KOMPLEKSITAS PEMERTAHANAN DAN REVITALISASI BAHASA MINORITAS DI INDONESIA: PENGALAMAN PROYEK DOKUMENTASI RONGGA, FLORES

Abstract

This paper discusses complexities faced by the minority Rongga people in the context of language maintenance and revitalization, based on feld experience in documenting the Rongga language. Issues in language maintenance and revitalization are discussed from a range of macro-variables such as historical, socio-political, cultural, economic and sociolinguistic factors. It is demonstrated that the Rongga case is a typical complex situation faced by minority ethnic groups in Indonesia who have been increasingly marginalized in almost every aspect. The low capacity of maintaining their language/culture is a result of a long and complex process which the people of Rongga have experienced. The effect is that internal and external support has been always weak or absent. Internally, pride of own language/culture is always low; the function of traditional custom (adat) laws is signifcantly reduced; poverty is widespread, and there are problems with local human resources. Externally, the Rongga people have been dominated by outsiders at all levels, including at the local level. The introduction of the new Javanese-style village structure has negatively affected the vitality of the Rongga people. In addition, Rongga language is also under pressure from the national/regional language policy in Indonesia. The paper discusses the prospect and challenges ahead, and reports the activities undertaken in the feld work. Keywords : language maintenance, language revitalization, language documentation, minority language, ethnic of Rongga, Flores