The languages on the border of Indonesia and Timor Leste: A linguistic landscape study

Abstract This article is a linguistic landscape study carried out on the Indonesian border with Timor Leste. The aim is to reveal the language display, forms, and phenomena of changes in the linguistic landscape in the Indonesian border area. This is a descriptive-qualitative study that is intended to describe and analyze data in great detail and depth. The methods used in collecting data are observation and documentation. The results show that there are eight languages in public spaces namely Indonesian, English, Tetun, Dawan, Kupang Malay, Kemak, Arabic, and Portuguese. Language displayed in public spaces takes the form of monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual. The sociolinguistic change will depend greatly on the influence of social, political, and economic aspects but the chances are very small. Similar linguistic backgrounds, culture, and kinship relations with those in the border area of Timor Leste are the main reasons why the Indonesian language dominates compared to the official language of Timor Leste. Meanwhile, the existence of local languages needs serious attention. All of this requires government intervention in terms of language policy to maintain the existence of regional languages as the identity of local communities.


PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
This article explores the contestation and the forms of language in the linguistic landscape on the borders of Indonesia and Timor Leste.Landscape linguistic research in the border area of the States is important to be studied because this is not only related to language but also politics, policies, society, and identity.On the Indonesia-Timor Leste border, eight different languages are found in public spaces, with Indonesian dominating and English coming in second.The local languages are found but in a very small number.More bilingual than monolingual language is typically used in public settings, while multilingual language is used on signs or advertisements that describe the services or goods that a company offers.The primary reason Indonesia continues to predominate over Timor Leste's national tongue is the similarities in linguistic heritage, culture, and kinship, especially in the past.

Introduction
The border area is an area that is on the outer line of a country that borders and separates other countries.Border issues can be discussed from various perspectives, such as geography, politics, economics, language, as well as identity.Among these, the language boundary is broader and goes through all of these aspects because it can raise identity issues because language does not fully reflect the identity of the speaker.For example, the Malay language is widely spoken in the southern part of Thailand, which is directly adjacent to Malaysia.This language is still used by those who are not ethnically Malay (Jaafar et al., 2016).Thus, the language spoken at the border is not subject to geographical and political boundaries but involves at least two competing languages to be the dominant language.The expansion of other languages as well as the shifting of one language can arise from this competition.
The linguistic landscape in border areas is an important point to be investigated because the choice of language in public signs can represent different political and ethnolinguistic realities (Dersingh et al., 2021).The importance of language research within a linguistic landscape framework is that the linguistic landscape or a part of it has a strong influence on language use (Kroon, 2021).This means that the study of linguistic landscape is not only a way to show the reality of language use but also a window to see the tensions between practices, beliefs, and management in language policy (Hu, 2022) which especially occur in border communities.Written language that is visible to the eye and read on the public signs might be as important as oral language, so Artawa et al. (2020) assert that the easiest way to make language visible to the public is through the use of language and characters on outdoor signs.
The use of language in public places is also a way to show the ideology and power of a language and also relates to efforts to maintain the survival of language (Benu et al., 2023).Based on this understanding, in general, it can be said that there is a reciprocal relationship between the vitality of language in everyday life and its visibility in public spaces.This means that signs in public spaces have a strong influence on the use of language.A person can process information from what is seen or appears and therefore the language in which this sign is written will of course influence the perception.This situation will even resulted in attitudes towards the language (Beeh et al., 2023).
In general, this research aims to reveal and analyze the phenomenon of language display and its forms in public spaces in the border of Indonesia and Timor Leste.This research focuses on the linguistic landscape in the Indonesian border which includes two district cities on the border, the main roads to and from the two countries, and cross-border post area.This border area is an important land route to connect the two countries and has experienced changes caused by the growth of all aspects of development.Therefore, this research also revealed the phenomena of changes in the language landscape in this cross-border area as a picture of economic shifts and mixed populations in the border area.

