Kadazan May Cease to be a Native Language

If the Kadazan people are not careful, Kadazan may become a heritage language instead of remaining a native language.

What is a heritage language?

Wikipedia provides the definition as follows:
"A heritage language is a minority language learnt by its speakers at home as children, but never fully developed, because speakers grow up with a dominant language, in which they become more competent."

In the abstract to "Heritage languages and their speakers: Opportunities and challenges for linguistic", 2013, by Benmamoun E, Montrul S, Polinsky M, this is stated of native speakers:

"Native speaker competence is typically the result of normal first language acquisition in an environment where the native language is dominant in various contexts, and learners have extensive and continuous exposure to it and opportunities to use it."

In the past, the Kadazan Language was in no danger of disappearing because everyone was communicating in Kadazan. Every Kadazan was a native speaker of Kadazan.

In Penampang, for example, Kadazans spoke to almost everyone in Kadazan so much so that the Chinese shopkeepers in Donggongon could understand and spoke fluent Kadazan. Some of the shopkeepers had married Kadazan wives.

With the implementation of Malay as the medium of instruction in schools, Kadazan parents started to talk to their children in Malay - some in broken Malay - which resulted in the following generations of Kadazans who could neither understand nor speak Kadazan or if they could, to a limited extent. A minority continued to talk to their children in Kadazan. Even these sometimes mixed Kadazan and Malay when talking to their children. There was a danger of language shift!

The problem became so acute that alarms bells started ringing. Many Kadazan leaders became very worried. Some took every opportunity to urge parents to talk to their children in Kadazan.

But the problem was that this particular generation of parents could neither speak nor understand Kadazan. They could not do much about it. They drifted along hopelessly. Fortunately for some families, the grandparents who spoke Kadazan were still around.

But some grandparents had been influenced into speaking in Malay to their grandchildren or a mixture of Kadazan-Malay. Many of these kids ended up not being able to speak proper Kadazan or proper Malay having been exposed to a mixture of Malay and Kadazan. Language attrition from one generation to the next started to come about.

The situation seemed to deteriorate from bad to worse. It appeared that the Kadazan people could not maintain their language. It was then that some Kadazan leaders, worried that the language may die out, appealed to the government to allow the teaching of Kadazan in schools as a "Pupil Own Language". It took time for this to be approved. But when approval was given, it was not Kadazan that was agreed to be used as the language medium but Bundu-Liwan, the language spoken by the majority of natives in the land. Not every primary school offers the Kadazandusun subject. Unfortunately!

It is learned that Kadazan can be used as the medium in schools located in areas that are predominantly Kadazan. If so, it would appear that some flexibility is allowed. But Kadazandusun graduates teachers learned Bundu-Liwan, not Kadazan.

From my present encounters with both young adult Kadazans and children, there is little hope that the generation of young Kadazan not exposed to Kadazan-speaking family environment will make any significant improvement in their usage of Kadazan. However, there is hope among children due to two factors. Firstly, the teaching of Kadazandusun in some primary schools and, secondly, more parents, supported by grandparents, now talk to their children in Kadazan. There is still hope for the future.

If the language attrition is not stemmed, the number Kadazan native speakers may decrease. The language may end up as a heritage language, spoken by a few. Kadazan (or Bundu-Liwan for that matter) need to become one of the dominant languages if it is to survive.

The worse-case scenario is that the language may become a dead language. This will come about if no Kadazan can speak it or none of them is fluent in it. There appears to be a slim possibility of this happening because of the language revival initiatives (the language is taught in schools and awareness within the community). But there may still be Kadazan language loss on an personal or familial level. It depends very much on Kadazan families and the community itself.

It is still too early to make any conclusion as to the success of the initiative to teach Kadazandusun in some primary schools.

The most effective way of preserving the language is to speak Kadazan within the family and community surroundings. The very young Kadazans can save the language provided they have support all the way.

