Wabo Language in Wabompi Village: Evaluation of Language Vitality and Endangerment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1604.15Keywords:
language vitality, language use, local language, Wabo language, sociolinguisticsAbstract
The Wabo language in East Yapen District, Yapen Islands Regency, Papua Province, is generally no longer used in daily communication. Of the 10 villages in East Yapen District, only the Wabo people in Wabompi Village continue to maintain their traditional performance culture. Accordingly, this study evaluates the vitality and use of the Wabo language in Wabompi Village to identify the correlation between the vitality status of a language and the maintenance of its distinctive performance culture. Furthermore, the study investigates language use in the social and family domains. The methodology employed qualitative methods, including evaluation analysis of vitality and language use in the field of sociolinguistics. Language vitality was evaluated based on vitality indicators from UNESCO and SIL International. Data was collected using participatory and direct observation. The results reveal that the vitality status of the Wabo language in Wabompi Village is definitely endangered according to UNESCO vitality indicators. Meanwhile, the condition of the Wabo language vitality in Wabompi is in a moribund state according to SIL International. In terms of language use, Wabompi is used only by the grandparents, and the most common language used is Indonesian.
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