Language display on the Linguistic landscape
One of the topics in linguistic landscape research focuses on the display of languages in public spaces.It also examines various aspects of multilingualism such as presence, representation, visual positioning of various types of languages, and the interpretation of these languages as displayed in public spaces (Hu, 2022).Thus, language display is related to the spread, presentation, distribution, emergence, and salience of a language on public signs.In landscape linguistics (LL) the contestation of language use is determined by the linguistic conditions of other languages involved in the public space.At least, the linguistic landscape is an arena of contestation of local, national, and international languages.Language contestation in the linguistic landscape refers to the claiming of public space, which is connected to ownership of public space (Mulyawan et al., 2022).It is assumed that none of a given group or individual owns any areas in public spaces.The existence of languages on public signs has become a topic of discussion in linguistic landscape studies.
Language display is something that absolutely occurs in landscape linguistics (LL) in a particular area.The contestation of various languages gives rise to dominant and marginal languages (Iye et al., 2023).This is related to the historical, social, economic, and political context of the language that occurs, both at local, national, and international levels.Language displayed in a place is also influenced by the ideologies that accompany it, for example, nationalism, commercialism, and others.National ideology, for example in Indonesia, gives Indonesia an important position compared to other existing local languages, as well as foreign languages (Purnawati et al., 2022).In short, social and political issues may have a crucial role in the contestations in this circumstance.

Language form
The form of language referred to in this section is related to the use or combination of languages which in sociolinguistics are known as monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual (Darmawan & Setia, 2018).This form is divided into two, namely based on the overall language used on a sign, for example, a name board, advertising board, information board, or banner.A sign can use several languages, for example, the company name is in Indonesian, and the slogan or product information being sold is in English or another language.Apart from that, language form can also be found in lingual units, for example, the name of a company or shop that uses a mixed form (code mixing).The example of this form is Depot Fresh and Mawar Toys which are the name of a food stall and toy shop that mixing Indonesian and English.The focus on the language form relates to language choices, hierarchies of languages, contact phenomena, regulations, and aspects of literacy (Gorter et al., 2021;Kroon, 2021).

Previous research
Many studies have been done on language at the border, not only the language of oral communication in a sociolinguistic and grammatical approach but also language in the public space using a linguistic landscape approach.Research in the border area using a linguistic landscape approach has been carried out to explore the language used and its distributions which are strongly based on the arguments that the border areas are the meeting point that may be caused by the mixture of social, economic, political, and including the language.
To learn more about the languages used and the writing styles used on signs in Thailand's border cities, Siwina and Prasithrathsint (2020) investigated the multilingual environment along the border.The study found that signage in both cities had three different language selection patterns: monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual signs.There were discovered to be four distinct writing pattern types: homophonic, mixed, polyphonic, and monophonic.The first language is the national tongue.A similar study was done by Dersingh et al. (2021) focused in Nong Khai, a border town between Thailand and Laos and a major land crossing between the two nations, but emphasized the language that appears and its order on the signs.
The linguistic landscape on the border of the German-Polish twin cities Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice is also studied by Gerst and Klessmann (2015) to investigate the characteristic features and sociolinguistic context.With the aim of presenting selected sign makers who are more or less involved in influencing the public space, the study also analyzes certain essential concepts and the significance of multilingualism in the subject of Linguistic Landscape.After analyzing a few examples of border region signage, a larger discussion on language ideological declarations is held.The study revealed that it is important to consider the more nuanced ways that public signage uses both physical and social categorizations to create the border region's complex social structure.Kimura (2017) is also studied the linguistic landscape at the German-Polish border to examine the signs of sociolinguistic transition and its kind of transition.The answer to the question "Transition or not?" according to the study is "transition and not."However, asymmetrically, language de-territorialization has enhanced permeability and liminality.This tendency has not yet transcended territoriality's resilience, and there is still a border that separates the territories of different languages.According to the researchers, if the changeover process will continue, only time can tell.
The linguistic landscape of two distant border-crossing areas, located in the municipalities of Verín (Spain)-Chaves (Portugal) and Vilar Formoso (Portugal)-Fuentes de Oñoro (Spain) is studied by Álvarez-Pérez (2017).It is found that there is a convergence and no convergence in the public signs.The linguistic systems of neighboring languages convergence as a result of borrowing from the neighbor's language.It is concluded that the absence of such convergence and the propensity for texts placed in the public domain to avoid using the neighbor's language can serve as indicators of language loyalty and, consequently, of the strength of the national identity.This is similar with the one in the border of the post-Soviet sphere (Muth, 2014).Escandón (2019) examined the language practice and linguistic landscape along the U.S.-Mexico border.Due to the city's location and adaption as a border city, the data of the linguistic landscape proved that the interaction between English and Spanish led to lexical inventiveness and hybrid forms, reflecting social activities.
Research on language with a linguistic landscape approach in the border areas of Indonesia needs attention because until now no such research has been found.In fact, along with the development of the economy in a region, including this border, one of which is the entry of various business industries, various languages also enter.This can be clearly observed in the language used on outdoor signs such as billboards, hotel names, restaurants, banks, shops, and others.The choice of using language on signs in public spaces has an economic motivation, namely to increase sales (Artawa et al., 2023;Lu et al., 2021).Thus, the visibility of language can reflect the condition of its territory, as Landry and Bourhis (1997) said public signs can directly express the economic, political, and cultural conditions of different communities.Therefore, it is not surprising that the use of bilingual and multilingual signs is becoming more common in an era of globalization where political boundaries are more open, and the influx of domestic and foreign migrants is no longer a new phenomenon.The signs are meant to accommodate a rapidly changing growing demographic driven by immigration, tourism and business demand.
The above review shows that the linguistic landscape of the border area is an important point in research because the choice of language on public signs can represent different political and ethno linguistic realities in the region.Therefore, this research is to carry out a linguistic analysis of the landscape on the border of the countries of Indonesia and Timor Leste to make it possible to better understand the presentation and forms of language displayed.This research departs from an initial understanding that culture and language practices in border areas are more diverse, making the linguistic landscape freer than that found in other non-border areas.

