REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesia joined with the world to observe International Mother Language Day on February 21, 2014 to promote the preservation of local languages in the country. Head of the Center for Language Development and Protection at the Ministry of Education and Culture, Sugiyono, said his agency was working to preserve hundreds of local languages in Indonesia.
"We have at least two main strategies, namely language documentation and language revitalization, to prevent endangered ethnic languages from becoming extinct," he said on Friday.
He noted that another important step to be taken to preserve languages was to provide the opportunity for younger and older people to meet as often as possible to practice their mother languages. According to Sugiyono, Indonesia has more than 746 ethnic languages across the country, but many of them are feared to have disappeared because the declining number of those fluent in these languages.
The ethnic languages in Indonesia belong to both the Austronesian or Malay language families, and non-Austronesian or Trans New Guinean language families. Particularly, the languages in the eastern part of Indonesia are classified as part of the language of minorities because of the continuously decreasing number of speakers.
The endangered Oirata language is one of them. This language is spoken by the people of Oirata Barat and Oirata Timur villages on the island of Kisar, Southwest Maluku (MBD) district, in the province of Maluku.
Based on the 2010 population census, the two villages have a total population of 1,566, but only a few of the inhabitants are able to communicate in the Oirata language, while the others speak Ambonese Malay dialect in their daily interactions. In reality, less than 500 people over 50 years of age are able to communicate well in Oirata language, while their children and grandchildren are unable to do so.
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