The Portuguese language in situations of tension/interdiction in East Timor
Keywords:
Portuguese language, interdict, East Timor.Abstract
This paper aims to make a discursive analysis of the Portuguese language’s position as the official language of State and Government, together with Tetum, in relation to the other languages spoken in Dili, capital of East Timor. More specifically, we analyze a particular group of speeches given after Timorese independence in 2002, made by different people about Portuguese, the local languages, English and Indonesian, both of which have the status of working language. To analyze these excerpts, we shall be adopting concepts of Discourse Analysis from the standpoint of pecheutiana membership, e.g. discourse, ideology/ideological formation, position of subject and discursive formation.