Discussion
The impression of a survey made in 1988, which barely spent a day in Mopute village, was that the Waru language was not being maintained, and that speakers were shifting to the closely related Tolaki language or to Indonesian. Our estimate, which agrees with UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger (Moseley 2010), is to rate Waru as 3/Definitely Endangered. Because our information is dated, the vitality of the Waru language requires further investigation.
What Others Have Written
Mead (1999:67)
Mopute adults communicate with traders and government officials using Tolaki or Bahasa Indonesia, and their children learn Tolaki playing with their friends. Even in homes where both parents are Mopute they may choose to speak Tolaki with their children rather than Waru.
Wurm (2007:550)
No literacy in it. In 1991, 350 speakers were reported. Under pressure from larger neighbouring languages and Indonesian. It is potentially endangered.
References
Mead, David E. 1999. The Bungku-Tolaki languages of south-eastern Sulawesi, Indonesia. (Pacific Linguistics, D-91.) Canberra: Australian National University.
Wurm, Stephen A. 2007. Australasia and the Pacific. Encyclopedia of the world’s endangered languages, edited by Christopher Moseley, 425–577. New York: Routledge.
