Discussion

Following a visit to the Lolak area in 1990, Merrifield and Salea reported that Lolak children predominantly or exclusively spoke Indonesian (1996:129). In UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger (Moseley 2010), the Lolak language is rated as 1/Critically Endangered, and we accept this rating.

What Others Have Written

Sneddon (1991:301)

Lolak is spoken in three villages on the north coast of Bolaang-Mongondow regency; Lolak and Mongkoinit are exclusively Lolak-speaking while in Motabang Lolak is spoken along with Mongondow. Most Lolak speakers are also fluent in Mongondow, using it in communication with surrounding villages and the regency capital, Kotamobagu.

Merrifield and Salea (1996:129)

Lolak is spoken in only three villages, but the population seems still to be using the Lolak language. All three villages were surveyed and the adults use Lolak for most occasions. They also can often speak the Mongondow language as well as Indonesian. In two of the villages, it was reported that the children understand Lolak and may speak it a little, but that they mostly use Indonesian. It was reported in the third village that the children use Indonesian exclusively.

Yahya et al. (1981:266)

Hanya saja penggunaan bahasa Lolak dalam percakapan sehari-hari semakin terdesak oleh penggunaan bahasa Mongondow. Hal ini mudah dimengerti karena bahasa Lolak adalah merupakan bahasa yang jumlah penuturnya relatif kecil dilingkungi oleh penutur bahasa Mongondow yang jauh lebih besar jumlahnya. Dengan demikian terdapat kecenderungan bagi orang-orang Lolak untuk menggunakan bahasa Mongondow dan meninggalkan bahasanya sendiri.

Wurm (2007:511)

No literacy in it. It is completely surrounded by Mongondow, which is the second language of all Lolak speakers and puts pressure on Lolak. There are fifty speakers left, and the language is seriously endangered.

References

Merrifield, Scott; and Martinus Salea. 1996. North Sulawesi language survey. (Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Sociolinguistics, 1.) Dallas: SIL.

Moseley, Christopher (ed.) 2010. Atlas of the world’s languages in danger, 3rd ed., entirely revised, enlarged and updated. (Memory of Peoples Series.) Paris: UNESCO Publishing.

Sneddon, J. N. 1991 The position of Lolak. VICAL 2: Western Austronesian and contact languages: Papers from the Fifth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, Auckland, New Zealand, 1991, edited by Ray Harlow, 299–318. Auckland: Linguistic Society of New Zealand.

Wurm, Stephen A. 2007. Australasia and the Pacific. Encyclopedia of the world’s endangered languages, edited by Christopher Moseley, 425–577. New York: Routledge.

Yahya, Muhammad Anwar; Hunggu Tajudin Usup, Maruru Madaun Toding Datu, Sariati Nadjaruddin-Tome, Anneke Sumarauw Pangkerego. 1981. Geografi dialek bahasa Mongondow. Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.