Kadazandusun

 

Bundu-Liwan, Tangara

 

Austronesian

 

750,000

Christian, Islam & Animism.

 

1) The president of United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (UPKO) mentioned that the Kadazandusun Community was in danger of losing their mother tongue.  Is it because the younger generation speak less and less of the Kadazandusun language.

 

2) The introduction of Kadazandusun language as subject in school give a positive impact as they (the younger generation) will be able to learn how to speak their mother tongue.

3) One of Upko’s ideologies is to preserve the momogun heritage and culture that also includes Kadazandusun mother tongue. The purpose of this ideologies is to ensure that the Kadazandusun community will not lose their heritage. 

 

4) So far in 2018, there are about 55,566 pupils from 384 primary schools taking Kadazandusun language subject and there are 1,100 teachers who teach the subject. 

 

5) Not only that, there are about 4416 students from 45 secondary schools take up the Kadazandusun language subject.

 

6) At the higher learning institutes level, UPSI has 143 undergraduates and produced 97 graduates in teaching the Kadazandusun language.
(Borneo today, 2018) 

 

1) This journal article agitates about the teaching of Kadazandusun Language to the Kadazandusun community in Sabah.  Not only that, it also focuses on the factors that influenced the language shit and language domination among the kadazandusun.

 

2) About 750,000 people speak Kadazandusun language and there the dialects spoken is different depending on the location.  The main dialects are Tangara dialect and Bundu-Liwan.  The pronunciations of the dialect are different and sometimes they also have various of meanings. Even though the dialects are different, the Kadazandusun people can understand the subtle change of meaning in the dialect.  

 

3) During the 1980s, Malay language and English language is the dominant language in the Kadazandusun community.  A symposium organized by the Kadazan Cultural Association entitled ‘Towards the Standardization of the Kadazan dialects’ has been used in school for the Kadazandusun reference language and it was identified.  Not only that, because of the symposium, a spelling system for the Kadazandusun language has been developed.

 

4) The former Kadazandusun leader Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Bernard G. Dompok has proposed to the Federal Government that Kadazandusun language should be taught in schools in Sabah in 1994.  Later in 1998, the Kadazanusun subject has officially be the additional subject in school.  The subject was taught about 120 minutes a week and taught outside of the school timetable.  

 

5) The purpose of teaching Kadazandusun language in school is to continue the Kadazandusun heritage. 

Baba Malay

Combination of Chinese dialect, Malay and Hokkien

Creole (Unique language that has between two or more languages)

 

The numbers in Malaysia is unknown

Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism.

2) Baba Malay only spoken by Baba Nyonya’s in Melaka and Singapore.

3) According to Lee Yuen Thien, Manager of Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum, Vice-President of Baba & Nyonya Association of Malaysia, Baba Malay language is fading due to the replacement by another language which are standard Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin and English.

4) According to Lee, the challenges to preserve Baba Malay language is it is not taught in school. Nowadays, people become more educated and the younger generation of Baba Nyonya only conversing in English and Mandarin.  Because of that, not many younger generations know how to speak Baba Malay.

5) The history and story of Baba Nyonya heritage was not properly documented.  Because of that, the history will be gone eventually if it is not properly preserve.
(BFM Media Sdn. Bhd , 2020)

 1) There are numerous terms has been used to describe the Baba Malay language which are Baba Patois, Baba language and peranakan language.  But the term ‘patois’ is not really a good term because it’s means ‘broken language.

 

2) Baba Malay is a creole dialect which is a combination of more than 2 languages.  It is more structure and has influence of Hokkien language.  Baba Malay is an official language of Baba Nyonya and it is not a broken language

 

3) Baba Malay speakers usually pronounce some words in a unique way.  Words that end with ‘al, ar and as’ as ‘air’.  For example, ‘mahal’ pronounces as ‘mahair’, ‘pasar’ becomes ‘pasair’ and ‘keras’ pronounced as ‘kerais’.  Usually Baba Malay speakers who lived in the center of the city tended to use ‘air’ more.

