Four tribal languages in Sarawak now extinct: DBP

KUCHING – Four tribal languages spoken by Sarawak natives are now extinct, according to Sarawak Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP).

Sarawak DBP director Abang Haliman Abang Julai said according to researchers, the tribal languages that are now extinct are Seru, Pegu, Bliun, and Lelak.

“Maybe the speakers have migrated or are in mixed marriages, and so forth, followed by the diminishing number of the tribe’s community,” he said after the adjournment of the 2023 Sarawak Tribal Language General Database Workshop 2023 here today.

Abang Haliman also said Sarawak DBP will be working with ethnic and race associations in Sarawak to record and document tribal languages that are almost extinct now.

He said he does not have the actual number of tribal languages that are now almost extinct in Sarawak, but he believes that among the tribal languages that are vanishing are those from the Kejaman and Lakiput tribes.

“So, those present here are representatives of the ethnic groups and they get the opportunity to share their terms or words. We are here to record and store the recordings in our database,” he explained.

He said they have managed to record between 5,000 and 6,000 Sarawak tribal words in their database this year.

Abang Haliman said apart from publishing a dictionary of the languages involved, Kuala Lumpur DBP will also take and discuss the words to be adapted into the national language.

“Our hope is that every ethnic group, especially in Sarawak, will have words (of their tribes) included in our national or official language,” he said. – Bernama, March 19, 2023