Research design
This research is qualitative research that used to analyze the language contestation and the phenomena of language change in the linguistic landscape of the border.This qualitative research emphasized more on in-depth observation and documentation (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).It is designed descriptively to give a thorough description of an object, individual or certain group of circumstances and symptoms that occur.This approach is based on the knowledge that studies of the linguistic landscape tend to focus on categories like the presence of a specific language, appearance in a particular order, form and function, written discourse, spatial arrangements, and historical and cultural dimensions that are used to project ideologies, identities, and power relations (Byrne & Marcet, 2022).

Research sites
The first site of data collection was the cities of Kefamenanu and Atambua.The two cities are the capitals of North Central Timor Regency and Belu Regency in East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia.The two cities are the closest cities in the border area of Indonesia-Timor Leste.The reason is that urban areas are representatives of social, ethnic, religious, economic, and also linguistic diversity (Gorter, 2018).In other words, the number of linguistic signs in landscape linguistics is more potential in urban areas.The areas such as main roads or certain residential areas is one of the most important issues in linguistic landscape research, both monolingual and multilingual areas.
The next site of data collection is the main roads from Kefamenanu and Atambua to and from Timor Leste, namely: (1) State highways from and to the city of Kefamenanu-Napan cross-border post.
(2) State highways to and from the city of Kefamenanu-Wini cross-border post.
(3) State highways to and from Wini Cross-Border Post-Motaain cross-border post.
(4) State highways to and from the city of Kefamenanu-Atambua.
(5) State highways to and from Atambua city-Motaain cross-border post.
Another sites of data collection are the area of the cross-border posts, namely cross-border post of Napan, Wini, and Motaain both within the area of the cross-border post and in the main immigration office.The Indonesian border area in North Central Timor Regency is equipped with two Cross-Border Post, namely Napan and Wini, while in Belu Regency is Motaain cross-border post.

Data types and sources
The types of data in this study are all primary data, namely data obtained directly from the main source.The sources of data in this study are all outdoor signs contained in a predetermined observation area.The use of the word "sign" in this study following the definition of the linguistic landscape, namely any piece of written text within a specific area (Gorter, 2018;Landry & Bourhis, 1997) Signs that are temporary or move around, such as advertisements in newspapers, magazines and brochures are not included as data.Likewise, writings on modes of transportation that were parked or passing through the observation area were also not counted.It must be acknowledged that there is debate about determining analysis in linguistic landscape research but Gorter (2018) said that this can happen and really depends on the perspective of the researcher and the purpose of the analysis.
Data in this study are both those made by the government (top-down) and the private sector (bottom-up) that included (1) street signs, (2) advertising signs, (3) warning notices and prohibitions, (4) names of buildings/offices/institutions (building names), ( 5) business name boards such as shops, culinary businesses, and other commercial businesses, (6) information signs (instructions, time), (7) religious signs, (8) graffiti, and (9), writings on inscriptions or monuments.
In addition to observation guidelines, the instrument that is very important in this study is a digital camera.This instrument functions to take pictures or documenting all signs according to predetermined criteria found in the observation area.For the purpose of this research, the researcher set the following criteria in taking photos of the outdoor signs found: (1) All signs found in public spaces, including signs on shop or office doors or windows.
(2) The sign is large enough and easy to read.
(3) Signs that have written language (not pictures or videos).
The following signs will not be counted: (1) Writing that is very small behind a window or door and difficult to read from the outside, such as a price promo or writing on a tin or the words "push" and "pull" or "open" and "close" on the door.
(2) Writing that is mostly erased, damaged, or torn (3) Signs that only consist of numbers, person names, place names, and brands are not counted.
(4) Moving signs such as writing on vehicles, brochures, newspapers, and magazines.