 

Key point:

During the 19^th century, Baba Malay was a business language.  Not only used by Babas, Malay people and newly arrived Chinese immigrant also used Baba Malay language.  Bintang Timor is the first Baba Malay newspaper and it was published on 2 July 1894 until 2 July 1895.  The purposed of the newspaper was to report local news and news from abroad.  Not only that, it also used to advertise, tell stories.  Moreover, it also included Baba Malay pantun and syair.  It is stated on the journal article that Baba Malay have developed its own system of articles in the course of language shift, it was when Hokkien speakers shifted to Malay.  

Semai

none

Austro-Asiatic/Moh-Khemer

10,00> people

Animism, Christianity, Islam.

 

 

Key point:

 

1) According to (Dr Alias Abd Ghani, 2015)  The Semai language has been acknowledge by the Ministry of Information as the main language for the Orang Asli Radio broadcasting programme that has been aired by Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) which is Asyik FM due to the large population of Semai ethnic. Not only that, Semai language has been chosen as the first indigenous Orang Asli language to be taught in school in Peninsular Malaysia with predominantly Semai Pupils.

 

2) The representatives of the Semai population and the Ethnic Language Unit, Curriculum Development Division (CDD), and Ministry of Education has worked together to revitalize and include Semai Language as part of the Ethnic Minority Education Programme.  In 1996, Semang language has been chosen to be the first language to be taught in Primary schools in Peninsular Malaysia.  The Central Curriculum Committee of the CDC approved the implementation of Semai language programme in the national curriculum om 1998.  The full implementation of the teaching of Semai language began in 1999 and the time allocation for the classes were 120 minutes per week with each period consist for about 30 minutes for four times a week.

 

3) Local teachers and personnel from the Ethnic and Foreign Languages Unit, CDD had documented the language and develop a spelling system based on the Roman letters in order to keeping with the Malay language.  The main purpose of developing the spelling system was because Semai had no written language.  The spelling system is made based on principles adopted in Malay phonetics and spelling rules.

 

4) The teaching of Semai language give a better opportunity for the Semai children to communicate and participate in a language programme that reflect in their own language and cultural heritage. 

Kelabit

None

<6000 people

Austronesian 

Christian

1)  According to (Emmor, 2012) The State Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah stated that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) is working on the preservation of the Kelabit and Bidayuh language in Sarawak. 
 

2)  Unesco had selected two languages that belonged to minitory indigenous communities because they are undertaking two projects under its ‘Endangered Language’ programme.

1)  A musician which are Alena Murang and Joshua Maran created a project called “Project Ranih” which was a project that created folksong for children in Kelabit language.  The purpose of doing this project was because they wanted to protect the Kelabit language. 

2)  It is mentioned by Joshua Maran that the idea to start this project was because day by day people passed away unexpectedly and they are running out of time to preserved their mother tongue and Kelabit heritage.  It was a tradition among the Kelabit to passed down songs from generation to generation.  In the future, when the younger generation become parents, they may not sing those songs to their children and that’s the reason why the musicians wanted to do this project, so the future generation can listen and acknowledge the Kelabit song. 

3)  Through this project, they hope there will be more people speak Kelabit language and the language will be used in music, television and media. 

1)  Kelabit is a North Borneo language and usually it is spoken mainly in the Fourth and Fifth division of Sarawak.  Kelabit, can be divided into languages with Philippine-type 

Characteristics.  It is classified as endangered language at the EGIDS level 6b (threatened).  

2)  It is difficult to calculate the exact figure of the Kelabit and it is more difficult to asses the exact number of Kelabit speakers within the population.  In 2010, the number of Kelabit population in Sarawak was 5,900.  Kelabit language often used by the Kelabit of live in the Highland in their daily communication.  In school, Kelabit is not widely use in the communication.  It is because the medium of communication in school is Malay.  The younger generation usually use English or Malay because they have multi-ethnic friendship groups.  Kelabit can be classed endangered due to the process of urban language shift and largescale pattern of migration away from the villages.