Iso' Komohoingan do Kadazan, Dusun, Rungus, Lotud, Tatana' om Sungai

Noihaan do Kadazan nopo nga poingizon id kinoizonon miaga do Papar-Kimanis, Penampang om Putatan. "Dusun" poingizon id sokid miaga do Tambunan, Ranau om Keningau. Rungus om Kimaragang poingizon ponong Kudat. Lotud (Hotud) poingizon id Tuaran (Tawalan), Tatana' id Bundu Kuala Penyu om Sungai (Tuhun Bavang) ponong kohisaon Sabah.

Onini toi' okudi' (au' ogumu) pisuvazan do boos do Kadazan om Dusun. Osuususa' Kadazan - dati Dusun, nogi - do mamalati do boos do Lotud om Tatana, ka di songuhun ii nokosoomo do tinimungan ngaavi diti. Saviavi tinimungan mamasok diti do mamantang do Nuhu Kinabalu (Nabahu / Nabalu). Om tikid-tikid dioho do miipiaga o basaan om koubasanan.

Ouhan do mamalati' do mantad ngaavi do iso' komohoingan zioho sundung potuu do kivaa ii mantad Nunuk Ragang id Ranau om kivaa di okonko mantad do doiho miaga do Kadazan, Lotud om Tatana.

Di napadan ngoibu poguhu, tinimungan ngaavi tuhun tuminongkop mantad do tana pungaanan do Pogun Sina do baino. Komozon di mononoizuk do id Yunnan, ka.

Mantad tantaman, nokoikot zioho id Pulou Borneo om vookon dioho nokoikot om minizon id iso kinoizonon i pungaanan Sarawak do baino. Mizon id suang luak vatu tuhun guugulu. Ingkaa no do kivaa tuhun nokoizon id luak vatu Niah id Baram, Sarawak. Nimaan soizuko songkuo umul di tinompuung tuhu tuhun ii nokito do doiho. Noihaan ii do 37,000 toun no hinaid. Pinungaanan do saintis 'archeologist' o tinompuung tuhu dii do "Deep Skull", ka, toi' Tinompuung Taahom.

Komohoingan nangku do tuhun poingizon id Borneo tuhun ii sanganu do tinompuung tuhu dii? Oihaan iti do osoizuk po kozo. Au' atantuan songian, au noihaan. Nga' atahang do nung aiso tuhun poingizon id suvai kinoizonon Borneo ontok dii nga' ii'ii' no tinimungan id Baram, au' osusa' do maganu katantuan do mantad doiho' ngaavi' ii mogisvai-suvai tinau.

Tumanud buuk sinuat di P.S.Shim "Inland People of Sabah: Before, During and After Nunuk Ragang" kivaa tinimungan tuhun suminangkat mantad Baram di somok soibu (1000) toun di poguhu. Tumanud di Shim, tuminimpuun tuhun do minundahiu diti di toun 1200. (Dati' do poguhu dii.) Vookon dioho minzion id uvang do Kimanis-Papar, vookon pinakaazan id Tuaran om i nopo togumu nga pinakaazan doiho Nunuk Ragang. I nopo minizon id Kimanis-Papar nga' minomungaan do tuhun dioho do 'Kadazan', i tinimungan pinakaazan id Tuaran 'Lotud' om i nopo minugad id Nunuk Ragang nga' nabaagi do piipio 'kaum' (tribes). Minogidu izioho do minsodu mantad kougaan id kinoizonon somok do Baram.

Di somok toun 1800, ka di Shim, vookon Kadazan mantad Papar minundahiu kumaa id Putatan-Penampang. Kahapas nopo iti, kivaa vagu tinimungan suminusuut. 'Tangaa' ngaan di kumoiso om 'Bangkaakon' i tinimungan koduvo. Mogium zioho do kinoizonon kavavagu i aiso kaantakan do kougaan om kohigaganan mantad do misangod. Kivaa nogi tinau suvai mantad Kadazan ii nokosuang om mogigiizon id uvang do Kimanis-Papar di touvi no miaga do Tabai (Brunei).

Nokopisangod o Tangaa' om Bangkaakon id Putatan. Mantad dii do pinakaazan do Bangkaakon id Minintod. Nosusui di Gundohing Pijolin Mojuil (2014) o pinisangadan diti ii naantakan id Gumbahon, Papaason, id sampaping do Kampung Tombovo. Tangaa' (Kadazan) ii poingizon id Tombovo om Gumbahon.