Data collection
Data collection was carried out by observation and documentation methods.In the observation method, researchers walk along all the main roads that have been determined as samples.This observation allows researchers to understand more about what is happening in the situation of the linguistic landscape in the border of Indonesia-Timor Leste.
The second method used in data collection is documentation, namely collecting all documents in the form of photographs of all written language signs in the observation area.The documentation technique used is photography.This photographic technique is obtained using a digital camera and a cell phone camera.Furthermore, the collected data of photos are filtered and sorted to remove data that does not meet predetermined criteria.

Data analysis
The analysis is followed by a qualitative approach to the language contestation, the form of the language on the signs, and the potential phenomena of language change within the linguistic landscape.This section analyzes the distribution and presentation of the existence of languages, both foreign, official (Indonesian), and local languages.To make it easier to see the distribution of language in linguistic landscape in border areas, the data is grouped according to the domain.Language distribution is seen from the number of languages that appear in each of the existing linguistic landscape categories.Second, to answer questions about the form of language in the outdoor signs used.This form concerns the number of languages, whether monolingual, bilingual or multilingual.The number of languages contained in the sign is an indicator to determine the category as a monolingual sign, bilingual or multilingual sign.A multilingual sign is a sign that contains at least three languages.

Findings
The data used in this research were obtained from all public signs in accordance with predetermined criteria.All collected signs are grouped according to their types.The data collected shows that business name boards rank at the top because they include shops, culinary, hotels, health care, and other commercial businesses.Table 1 shows the types of signs used as the data of the research.
The number of signs as presented in table 1 is counted based on the criteria.All these signs include top-down signs and bottom-up signs.Grouping signs according to type as in table 1 is based on the reason that this can make it easier to calculate language contestation, both in general and specifically according to domain.This technical reason also helps in measuring and analyzing language use in each domain due to certain influences, for example, economics, culture, politics, etc.A sign, for example in a culinary business, can contain the name of the business, a list of menu items for sale, a slogan and other service information.The entire written language on this sign is calculated as data according to the language used.Thus, a sign can consist of a sign that uses one language (monolingual), two languages (bilingual), and three or more languages (multilingual).In accordance with the method used for data collection, there were eight languages found on outdoor signs in all the observation areas referred to, namely Indonesian, English, Dawan, Tetun, Kupang Malay, Arabic, Kemak, and Portuguese.
The number of data in table 2 is calculated based on the language used on the outdoor signs.These signs can be monolingual, bilingual, or multilingual.Indonesian and English are found in all type of signs throughout the observation area.The Dawan language and the Kupang Malay language are only found on culinary signboard and monument in Kefamenanu.Meanwhile, Tetun is found in a street sign in Atambua, and Kemak is used in an information sign at the immigration office of Motaain cross-border post.Arabic is found in the cities of Kefamenanu and Atambua as names of mosques and minimarket.The Portuguese language is found on the state boundary markers.Each of these languages are explained in detail in the following sections.

