Four UGM students researched the Enggano language, a regional language on Enggano Island, Bengkulu Province.
The current scope of use of the Enggano language has narrowed to families and is only used within social relationships with Enggano natives, traditional ritual events, and weddings.
“The Enggano language faces the risk of extinction because it is only used as a means of intra-tribal communication. Between tribes, they are more likely to use other languages, such as Bengkulu Malay, Indonesian, and other regional languages,” explained Akhmad Khanif, a student of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences on Monday (6/9).
The uniqueness of this language, he explained, lies in the peculiarities of ethnic groups that have the most distant kinship compared to the surrounding languages, such as Bengkulu Malay, Rejang, and Pekal, even though they are in the same province.
Enggano language is under threat due to leakage of diglossia, a phenomenon defined as a process in which a language is no longer spoken due to a lack of prestige compared to other superior languages.
Akhmad conducted this research with fellow students Muhammad Dian Saputra Taher, Balqis Alyamayadita Rahman, and Kafi Dewanda. Under the guidance of lecturer Dr. Aprilia Firmonasari, this team uncovered the phenomenon of diglossia leakage in the Enggano-speaking community as a step to conserve the local language.
They conducted the research online on Enggano Island and offline in Enggano Village, Bengkulu City. This study found that currently active speakers of the Enggano language are dominated by the older generation who adhere to the ‘remember, apply, and die’ system. Therefore, there is no effort in writing the language as a source of learning for the next generation.
The phenomenon of the condition and choice of language has an impact on the generational shift that occurs because the younger generation of speakers has a passive understanding and mastery of the local language.
“It is necessary to identify the form of language shift that is happening in the community so that a language conservation model can be formulated by adjusting the current conditions of speakers to maintain the local language on Enggano Island,” added Taher.
He further explained that the type of diglossia leakage in the Enggano language was code-switching or switching from one language to another and the loss of speech level.
In addition, the shift in the Enggano language can also be found in the form of code mixing, meaning using two or more languages in the form of fragments to expand the variety of languages or language styles in a conversation.
The form of code switching and code mixing is done as an effort to maintain harmony between indigenous tribal communities and immigrant communities. However, this shift has weakened the Enggano language as the local and native language of Enggano Island.
Efforts to preserve the Enggano language, according to the team, can be carried out through conservation and revitalization using the current conditions of the speakers of the Enggano language.
“It is necessary to form an institution such as a language conservation and revitalization council that is responsible for preserving the Enggano language, then dividing it according to the stakeholders,” he added.
Source: https://www.ugm.ac.id/id/berita/21641-mahasiswa-ugm-teliti-ancaman-kepunahan-bahasa-enggano