Id piahatan do toun 1200 om timpu poguhu nokoikot mongingindapu Bolitis, misangod ngaavi tuhun mamasok. Zioho i songingizon id Nunuk Ragang mokogumu om minundahiu. Minisangod zioho do mi-aau kinoizonon om popointahang do isai i hobi avakas. Tumanud susuzan, minisangod o tuhun Tangaa miampai do tuhun mamasok mantad sokid.

Nga kampung id Penampang po nga nokopisangod nogi. Iti no timpu pungaanan do 'Panampangazaan' (mantad boos 'Pangazou'). Tumanud susuzan, nokopisangod o Pogunon om Kolopis. (Severinus Hinjiang, 2012).

Isai nopo i aatu om apatai id piimangan nga' putuhan do tuhu ii oviton muhi do maan usaa'o' ii buu-anon do bobohizan. Dodizon i tuhu do bangkavan om podsuavan ii om kivaa kotumbazaan do osuang ii do tombiivo.

Nga' sundung nokopisangod kakaal zioho do mantad iso tinimpuunon, mantad iso komohoingan, mantad iso' sunsud. Mogiobpinai ngaavi' zioho'.


Komi:
1
Mudi-kudi tuhun i momungaan dioho do 'Bangkaakon'. "Tangaa" po nga' somoonu nopo do gunoon om ngaan 'Kadazan' podii o gunoon montok tinimungan diti.
2
"Kadazan" kikomozon do 'tuhun' om "Dusun' kikomozon do 'kabun'. Nimaan onuo do KDCA o ngaan "Kadazandusun" montok saviavi mogiigizon sandad pogun (natives) id Sabah.

Kadazan Heritage

Kadazan Heritage or "Tungkus Kadazan" in Kadazan.

What is heritage?

One of the definitions provided by Oxford Dictionary is "Valued objects and qualities such as cultural traditions, unspoiled countryside, and historic buildings that have been passed down from previous generations."

But the definition provided by Christian Eilers (2012) appears to be more relevant here. To him, heritage "... generally refers to the ancestors of a person, and what they identified with." He states that heritage can overlap with ethnicity. He defines ethnicity as being "based on a group (called an ethnic group) that is normally based on similar traits, such as a common language, common heritage, and cultural similarities within the group."

Based on this definition, the Kadazan people are descended from a group of native people living in the north of Borneo Island. Most of these people live on the west coast, from Kimanis-Papar to Penampang. These Kadazans have similar traits to the other group of natives who call themselves 'Dusun', the name given to them by Brunei and later adopted by the British colonialists. Kadazans speak the Kadazan Language, with slight variation between the language spoken at Papar and that spoken by the Kadazan Tangaah of Penampang. This language is very similar to the language spoken by those who prefer to be called 'Dusun'. There is very little difficulty in communicating with each other. This is one of the reasons, perhaps, why the name adopted by KDCA (1) for this group of people was "Kadazandusun".

They share the same culture and tradition. There is no noteworthy difference between them. It is very clear that they are of the same ethnic race.

Language In Danger of Becoming Extinct 
But this heritage is under threat. The Kadazan (or Dusun) Language is in danger of becoming extinct. This may become a reality in the next fifty years or so if there are not enough Kadazans (or Dusuns) who communicate in their very own language, particularly with young members of the community.

"Language embodies the intellectual wealth of the people who use it." ~ Kenneth Hale.

Custom and Tradition
This has also come under threat. For example, groups that have nothing to do with Kadazans (or Dusuns) as an ethnic race have of late held their own "Kaamatan" with their own "Unduk Ngadau". This is nothing less than a usurpation of the ethnic heritage of the Kadazandusun people.

There are other matters of great concern that need to be addressed by Kadazans (Dusuns)

1. Kadazandusun Cultural Association
2. P.S.Shim (2007) had theorised that the ancestors of the Kadazandusun people originated from Baram in Sarawak, having moved northwards some 2,000 years ago. Many from among these people believe that their ancestors had always lived in this part of Borneo.