Language policy and national identity evolution in a new nation
A Timorese Linguistic Landscape revisited
Previous studies of the Linguistic Landscape in Timor-Leste conducted over a decade ago found Portuguese language
use dominated official signage, although English dominated overall through its presence on commercial signs, especially those
targeting the more affluent parts of society. This innovative study revisits a previously examined LL in order to investigate
changes in language practice over time, with particular attention to how the recently independent nation expresses its national
identity in public spaces and how language policy decisions have taken effect. The findings show that the visibility of Portuguese
has increased while that of English has reduced. This suggests that being Portuguese-speaking may be aligned with expressions of
Timorese identity. Further, while multiple languages are found in the LL, of the indigenous languages only Tetun, one of the two
official languages of Timor-Leste, has a presence. This may raise concerns about the vitality of those other indigenous
languages.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Languages in Timor-Leste
- 3.Linguistic Landscape research and Timor-Leste
- 3.1Introduction
- 3.2Research context
- 3.3Data generation
- 3.4Data analysis
- 4.Findings
- 5.Discussion
- 5.1The Languages
- 5.2The actors
- 5.3Identity in the LL
- 6.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References