Talk:Tetum

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: no consensus, no one voted. (non-admin closure) JoBo Gamer 20:02, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

• Tetum → TetunTetun
• Tetum language → Tetun languageTetun language
• Tetum alphabet → Tetun alphabet
• Tetum people → Tetun peopleTetun people

– As per the original discussion on Teahouse and request on Tetum language by @CanelaQuill, I'm requesting a move of this dab and all associated pages from Tetum to Tetun, in line with WP:Naming conventions (languages) and WP:Naming conventions (ethnicities and tribes):

The names an ethnic group or Indigenous government self-identifies should be considered. If their autonym is commonly used in English, it would be the best article title.

That seems pretty clear to me. Other guidelines relating to foreign subjects have similar directives - local styling should be preferred if it is used in English. English language sources appear to be split roughly equally between both spellings.

Because there are existing redirects for Tetun this will likely require a technical move, but there's no hurry so I'm starting with this in case there is any disagreement. ChompyTheGogoat (talk) 23:49, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

@ONUnicorn I see you've moved Tetun alphabet, but not the other related articles. Any particular reason? I was going to give it the full week just in case there was any dissent, although it doesn't seem likely. ChompyTheGogoat (talk) 20:20, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

The redirect for Tetun alphabet was tagged as both R3 and G6. I was going through the R3s, and didn't realize it was part of a group all tagged for G6. That's why I didn't move the others - I didn't realize they were there. I do see that the Tetun pages are all tagged for G6, which if they are not ready to be moved, they probably should not be tagged. Pinging @Johnj1995: and @KarelOrHarken555:. Johnj1995 seems to have done the G6 tagging and KarelOrHarken555 seems to have done the R3. ~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 20:36, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

By the way - do you want me to move it back and restore the redirect? ~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 20:38, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

John just cleaned up the G6 to be formatted correctly. I created the move request after User:CanelaQuill brought it up at Teahouse; they created the first G6 at Tetun language to remove the technical obstacle and I copypasta'd that to the rest in the group. I have no idea why the one was added as R3 - especially since it's not the original article (language) that sparked the question.

As far as restoring it, I guess that depends on whether you think this is potentially controversial. I'm not familiar with the overall subject but figured it was best to play it safe, and get practice with move requests in the process. I think we'd probably just be redoing it in a few days anyway. The articles already use TetuN in the bodies and no one seems to have a problem with that, so this move just brings the titles in line with that. But I think we should either revert that one OR move the rest so they're all consistent. I suspect a more experienced editor probably would have done a WP:BOLD move and just reverted on the off chance anyone took issue with it. ChompyTheGogoat (talk) 20:59, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

• Comment Interesting case. The Portuguese spelling is a local styling, and is thus the spelling used on Timorese government websites . Not sure if there is a definitive Indonesian spelling, they seem to use both Bahasa Tetum and Bahasa Tetun like English. A gbooks ngram shows both in use and spiking at different times, no obviously more common name. CMD (talk) 03:03, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

  Curious. They don't appear to be very good at enforcing their own decree. I based the request on that as well as Canela's assertion that N is used within the language itself, which aligns with the cited naming policies. @CanelaQuill would you be able to provide a source (ideally something official-ish) in Tetun to support that? I'm still inclined to agree with you regardless, but that would help make the case stronger. ChompyTheGogoat (talk) 08:01, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

  I will look for this. In the meantime, when one sees "Tetum" on government sites, it is when the page itself is written in Portuguese. Pages in Tetun spell the language with an -n. CanelaQuill (talk) 11:34, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

  Their link to MNEC has site versions available in Tetun, Portuguese, and English, and appears to maintain the Tetum spelling across all three - but it may have been written in Portuguese first and not had that part changed in the translations. Actually the website seems kinda broken in general, and I'm getting text in multiple languages regardless of which option I click, so we probably shouldn't be relying on that as an example of...well, anything. ChompyTheGogoat (talk) 12:26, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

  One of the challenges we face here is that government websites are often out of date or just don't work any more. I work for the Ministry of Education, and I can't even get own own department pages to load. The same is true for the national university, UNTL. The National Linguistics Institute is part of UNTL and their website hasn't worked in years. In our office, we have the official Tetun dictionary (Tetun words with Tetun definitions). I could take a photo of it.

  Otherwise, in Dili (the capital), we have an excellent private university that is well-known for its language department. Here is their website for Tetun language learning (in English and Tetun): http://www.tetundit.tl/

  I'm happy to try to find other sources if anyone thinks it would be helpful.

  Cheers! CanelaQuill (talk) 11:47, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

  One more source: Here is a repository of official Tetun-language school books and other resources by the Ministry of Education https://timorleste.learningpassport.org/

  Ironically, the language navigation up top uses the Portuguese spelling, but all the actual books that are listed use -n. There's even a "Tetun-Portugés" dictionary. CanelaQuill (talk) 12:08, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

  That's good enough for me. And as already mentioned, it's spelled that way in the article body - which no one has complained about afaik - which may not be the same as a discussion, but has likely been there for significantly longer than a week. Any editor who has an interest in this article and took issue with it probably would have said something. I'm fine with a WP:BOLD move for the rest of the group if @CMD concurs. ChompyTheGogoat (talk) 12:34, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

  I don't have an objection, as I noted the usage seems similar so there's no clear winner. We just have to be sure that the different spelling is explained with a quick note in the relevant articles. CMD (talk) 14:30, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

  Yes, I've already mentioned that it should be included on the language article. Maybe a brief footnote added to all of them, and slightly expanded explanation in the body for that one? ChompyTheGogoat (talk) 14:40, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

  I came across an interesting reference about this question that dates back to the 90s. Someone was kind enough to post online the text of the book, "A Traveller's Dictionary in Tetun-English and English-Tetun from the Land of the Sleeping Crocodile East Timor", here https://levlafayette.com/node/44.

  Scrolling to the section (or searching keywords) "Tetun/Tetum": "This dictionary has endeavoured to follow the general usage wherever possible therefore TETUN rather than TETUM is regarded as being the correct name for the language because the Portuguese spell many words with 'M" where the phonetic sound is 'N', and this is what they have done with the word TETUM. Some people have erroneously adopted the 'M' spelling as the phonetic sound.

  "The wise old men (KATUAS) tell us that the people who lived on the plains (TETU, adjective), therefore the people who spoke the language were of the plains (TETUN, noun). There can be no argument as to the name of the language or its spelling as adjectives are changed to nouns by adding N. In any case no other Tetun word ends in M."

  If we need to add any notes to pages about this, some of this language may be helpful. CanelaQuill (talk) 08:23, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

  Interesting! I think the footnote should be short and sweet, simply explaining the spelling is different in Portuguese vs Tetun and English, but I encourage you to add a bit about that to the language article! The footnote could link to it on the other pages. ChompyTheGogoat (talk) 08:33, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

  It's been over 7 days. Is there a way to close the discussion and enable the move? Sorry to be such a noob! I'm just learning. CanelaQuill (talk) 08:46, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

  An uninvolved party should close the discussion. It will be done at some point, this discussion is listed in the Wikipedia:Requested moves#Backlog. CMD (talk) 09:17, 10 March 2026 (UTC)