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ozens of local languages in the country are on the verge of extinction, and restoring respect for minor languages will be critical for their preservation, experts have warned.

Multamia R.M.T. Lauder, a linguistic expert from the Department of Linguistics at the University of Indonesia (UI), said that some local languages were endangered because they were no longer spoken.

“The languages are under threat from excessive urbanization and mixed marriage among different ethnic groups. And these are languages that are rich in local wisdoms,” she said in a seminar held at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

During the seminar, LIPI disclosed its findings that 169 local languages, mostly from the Austronesia language family in the eastern part of Indonesia, would be extinct in the near future.

LIPI chairman Lukman Hakim said the extinction of local languages had been ongoing for some time.

Citing data from the Education and Culture Ministry, he said that only 10 percent of 742 Indonesian indigenous languages both from the Austronesia and non-Austronesia language family would likely survive by the end of 21st century, given the dwindling number of their speakers.

The LIPI research shows that ethnic minority groups in eastern parts of Indonesia have greater numbers of local languages than those in the western part of the country. Java is the most populous island in Indonesia and with a population of 123 million, it is home to 20 local languages. Papua, with a population of 2.2 million has 271 indigenous languages.

Taken together with Maluku, with a population of five million people, the area has 403 local languages.

The LIPI study also reveals that less than 500 speakers still use the near-extinct 169 languages. “Most of them are in Maluku and Papua. Some languages have no more than ten speakers. Some only have one,” said Multamia.

In total, Indonesia has 742 local languages but only 13 of them are spoken by more than one million people. Javanese and Sundanese are two local languages with the biggest speakers. In Maluku, no local language is spoken by more than one million people.

Currently, Javanese is the most widely spoken local language with 75.5 million speakers, followed by Sundanese, which is spoken by 27 million people.

A study by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) shows that only 30 percent of 6,000 living native tongues have been transmitted. Transmission of 70 percent of local languages has been hindered by war, cultural discrimination, colonialism, epidemics and mixed marriages among ethnic communities.

“In Indonesia, members of the urban community who are born to a mixed marriage tend to speak the Indonesian language for their daily conversation,” said Multamia.

LIPI data showed that by 2010, about 58 percent of total Indonesian people used the Indonesian language for daily conversation.

She also said that the adoption of the Indonesian language in the education system had brought about adverse impacts on many local languages. “From kindergarten to college, students speak only bahasa Indonesia. This is definitely linguistic genocide and most of us are not aware of it,” she said.

Benny H. Hoed, a linguistic professor from UI’s School of Cultural Sciences said some local languages might no longer be used as means of communication, but they could be revived in the cultural and mystical realm.

He suggested that these languages were still commonly used in religious rites, folklore, poetry and in mythology.

“If a local language seems to be dying because no one use it, that doesn’t mean that we can’t do anything to preserve it. Referential cultural and mystical functions can still be relevant,” he said.

“We need linguistic experts to help us to transliterate the words of those indigenous languages as most of them are only spoken languages,” Multamia said.

— JP/Elly Burhaini Faizal