Kerja Kursus MDM Laily 2

The Challenges of Iban Language
The Iban language is spoken by the Iban, a branch of the Dayak ethnic group
formerly known as Sea Dayak who live in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, the
Indonesian province of West Kalimantan. The Iban can be subdivided into different
sub-ethnic groups. Each of them speak in different dialects. Longhouse living and the
kinship system are the basic sociocultutral structures for the Iban people. Social and
moral values thus resolve around group conformity, co-operation, and institution of
equal right.
In Iban traditional life, informal learning through storytelling develops a flexibility

of thinking and critical consciousness about events and choice of actions. Up to 2009,
there were 55 secondary and 367 primary schools, which included Iban as a teaching
subject. The number of teachers involved was 1,059 in the primary, and 227 in the
secondary schools. In 2010 an Iban language unit was set up in the Department of
Malay Language and Literature, Faculty of Languages and Communication of UPSI.
The Iban Language Minor Programme made its debut in that year to cater for the
needs of trained secondary schools teachers for Iban.
Teaching and learning materials have been developed by lectures and linguists
for use by teacher trainees. Among these are two bilingual (Malay-Iban) books on
Iban phonology and morphology, co-written by Asmah Haji Omar and Rosline Sandai.
Using Malay and Iban simultaneously for the teaching of these two technical subject
matter is a strategy of killing two birds with one stone. Firstly, the trainees are able to
understand the texts better in Malay as they had undergone their education in this
language. Secondly, linguistic terms which have been fully developed in Malay can
easily transferred into Iban due to the close genetic relationship between the two
languages.
According to the linguist Michael Krauss (1992), if nothing were done, 90 percent
of the world’s 6,000 or so living languages (1/3) of which are in Asia) would become
extinct over the next hundred years. Thus, only 10% of the world’s total languages
can be reasonably classified as ‘safe’ in other words, languages which have very
large numbers of speakers and official state support. Linguistic and cultural diversity is
1
under serious threat around the world. The Iban language is one of the languages that
will be extinct if it is not practiced and developed from now.
One of the most common is through language shift and its ramifications.
According to Cavallaro (2005), that is in situations where different languages come
into contact and through social or political processes one or more language become
dominant at the expense of the others. In this case, Iban languages is spoken by
minority group in Malaysian are constantly under pressure. Their main competitors
are the language of the majority group and increasingly, internationally dominant
languages.This is certainly the case in South East Asia, where we see a large number
of minority and indigenous languages being displaced by larger or more international
languages.
Therefore, education systems play a critical role in whether languages become

extinct or are able to survive and thrive. It is because the education systems of
nation-states reflect the values and aspirations of the dominant society, the ethnic
minority children encounter a major barrier to their participation in the life of the nation
when they are arrive at the door of their school. Most formal education systems, in
fact, are inappropriate for, or even hostile to, indigenous groups and their languages.
This is especially true in relation to the use of such languages in school. In many
countries of the world, in fact, mother tongues are forbidden to be spoken in the
classroom.
In the global economy, one of the most valuable traits an employee can possess
is the ability to speak a second or multiple languages. People will learn language in
which the economy is stronger due to more employment opportunities, and other
economic advantages. Between two candidates with the exact same skill set and
experience, the person who is bilingual is arguably much more likely to get the job.
The competition for jobs can be intense, and it’s critical to find ways to differentiate us
from other applicants. It is because many people are passionate about working for an
international company. As companies their reach across continents and service a
diverse population, global corporations are demanding candidates who will immerse
themselves in their cultures.
2
Nowadays, we are all witnessing an aspect of globalization which is the
increasing movement of people from one country to another for different purposes,
such as education, desire for a better life, the need for employment, escape from
conflicts between groups including oppression of one group by another, or natural
disasters. Moreover, a child connects to their parents, family, relatives, culture, history,
identity and religion through his mother tongue. A lot of children from immigrant
families, who don’t know their native language well, are at crossroads of identity crisis.
That is why the culture can influence people easily during they are study or worked at
the other country. It’s a duty and responsibility to preserve it and pass it down from
generation to generation. Eventhough, languages with no writing system will tend to
change a language with a writing system and a written because it has expression and
an aggressive culture.
The Iban’s can be considered as a vulnerable polyglossic indigenous community

with a diminishing trend of intergenerational language transmission. The younger
generations opt to speak other languages in order to be able to adapt and be in par
with other successful ethnics races, socially and economically. Despite of that, they
have the intention of keeping their language alive and willing to obtain education
through it in school. The Iban people present positive attitude towards their language
and believe that their language will not face extinction.
3
4

Kerja Kursus MDM Laily 2

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Kerja Kursus MDM Laily 2

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Kerja Kursus MDM Laily 2

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Challenges of Iban Language

In Iban traditional life, informal learning through storytelling develops a flexibility

Therefore, education systems play a critical role in whether languages become

The Iban’s can be considered as a vulnerable polyglossic indigenous community

You might also like