Hundreds Of Languages Face Extinction But Society Ultimately Has Last Word

Surabaya - Hundreds of indigenous Indonesian languages are facing extinction as they are used less and less by their native speakers, a national language expert said on Sunday.

Dr. Krisyani Laksono, a member of the Indonesian Language Center`s indigenous language mapping team, said there were hundreds of indigenous languages that were previously spoken in a number of regions across the country but were now “on the brink of extinction.”

The team has so far mapped 442 local languages, although Krisyani said hundreds more existed but were difficult to map. Most of these were spoken in Papua and Maluku.

“Some of the nearly extinct languages are spoken by only one or two native speakers,” she said.

“And they are elderly people, thus it is hard for these languages to expand.”

Nevertheless, Krisyani, a professor of linguistics at the School of Languages and Fine Arts at the State University of Surabaya, in East Java, said the team would conduct further mapping to see if it was possible to reinvigorate the country`s dying languages.

“Of course, we will involve local leaders to encourage the development of the languages,” she said. But before resuming its mapping work, the team will study examples of historical literature and oral tradition to reference the languages.

Worldwide, thousands of languages are nearing extinction, both in developing and developed countries, because their use has been in steady decline.

As for Bahasa Indonesia, Krisyani said its development was entirely in the hands of the Indonesian people and could not be influenced by either the language center or other institutions.

She said the general population decided whether a word entered the common lexicon, as current word usage in society was reflected in the Comprehensive Dictionary of Indonesian Language, or KBBI.

For example, the word “radar,” which is an English acronym of the phrase “radio detection and ranging,” had already been widely accepted as a word. And “difabel” — the shortened term for the euphemism “different abilities,” which is commonly used in reference to people with handicaps, particularly in the media — was included in the fourth edition of the KBBI.

“Bear in mind, the final decision is made by the people, although there is a possibility a word will die out if no one speaks it in society,” Krisyani said.

Words that had died out included “ sangkil ,” which means efficient; and “ mangkus ,” which means potent.

“Those words used to be published frequently in the national media,” Krisyani said. “But what happened then? Both words got lost and were no longer spoken by society, and finally died.” (Antara)

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com (5 April 2009)
Photo: http://www.gramedia.com

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