Language Office Reveals 5 Regional Languages In Maluku Extinction, 2 Of Them No More Speakers

The Maluku Provincial Contingent featured a regional language musical drama at the Mother Language Tunas Festival (FTBI) in Jakarta on February 12-16, 2023. (ANTARA-HO Maluku Language Office)

JAKARTA - Head of the Maluku Language Office, Sahril, said that five of the 62 regional languages recorded in the Maluku Province have become extinct. Even a little or no more speakers.

Sahril said the Maluku regional languages that were classified as extinct included Kayeli and Masareta from Buru, Lun and Nila from Central Maluku, as well as Piru from West Seram.

He added, although there are still natives living in the Teon Nila Sarua District, Central Maluku Regency, the Nila language from the area is no longer widely used.

According to him, the people of Nila scattered to various regions and then used the language used by the people in their new residence. Such conditions make Nila language speakers continue to decrease.

"Meanwhile, in Kayeli and Masareta there are no more speakers, but we had time to document regional languages in the form of vocabulary dictionarys," said Sahril in Ambon, Wednesday, March 8, quoted by Antara.

He explained, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), languages with a number of speakers under one million are categorized as extinct.

If it is judged based on this standard, he said, then regional languages in the Maluku Province whose population is less than two million can be categorized as extinct.

"It is considered extinct because there is a limited number of speakers. The Ambon Malay language currently reaches one million speakers, this causes other regional languages to almost become extinct," he said.

Sahril stated that currently the Indonesian and Malay Ambon languages are mostly used in people's daily communications rather than the native languages of the Maluku region.

"In the family itself, people have mixed language, namely the Ambon Malay language and the regional language. This is an obstacle, a threat, why regional languages are difficult to develop and eventually the language ends and the language is extinct," he said.

Therefore, the Maluku Language Office seeks to gradually revive regional languages in the Maluku region.

The Maluku language office in 2022 seeks to revitalize three regional languages, namely Kei from Southeast Maluku Regency, Buru from Buru Regency, and Yamadena from Tanimbar Islands Regency.

This effort was continued in 2023 by adding Seram from East Seram Regency and Tarangan from Aru Islands Regency as targets for the Maluku regional language revitalization program.