Indonesian language
Indonesian dominates the language use on outdoor signs in the border area of Indonesia-Timor Leste.Data shows that all sign boards of government offices and institutions, such as schools, government institutions, and banks, are written in Indonesian.Likewise, private offices such as non-governmental organization offices, law firms, and company offices are also written in Indonesian.The commercial domains, such as shops, culinary business, advertisements, and other commercial service business signs, are dominated by Indonesian.Indonesian is also still the main language in the area of cross-border post, starting with the cross-border post-name boards and offices, information boards, and directions, such as parking, traffic directions, and restaurants.
Even though Indonesian looks dominating, the tendency to be influenced by English is clearly seen through the use of language and its writing form.The influence of English is not only on the bilingual signs but also on the structure of Indonesian signs, for example, Metro Swalayan, Dinamika Motor, and Anugerah Salon.These noun phrases use English patterns even though they are written in Indonesian.Phenomena like this are often found in business names or commercial businesses such as shop names, salons, car and motorbike repair shops, hotels, and supermarkets.
The two pictures in Figure 1 are examples of the use of Indonesian in form of an English structure.The naming system in Indonesia follows the pattern that the generic name is placed before the specific name, for example, Jalan Sukarno "Sukarno street" and Gunung Mutis "Mutis mountain".The generic names are jalan and gunung, so they are placed before Sukarno and Mutis which are the specific name (Lauder & Lauder, 2015).The same case is applied to other, such as business or company.The sample in Figure 1 showed that Metro and Dinamika are the specific name but placed before Swalayan and Motor which are the generic name.This is an English pattern so that it can be said that there is an English interference into Indonesian.

English
English is the only foreign language that is found on various outdoor signs, both in the city of Atambua and Kefamenanu, state highways, and in the area of cross-border posts in Wini and Motaain.The existence of English in cities is generally found in business domains such as business names, product, slogans, and advertisements.This language that used on business signs or advertisements is in monolingual and bilingual forms.Generally, the words that used on the signboards are print, computer, electronic, resto, laundry, hand phone, and others.These words have Indonesian equivalents, but their use is not translated because they are considered to have been understood by the consumer or perhaps it is related to language prestige.From a business perspective, the use of English is considered to be more "selling" than Indonesian or regional languages (Purnanto et al., 2021).It is evident that 'as observed, many shop names or product advertisements and shopping places use English instead of Indonesian or in bilingual form Indonesian-English. English words or terms used are usually not a problem for consumers or customers of this service because they already understand the products or services being offered.Another thing from the use of this term is that even though it has an Indonesian equivalent, this term is considered shorter and easier to remember or more economical in English.This English is not only in the form of bottom-up but also top-down signs or signs that are official or produced by the government (top-down signs), namely on signboards or offices of government institutions.Signs like "welcome" are common words used on top-down signs such as schools and village offices.The use of English on the top-down signs is mostly found at the immigration area in the office of the cross-border posts.Both of these institutions wrote the English sentence "welcome to . ..".The use of English on the name board of educational institutions as shown in figure (a) above can make students accustomed to reading and understanding English in their daily lives.The use of English the school environments can both develop the students' language awareness and as source of English language learning (Gorter et al., 2021).English in Schools in Indonesia is a compulsory subject.So, it can be concluded that compared to Portuguese or Tetum which are foreign languages and the national language of Timor Leste, English is the most preferred language and is even chosen over other languages.The findings reinforce the general understanding that English remains widely accepted and the sole language of the international community.

Local languages
There are four local languages found, namely Dawan, Tetun, Kemak and Kupang Malay.Even though they are found in public spaces, their numbers are very few.The Dawan language is the mother tongue of the Atoin Meto ethnic group, which is the language with the largest number of speakers in West Timor, Indonesia (Benu, 2021).This language is found in the writing on a monument in Napan village and a welcome greeting at the Tanjung Bastian beach in North Central Timor Regency.The Tetum language was spoken by the Tetun people in Belu Regency and East Timor (now Timor Leste) before separating from Indonesia (Nahak & Ellita, 2022).This language is found road signs in Atambua city.Kemak language is spoken by the ethnic group of Kemak in Belu and Malaka Regency in Indonesia and in Timor Leste (Budiarta, 2021).Kemak language was found used on an information board about malaria prevention in the immigration office at the cross-border post.Kupang Malay is a creole language and is the lingua franca of the people in Kupang and West Timor in general (Djahimo, 2020).This language is found in shop names and on culinary signs.In Figure 3 are the use of local languages in public signs.Tetun language is used a street signboard in Atambua city.It is a bilingual sign, Indonesian "selamat jalan" which means goodbye and Tetun "maromak no ita" which means God is with us.Dawan language is written on a monument on the border of the village which is written in monolingual "tkoenok tem teuk kwan Napan" which means welcome to Napan village.The Kupang Malay language is used on a signboard as name of shop "singga do" which mean "please stop by".Another local language is Kemak language used in an information banner placed in the immigration office of the cross-border post about preventing malaria disease.

