Pendokumentasian Bahasa Terancam Di Sarawak: Pengalaman Dari Komuniti Miriek

• Main Author: Norazuna, Norahim
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Pustaka Negeri Sarawak 2021
• Subjects: P Philology. Linguistics
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/39480/1/Norazuna.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/39480/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

This paper discusses an on-going research project that attempts to provide a comprehensive record of the linguistic practices of an under described speech community in Miri, Sarawak through a dictionary resource development. The Miriek population is approximately 5,000 speakers. This project also examined linguistic affiliation between Miriek and other closely related Austronesian languages in the territory. Based on lexicostatistic studies, Sarawak has more than 51 indigenous languages. Basic linguistic description of most of its languages has yet to be conducted. Two languages have become extinct, and more to come if no concerted effort is done to prevent the languages from declining in use. Dictionary resource development is a critical first step towards retention of languages. It involves establishing orthography and requires linguistic analysis of the language to be documented. Miriek is placed in the "threatened" category, in the last stage of becoming moribund. The outcome of this project includes a lexical entry of 1,200 words that is machine-readable, with also includes basic linguistic description of the language. A machine-readable dictionary (MRO) has made it possible to document the distinctive phonological and morphological features of the Miriek language. In relation to language family, Miriek is categorised under the "Lower-Baram Kenyah Sub-family", of which it is closest to Belait and Kiput than Narom, Dalik and Bakong.