In addition to regional varieties of Tetum in East Timor, there are variations in vocabulary and pronunciation, partly due to Portuguese and Indonesian influence. When East Timor gained its independence on, Tetum and Portuguese were declared as official languages. When Indonesia occupied East Timor between 19, declaring it 'the Republic's 27th Province', the use of Portuguese was banned, and Indonesian was declared the sole official language, but the Roman Catholic Church adopted Tetum as its liturgical language, making it a focus for cultural and national identity. Timor was one of the few Portuguese colonies where a local language, and not a form of Portuguese, became the lingua franca: this is because Portuguese rule was indirect rather than direct, the Europeans governing through local kings who embraced Catholicism and became vassals of the King of Portugal. 1556) made most of their settlements in the west, where Dawan was spoken, and it was not until 1769, when the capital was moved from Lifau ( Oecussi) to Dili that they began to promote Tetum as an inter-regional language in their colony. In the fifteenth century, before the arrival of the Portuguese, Tetum had spread through central and eastern Timor as a contact language under the aegis of the Belunese-speaking Kingdom of Wehali, at that time the most powerful kingdom in the island. Although Portuguese was the official language of Portuguese Timor until 1975, Tetun-Prasa has always been the predominant lingua franca in the eastern part of the island. Tetun-Prasa is the form of Tetum that is spoken throughout East Timor. Tetun-Belu and Tetun-Terik are not spoken or well understood outside their home territories. The Nana'ek dialect is spoken in the village of Metinaro, on the coastal road between Dili and Manatuto.Tetun-Belu, or the Belunese dialect, is spoken in a central strip of the island of Timor from the Ombai Strait to the Timor Sea, and is split between East Timor and West Timor, where it is considered a bahasa daerah or 'regional language', with no official status in Indonesia, although it is used by the Diocese of Atambua in Roman Catholic rites.Tetun-Terik is spoken in the south and southwestern coastal regions.Ethnologue classifies it as a Tetun-based creole. Tetun-Dili, or Tetun-Prasa (literally 'city’s Tetum'), is spoken in the capital, Dili, and its surroundings, in the north of the country.

Musika tetun