Language form
The form of language referred to here is a form of combination of language use.There are three forms of language, namely monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual.The dominant form is monolingual the other two forms.This dominance is found in the names of private and government offices, names of shops, hotels, culinary businesses, companies.The bilingual signs are found on the name board of shops, culinary businesses, and advertisements.
Table 3 shows that monolingual Indonesian is the most widely used language followed by English.Kupang Malay and Dawan as local languages are also found in monolingual signs but the number is only one for each language.Figure 4 above are samples of bilingual sign of Indonesian and English.The bilingual signs are mostly found in the cities and the immigration office in the cross-border posts.There are two types of bilingual types; first is mixing between two languages on the sign boards as seen on Figure 4 and the second is translation as commonly used in the immigration office.
The most common English words used on the bilingual signs are electronics, accessories, print, copy, computer, bakery, service, travel, motor, hotel, mart, and salon.For example, Aneka bakery, Dunia Cellular, and Faforit Laundry.There are three English words that are often used in short, namely HP for hand phone, cell for cellular, and resto for restaurant.Some words are often found that contain spelling errors, such as the word accessories is written acesories and electronic is written electronik.The use of these English words is not seemed to be a problem for the costumers, and it is intended to attract the costumers (Artawa et al., 2023).The use of bilingual outdoor signs is dominated by a combination of Indonesian and English, while other combinations are very few as shown in Table 3.
There are only three multilingual signs.First is the combination of Indonesian, English, Dawan, and Kupang Malay in a culinary signboard.Second is the combination of Indonesian, English, and Dawan on a culinary signboard and a signboard welcome greeting.The third sign is the combination of Indonesian, English, and Portuguese on a border monument.
The culinary sign board in Figure 5 clearly shows a multilingual sign by combining Indonesian, English, Dawan, and Kupang Malay.The word se'i in the name of dish 'sei babi" is a Dawanese word means smoked pork, while Kupang Malay known by the word kete "spicy" in daging kete "spicy meat" which is a name of a dish.The multilingual sign of border monument is written "Batas Negara/Fronteira/Border" on the border signs of the two countries in Indonesian, English and Portuguese.The welcome board is a combination of Indonesian, English, and Dawan languages on the Tanjung Bastian beach, which is a tourist destination.In Indonesian, it says "Selamat Datang Di Tanjung Bastian", in English "Welcome to Tanjung Bastian Beach", and in Dawan language "Tkoenok tem on Tanjung Bastian".

