grapheme|in}} and {{grapheme|il}} instead, for example {{Lang|tet|Juinu}} and {{Lang|tet|Juilu}} for June and July ({{Lang|pt|Junho}} and {{Lang|pt|Julho}} in Portuguese).

As well as variations in the transliteration of Portuguese loanwords, there are also variations in the spelling of indigenous words. These include the use of double vowels and the [[apostrophe]] for the [[glottal stop]], for example {{Lang|tet|boot}} → {{Lang|tet|bot}} 'large' and {{Lang|tet|ki'ik}} →  {{Lang|tet|kiik}} 'small'.

The sound {{IPA|[z]}}, which is not indigenous to Tetum but appears in many loanwords from Portuguese and Malay, often changed to {{IPA|[s]}} in old Tetum and to {{IPA|[ʒ]}} (written {{grapheme|j}}) in the speech of young speakers: for example, {{Lang|tet|meja}} 'table' from Portuguese {{Lang|pt|mesa}}, and {{Lang|tet|kamija}} 'shirt' from Portuguese {{Lang|pt|camisa}}.  In the sociolect of Tetum that is still used by the generation educated during the Indonesian occupation, {{IPA|[z]}} and {{IPA|[ʒ]}} may occur in [[free variation]]. For instance, the Portuguese-derived word {{Lang|tet|ezemplu}} 'example' is pronounced {{IPA|[eˈʒemplu]}} by some speakers, and conversely {{Lang|tet|Janeiru}} 'January' is pronounced {{IPA|[zanˈeiru]}}. The sound {{IPA|[v]}}, also not native to the language, often shifted to {{IPA|[b]}}, as in {{Lang|tet|serbisu}} 'work' from Portuguese {{Lang|pt|serviço}} (also note that a modern INL convention promotes the use of {{Lang|tet|serbisu}} for 'work' and {{Lang|tet|servisu}} for 'service').