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Another clear proof of our language skill decline was that we were not even able to conduct an English Night or English Day, a showcase in which everyone of the
former classes showed off their English speaking skill,” Rano wrote in “In Aeternum Memorandum 2004:205”.
All the three foreign languages have surely gone past their golden days in the institution. Special notes, however, should be taken about the change of status of
Latin. The relegation of Latin by the Papal government proves to have had a far-reaching repercussion. Since then, every national language or even a local
language such as Nataia has been permitted to be used during the religious ceremony in the Catholic Church. This is presumably the background reason why
in the middle of 1960-s, the Catholic Mission of Flores published a ‘Prayer and Hymn’ book entitled Sua Budju Ngadji which accentuated an amalgam of
Nage languages. The Nataia people enjoyed praying and singing using the book because on
the whole they were familiar with a lot of words and expressions in it. However, they wanted more i.e., a special ‘prayer and hymn’ book of their own in which the
characteristic sounds and expressions representing their ethnic, emotional and cultural pride are prominent.
2.1.2 Nataiaand LanguageFamily
The decade of the 1960-s also marked the beginning of a new era in which all the remaining symbols of the Dutch colonial rule were one by one removed. Nage
and Keo as the symbols of the puppet governments, for instance, were stripped of their royal status. They were then split up into a number of districts under the
jurisdiction of the Ngada Regency. Only recently have Nage and Keo managed PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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to break away and form a separate regency which now claims to have a population of a little over one hundred thousand people.
Figure 2.1 Nataia Speaking Area Adapte From Djawanai, 1983
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Though Nagekeo has detached itself from Ngada administratively, the two regencies remain closely affiliated in terms of language. Th e family of
Ngadha and Nagekeo languages of which Nataia is a member is generally assumed to belong to the Austronesian family of languages. As for the
relationship of Nataia with the surrounding languages, Verheijen 1977 indicates that Nataia belongs to the Ngadha-Lio subgroup, which is part of the
larger Bima-Sumba group in line with Jonker, 1898. This system of language grouping has remained unchallenged for over a century and is still recognized by
well-reputed institutions such as the Indonesian National Language Institute. Recently, therefore, Inyo Jos Fernandez 1996: 16 suggested that Jonker’s
finding be immediately r e v i s e d a n d updated in order to keep pace with the other latest developments in the Austronesian group studies.
Unfortunately, not a single historical-comparative linguist has come up with a fresh idea that challenges Jonker’s proposition. This fact clearly indicates that
Jonker’s way of grouping languages in Flores remains in the status quo. The only new development in the Ngadha-Lio language grouping is that Nataia, one of its
members, has finally got its turn to be formally described and analyzed in its own right. Indeed, the present work marks the beginning of a completely new era
for Nataia language in which it has started to be formally set down in writing and analyzed linguistically for the very first time.
2.1.3 Nataia and Verbal Preservation
The way Antonius Moti 42 and Patrisius Seo 40, two out of the four respondents for this study, pronounced the alveolar fricative sound ř and the
implosive velar sound ğ as is heard from Oko Utu text suggests that the younger PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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speakers of the language are beginning to avoid using the two characteristic sounds of the Nataia. Though now already in their early forties, Moti and Seo are
here representing the younger speakers who show a shift in their phonological preference. The younger speakers are beginning to prefer using the alveolar trill r
instead of the alveolar fricative ř, perhaps due to regular contacts with Bahasa Indonesia and other neighboring languages or simply for the sake of easier
pronunciation. Thus, words such as rhasa [řɑsɑ] ‘fence’ and rhoba [řobɑ] ‘sarong’ are pronounced simply as [rɑsɑ] and [robɑ]. In addition, the younger
speakers also tend to use oe [ɔe ] instead of ‘goe [ğɔe] for negation, putting the implosive velar sound [ğ] in a critical position. This is quite in contrast with
Tadeus Leu 72 and Anselmus Jogo 52, two elder respondents for this study, who remain faithful to the traditional way of pronouncing the ř and ğ.
This phenomenon is certainly an initial indication that Nataia is undergoing change in which two of its unique phonemes are being gradually pushed out of
regular use. The present writer believes that such a change deserves to be set down in formal writing for a historical reason i.e., to remind future generations that the
Nataia people have once pushed certain characteristic phonemes out of their language inventory. Furthermore, the urgent need to put everything down in
formal writing emphasizes the fact that Nataia has been an entirely oral tradition all along. To put it more aptly, all forms of customs in the language have so far
been transmitted simply by direct verbal interactions. The traditional people of Nataia seem to have consistently treated language as
part of a social institution where everybody has a role to play. A bigger role, however, is given to an eloquent speaker. The reason is that an eloquent speaker
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performs much better in public and is well-versed in the use of traditional proverbs and sayings. Additionally, an e l o q u e n t speaker usually a n e l d e r l y
m a n f rom a high caste referred to as mosalaki is very familiar with the traditions and customary laws of the ethnic group.
The special position of an eloquent speaker clearly indicates that traditional proverbs and sayings also play a decisive role in the preservation of the language
and the culture of Nataia people. An eloquent speaker usually takes advantage of Oko Utu, a forum in which all the members of an extended family of Nataia
get together, to remind the p a r t i c i p a n t s to remain faithful to the value system of their community. The powerful instrument of an eloquent speaker i n
t h e f a m i l y f o r u m is the traditional proverbs and sayings which contain highly appreciated values such as “trust and listen to God, respect for parents,
monogamy, cooperation, friendship, hard work, the need for a precautionary measure, etc”. All these values are neatly hidden within the traditional proverbs
and sayings which have been handed down only orally for generations. Oral communication needs to be given a special emphasis here because an eloquent
speaker puts all these values across by way of ‘the sounds and sound patterns’ of the local language. To put it in another way, he makes wise use of the power
of the phonetic and phonological systems of the Nataia to preserve the language and perpetuate the value system of the small local community.
It is certainly a relief for an eloquent speaker of Nataia to realize now that the responsibility for preserving the local language is beginning to be shared with the
global linguistic community. Indeed, the present work is expected to pave the way towards more serious efforts by various interested parties to preserve the unique