Analysis
There are eight languages spread over 2.387 signs which are classified into eight types of signs.The Indonesian language is the most widely used followed by English in second place.Other foreign languages besides English such as Arabic is found in only three signs.Likewise, local languages also appear in very small numbers.The lack of local languages in the public signs may be due to its limited use in the family talks only or in oral indigenous rituals (Halim et al., 2023).
Data shows that the choice of using the official language of Timor Leste by the Indonesian people on outdoor signs in the border area does not occur.There is no dominance of interaction and socialization with the people of neighboring countries, although this can happen because access, infrastructure, geographical conditions, and transportation are more likely (closer) to neighboring countries.Economic and social factors may be one of the causal factors.In terms of language, people in both countries have an understanding and knowledge of Indonesian and use the same mother tongue (Handayani & Inayaatussalihah, 2020).People in the border areas of Indonesia and Timor Leste had social and familial closeness before these two regions separated as two different countries.The existence of Tetun language in public spaces in border areas is not classified as a foreign language because it is the local language of the Tetun ethnic community in Belu and Malaka Regency, Indonesia.So, there is no concern about the use of official language of Timor Leste which could have an impact on the language attitudes of Indonesian border communities.The migration of people from Timor Leste to Indonesia or vice versa did not have an impact on language contact as in the linguistic border landscape of the German-Polish twin cities Frankfurt and Słubice (Gerst & Klessmann, 2015) and as happened on the German-Dutch border due to the migration of labor migrants (Krogull, 2021).This also might have no implications for the existence of the identity of the border communities themselves.Thus, there is no influence of language contact starting from borrowing word, changes in the morphosyntactic system, language shift, or language loss as the one in the U.S.-Mexico border (Escandón, 2019).This means that Tetun and Portuguese as the national language of Timor Leste have not had a strong influence, economically or socially.There has been no possible effort to accommodate the national language of Timor Leste in the economic domain in border areas, for example, the use of Tetun or Protugis on commercial signs such as the names of shops or stalls.
Research data obtained from both outdoor signs and observations show that there are no territorial boundaries that can provide an indication of a change due to language contact.The linguistic landscape in the urban areas of Atambua and Kefamenanu does not show any indication of accommodation towards the official language of Timor Leste as well as in rural areas and crossborder posts.The sociolinguistic situation on the Indonesia-East Timor border is different from the possibility of sociolinguistic transition in the linguistic landscape at the German-Polish border (Kimura, 2017).Tetun is the native language of Tetun ethnic group in Belu and Malaka Regency of Indonesia and spoken by 80% of 13 districts in Timor Leste.It is one of the official language of Timor Leste beside Portuguese which only spoken by 5% of population of the country (Marsal & Sukardi, 2021).Even though it is not an official language as stated in the article 13 of the constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste but Indonesian recognized as working language.This sociolinguistic context indicated that change process will depend greatly on the influence of social, political, and economic aspects, but the chances are very small.Observations in the border areas show that passers-by use the Indonesian language in service at the two emigration offices in processing documents.Thus, it can be understood that the national language of Timor Leste does not have a significant effect on being used in Indonesian public spaces because the people of Timor Leste can fluently speak Indonesian.This might be the reason that makes all instructions in the cross-border post area such as parking instructions, directions, or prohibitions from using Indonesian.The widespread use of Indonesian in cities and rural areas along the border of Indonesia and Timor Leste can show awareness of Indonesian.The sign-making community considers Indonesian to be the official language of the state and national identity.Indonesian is seen as a lingua franca that can accommodate all interests and ethnicities.
The vitality of the Indonesian language on its use in border public spaces tends to have no effect due to the strength or stability of its community.In other words, the Indonesian people on the border are socially, economically, and politically stable so that their language is also more stable.Nonetheless, further studies need to be carried out to explore the pattern of language choice in this border region to see the resistance or dissolution of one language which may be influenced by certain factors other than economic and political stability.

Conclusion
Research data on the use of language in public spaces on the border area of Indonesia and Timor Leste has not significantly changed.Indonesian is still the main language in linguistic landscape communication.Therefore, changes in the political structure do not affect the structure of public space communication.Tetun and Portuguese, which are the official languages of Timor Leste, still do not have any effect on the economy.Verbal communication between people in the border area and the people of Timor Leste also still uses Indonesian or the local language.This is influenced by historical factors and kinship with the same language and culture.
The foreign language that still plays an important role in the linguistic landscape of the border region is English.This language is considered as a language that can provide various impacts whether political, cultural, or economic.The use of English in public spaces is something that is common to use, especially in the business domain.Local languages appear in a very few numbers.This is of course very concerning in terms of preserving the local language and culture of the local community.This research still leaves important matters to be followed up on, namely regarding the perceptions of the border community regarding the use of language in public spaces.In addition, language is also related to the identity of the local community.Therefore, this research is also important to look at attitudes, preferences, and linguistic ideology as manifestations of an individual and local group intent on linguistic landscape in the two border cities, namely Kefamenanu and Atambua.This research was only carried out in Indonesia because it aimed to see the language situation reflected through the linguistic landscape of Indonesian border area.However, further research or other research needs to be carried out involving the borders of the two countries, both in Indonesia and Timor Leste to enhance the comprehensiveness.
Figure a-b in Figure 2 is an example of the use of English in top-down signs.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Samples of the use of the use of Indonesian in English-like structure.

Figure
Figure (a) is the name board of a public elementary and junior high school, and figure (b) is the village office.Both of these institutions wrote the English sentence "welcome to . ..".The use of English on the name board of educational institutions as shown in figure (a) above can make students accustomed to reading and understanding English in their daily lives.The use of English the school environments can both develop the students' language awareness and as source of English language learning(Gorter et al., 2021).English in Schools in Indonesia is a compulsory subject.So, it can be concluded that compared to Portuguese or Tetum which are foreign languages and the national language of Timor Leste, English is the most preferred language and is even chosen over other languages.The findings reinforce the general understanding that English remains widely accepted and the sole language of the international community.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Samples of the use of English on top-down signs.