Prevent Languages from being Lost

Eleven regional languages in Indonesia have been declared dead and 22 others are endangered. The demise of languages constitutes a death knell for culture.

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Students of SMAN 2 Kalabahi State High School, Alor Island, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) chat with two of their teachers on Tuesday (15/10/2019).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The demise of languages means the end of a cultural system that supports the value system of a society. This can even mean that the values of tolerance once inculcated by ancestors through regional languages are fading away.

Data indicate that 11 regional languages scattered over various parts of Indonesia have died out while 22 languages are endangered, four languages are in critical condition and 16 others are stable but still threatened with demise. Besides, two regional languages are undergoing a setback and only 19 languages are under the safe category.

The map compiled by the Language and Literature Development Agency of the Education and Culture Ministry since 1991 shows that Indonesia has 718 regional languages, of which only 74 have had their vitality studied. According to the head of the Language and Literature Development Agency of the ministry, Dadang Sunendar, 32 regional languages have been preserved, 27 languages revitalized and 312 others registered.

Data indicate that 11 regional languages scattered over various parts of Indonesia have died out while 22 languages are endangered, four languages are in critical condition and 16 others are stable but still threatened with demise.

Meanwhile, in a release on 21 February 2009, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) mentioned 2,500 languages in the world, including 100 regional languages in Indonesia, were endangered. A total of 200 languages have died out over the last 30 years and 607 others belonged to the unsafe category.

Dadang said the endangered condition of regional languages in Indonesia should not give rise to the perception that regional tongues were being eliminated by the expansion of the Indonesian language. “This should be reversed in that regional languages must not vanish due to the presence of the Indonesian language. The Indonesian language must not vanish because of the English language,” he said.

At the peak of the commemoration of Language and Literature Month on Monday (28 October 2019), Dadang emphasized that the protection of regional languages implied the maintenance of the multiethnic and multilingual diversity of Indonesia.

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Two textbooks about the local Abui and Kafoa languages are used by elementary school students on Alor Island, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), as shown on Tuesday (15/10/2019)

The chairman of the Oral Tradition Association, who is concurrently a professor of the University of Indonesia, Pudentia MPSS, said Indonesian as a unifying language should no longer be questioned. However, the strong Indonesian language undeniably further sidelines regional languages. This, in his view, happens as a result of an unbalanced policy. “Regional languages are considered a mere means of communication. When there’s another simpler language, regional tongues are forgotten,” he said.

Inherited values

Pudentia called to mind the presence of values in regional languages. Therefore, if a regional language vanishes, the cognitive system and values of the community speaking it will also be gone. “It’s because a language is not just a phoneme or vocabulary,” he added.

The idea was shared by the head of the Protection Division of the Center for Development of Protection in the Language and Literature Development Agency, Ganjar Harimansyah, who said that a language is not a mere group of words or a set of grammatical norms. A language contains various glossaries and reflections on thinking and knowledge. The loss of a language, according to him, may mean the loss of creativity and intellectual diversity as a realization of a sense of humanity. “Any language’s demise means the death of the inner wealth of the ethnic community speaker,” said Ganjar.

Because of their embarrassment, they’re no longer willing to speak their language.

A cultural researcher of the Social and Cultural Mapping Center, Indonesian Institutes of Sciences (LIPI), Alie Humaidi, who has conducted language research for more than five years on Alor Island, East Nusa Tenggara, referred to social pressure as the other factor leading to the demise of regional languages. Youths in Alor feel ashamed of speaking regional tongues when branded as rustic people. Those coming from Habolat, Southwest Alor, according to Alie, are very embarrassed to speak their regional tongue.

“Because of their embarrassment, they’re no longer willing to speak their language,” he pointed out.

One of the languages threatened with demise is Kafoa, spoken by Hamlet B residents, North Probur village, Southwest Alor district, Alor regency. According to data, there are fewer than 1,200 speakers of this language. While meeting with Alor residents on 15 and 16 October 2019 in villages, markets, on public roads and in schools, Kompas found that none of them spoke their regional languages. They generally spoke very fluent Indonesian.

KOMPAS/SOELASTRI SOEKIRNO

Yunus, secretary of the Culture Office of Alor regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), shows two textbooks about the local Abui and Kafoa languages, which are used by elementary school students on the island on Tuesday (15/10/2019).

A visit to a mathematics and physics class in State Senior High School 1 of Kupang on Thursday (17 October), showed that of the 36 students, only two were able to speak their regional tongue. The two students were Febriani Medah and Dominicus Ricard Atasage Adonara. Interestingly, Febri, whose father comes from Rote and mother from Ambon, is a fluent Javanese speaker because she was born and brought up in Surabaya.

The demise of regional languages causes deep concern for Imanuel Kalamay, a Hamlet B resident in North Probur village. The retired primary school teacher said he feels considerable worry lest the Kafoa people lose their identity. “We may claim to be Kafoa people, but if we don’t speak the language, I wonder what we know about the ethnic group, what we’re going to tell other people,” he said.

According to Alie Humaidi, the greatest implication for the death of the language in Alor is the loss of the ethnic identity. “From the language, people will know the customs, culture and identity of the group,” he said.

In the Kafoa ethnic group, as he noted, a very profound saying about tolerance is familiar. It goes like this: “If two mountains collapse, two churches will protect mosques. If sea waves are rising, mosques will shield churches”. This, said Alie, should be noticed by the Kafoa people’s succeeding generations.

From the language, people will know the customs, culture and identity of the group.

“The saying serves as a strong moral message from the Kafoa ethnic group’s ancestors to keep safeguarding harmony,” he added.

This reality has prompted Imanuel, Alie and several LIPI researchers to make attempts to save the Kafoa language since 2013. They make vocabulary records and teach this language to students. They have requested the regional administration to issue a regulation on Kafoa language teaching.

“In 2014 the Kafoa language officially started to be taught in school,” said Imanuel.

Read more : Indonesian Language, a Bridge over Differences

Similar actions have been undertaken by the chairperson of the Program for English Language Education and Teaching Studies of Tri Buana University in Kalabahi, Alor regency, Novie Moybeka. This young lecturer has over the last three years organized story writing competitions in regional languages with school students, college students and the general public as participants. “By this means, they have to learn regional languages,” she said.