Melanau language, Malay

Dialects:
There are various of dialect in the 5 variation of Melanau language.

40,000 but the number are decreasing each year. 

Austronesian

Islam, Christian and Animism.

1)  A dictionary of Melanau language are expected to be published on 2020.  According to Mohd Sharifudin Yusop, a former senior lecturer of the Faculty of Modern Languages and Communications, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), the dictionary focus on Melanau language in 3 main area which are Matu, Daro and Pulau Bruit. (Bernama, 2019)

2)  The project of producing the dictionary has started since January 2019 by the Unesco/Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka/Education Ministry and have been 60% completed.  The phoenetics of the language will be included in the dictionary as well.

3)   Mohd Sharifudin stated that there no major differences in the Melanau language of the Matu Daro and Pulau Bruit areas but there are slight differences of the language spoken in other areas such as Belawai-Rejang, Mukah, Dalat, Balingian, Bintulu and Miri. (Bernama, 2019)

1)  Based on the data from ethnologue website, there are about five variations of Melanau language which are Melanau Sentral, Melanau Kanowit-Tanjong, Melanau Daro-Matu, Melanau Sibu and Melanau Seru.  But three out of the five variations are categorized as threatened language which are Melanau Sentral, Melanau Kanowit-Tanjong and Melanau Daro-Matu.  There are various of dialects on the five variation of Melanau language.  For instance, Melanau sentral dialects are Balingan, Bruit, Dalat, Oya, Sarikei, Segahan, Segalang, Sileng, and Igan.  As for Melanau Daro-Matu are Melanau Daro and Matu.  Melanau Kanowit andTanjong are the dialects for Melanau Kanowit-Tanjung. 

 

2) The minority languages in Sarawak are marginalized due to the lack of speakers.  It is because Malay and Iban language are the dominant language in Sarawak.  Not only that, because the society live in environment with multiple of ethnicity and languages, they have to make decision of which language they should use in order to communicate with each other.  The people have alternative to choose the language to use when they want to interact with other people. 

1)  According to (Azwinawati Alwi et al, 2016) Bahasa Semai is the language converse by the Semai.  It has the largest speakers and purest language compared to other Orang Asli language available in Malaysia.  Ministry of Education (MOE) under the Ethnic Language department had enforce the language to be as important as the other ethnic language subjects offered in schools.  There are various of steps taken to ensure the subject is being properly taught in school. 

 

2)  Semai Teaching Portal (ESTP) is a portal developed to encourage the knowledge sharing.   For instance, in sharing teaching techniques with other teachers and also to provide a computing technology with a trusted source for the teachers to refer and use for a long period of time. The aim of ESTP is to help the teachers in mastering the language.  Not only that, it is also to ensure that the language originality is preserved through the correct methods in using the language in term of pronunciation and the word usage and also for formal learning in school.

1)   An indigenous study expert says Kadazandusun is among the languages considered threatened in Sabah as rated by a world language measuring system.  Kadazandusun language is rated as 6b (threatened language).

 

2)   According to Udong, KDCA’s Dewan Bahasa Kadazandusun chairman, the language is in decline is because some members of the community who have gone for higher studies have not promoted the dialect or encouraged others to speak other main languages like Malay.

3)   Moreover, it is stated by Puth-Kitingan that intermarriage between speakers of different languages can be a factor that the language is in decline, if the couple only speak in the dominant language to their children, causing the other language to be neglected.  Not only that, many parents speak broken version of Sabah Malay dialect to their children and because of that many children end up neither fluent in their heritage language nor in standard Malay.

 

4)   Puth-Kitingan also mentioned that Sabahans were aware and concerned about the decline of their heritage languages among their children.  Because of that, various ethnic groups in Sabah are increasingly developing kindergartens for their children using their heritage languages as the medium of instruction.  Moreover, many other indigenous associations and non-governmental organizations including church groups are also doing their bid, setting up early education institutions to teach children to read, write and count in their heritage languages.

(Borneo today, 2020)