Tetun Dili, an Austronesian language spoken in East Timor, was until 1999 mainly an oral language of intercultural communication. Since the 1999 vote on independence from Indonesia, Tetun Dili has become the dominant language of public life, covering the government, education and the media, as well as becoming an official language alongside Portuguese, a former colonial language. Tetun's quickly developing press register displays notable influence from language contact.