Discussion

Based on reported language decline (Hirabayashi 2003), we rate Tonsawang as 3/Definitely Endangered, though clearly trending toward 2/Severely Endangered.

What Others Have Written

Merrifield (1991:83–84)

The Tombatu language is little spoken. Children and teenagers can rarely understand it ... If the young people do learn Tombatu, it is their second or third language; Melayu Manado is always their first. Older people do speak the language, but just in nonformal situations such as in the homes and sometimes at the market ... Tombatu can also be heard at some social meetings such as the maengket and mapalus.

Hirabayashi (2003:127–128)

In these days, the role of Bahasa Tonsawang is steadily changing due to the superiority of Manadonese Malay. Menadonese Malay has been widely used as a lingua franca for inter-ethnic communication in not only many parts of Minahasa, but also other parts of North Sulawesi. In everyday life, more and more young people in the community use this regional variety in various domains or sub-domains in place of their own vernacular languages. For many, this lingua franca has already established its own status as a mother tongue especially among younger generations. Bahasa Tonsawang, the regional vernacular, on the other hand, seems to be on a rapid decline. The spread of Manadonese Malay has thus already extended over the outback of some parts of North Sulawesi. In addition to this fact, bearing the brunt of the offensive of this Malay variety, the vernacular languages in Minahasa are, to serious degree, on the decline day by day.

Hirabayashi (2003:128)

Various ethnic groups in Minahasa these days tend to mix two or more separate codes. More and more, the younger generation employs a mixture of their own vernacular language and either Menadonese or Indonesian. This phenomenon seems to be partly due to incompetence in speaking their mother tongue. The use of Manadonese Malay has already extended gradually but steadily in chiefly the younger generation, driving out their languages, especially among inhabitants in their twenties or thirties. As linguistic performance in the vernaculars has become quite limited, it is no longer possible for them to communicate with older generations in their vernacular language alone.

As a result, many young people in Tombatu cannot communicate exclusively in their own vernacular language. The local school teachers in Tombatu are therefore forced to use what they call Bahasa Campur, a mixture of Bahasa Tonsawang and Manadonese Malay. In Tombatu the Tonsawang language is still much healthier than other ethnic languages in Minahasa. This code, however, is gradually showing signs of deterioration as well.

Utsumi (2013:320)

To date there is no university in the region and those who look for educational opportunities after high school generally leave the islands for Manado or Tomohon, the two largest educational sites in North Sulawesi Province where the Manado [Malay] dialect is spoken. As a result, young people with higher education do not speak the Talaud language, and exogamy is becoming more and more common. Nowadays, younger children in the villages of the Talaud Islands speak the Manado dialect as their first language. According to Noorduyn (1991), the Talaud-speaking population is around 40,000 and less people utilize Talaud as their everyday language. This is owing to the fact that outsiders are moving into the region and many young people are leaving the region. Thus, the language is facing extinction.

Wolff (2010:299)

All the Minahasan languages are endangered. The languages are still spoken by young people in rural areas, but the majority of the population, most especially the elite, has been switching to the Manado dialect of Malay. This process began more than a century ago, and has been proceeding with ever-increasing speed since.

References

Hirabayashi, Teruo. 2003. Code selection of Bahasa Tonsawang in Minahasa, North Sulawesi. (Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim, A3-015.) Osaka: ELPR.

Merrifield, Judi. [1991.] Life in North Sulawesi. Unpublished typescript, vii, 107 pp.

Utsumi, Atsuko. 2013. Talaud verbs: Paradigm of basic verbs. Tokyo University Linguistic Papers 33:319–361.

Wolff, John U. 2010. Proto-Austronesian phonology with glossary. 2 vols. Ithaca: Southeast Asia Program Publications, Cornell University.