THE PEOPLE OF KAO AND THEIR LANGUAGE IN THE NORTHERN COAST OF HALMAHERA

Abstract

There are two major language families existing in Indonesia. Those are Austronesian and Papuan languages. Most of Austronesian language speakers live in all over Indonesia. However, the other one, the Non-Austronesian or Papuan language speakers live in some parts of Eastern Indonesia such as North Maluku, Papua, West Papua and East Nusa Tenggara. The focus of this study will lie on one of the language communities in Halmahera island, North Maluku, namely Kao which is on the northern coast of the island. Based on the researches conducted from 2013 up to 2014, it is shown that Kao language which is categorized as Papuan language has been affected by Austronesian feature. It seems that the environment where Kao people live has influenced their life especially their language. One of the influences is on the structure of their language which has changed and shown the domination of the Austronesian characteristic in the case of word order, that is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO). Meanwhile, the existence of lingua franca as an inter-ethnic communication tool such as Ternate Malay which is also Austronesian language has contributed to form the present language of Kao as well. This article aims to explain the Kao people and their language which has started to be influenced by Austronesian feature.