Bangka Island. The Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry announced that 11 indigenous/regional languages in Indonesia have gone extinct due to the absence of speakers passing them on to successive generations.

"The endangered regional languages are predominantly located in the eastern part of Indonesia," said Hafidz Muksin, the Secretary of the Language Development and Guidance Agency at the Ministry, during an event on Bangka Island on Thursday.

Muksin specifically mentioned 11 extinct indigenous languages, such as Tandia and Mawes in West Papua and Papua, along with Kajeli, Piru, Moksela, Palumata, Ternateno, Hukumina, Hoti, Serua, and Nila in different areas of Maluku.

"In the eastern part of Indonesia, there are many regional languages, but the population is small, whereas in western Indonesia, there are fewer regional languages but a denser population," he said.

The decline of these languages is attributed to the diminishing number of native speakers. Muksin emphasized that the use of regional languages among native speakers, particularly parents within families and communities, has decreased.

Furthermore, the extinction is influenced by immigration and the demands of a globalized world, posing additional threats to regional languages.

"The extinction of these languages is also a result of intermarriage. For example, if the father is from Medan and the mother is from Java, their child may not be able to speak either Medan or Javanese," he added.

He highlighted that the extinction of regional languages is also a consequence of modernization, as younger generations tend to focus on learning foreign languages to keep up with global trends.

"Currently, children in kindergartens are learning English rather than their regional languages, although preserving our native language is crucial to pass it on to our future generations," he concluded.

The ministry's language mapping has identified and validated a total of 718 regional languages, 778 dialects, 43 sub-dialects, and 248 regional language dictionaries across 2,560 observation areas in Indonesia.

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