Supriyanto Widodo (Jubi)
Jayapura, 14/2 (Jubi) – Head of the Provincial Language Center of Papua and Papua Barat, Supriyanto Widodo said dictionaries of three dialect of Papuan language are being compiled.
“We have thirteen expert teams of language and literature to doing a research and compiling the local languages’ dictionary for year 2013. Most part of the researches in the city and its surrounding areas that can be easily reached such as Keerom and Jayapura regencies,” Supriyanto told to reporter in his office on Thursday (23/2) in Waena, Kota Jayapura, Papua.
He further said the other activities like the coaching and capacity building were not only conducted in near areas but reach the regencies of Merauke, Biak Numfor and Manokwari. For current year, the language center is preparing some researches in the villages located in Merauke, Sarmi and Biak Numfor.
“We also doing a capacity building in Sorong Municipality,” he said.
According to him the Language Center has been compiling a dictionary of language in the border area since his team found it was threatened to be lost. “Now we has been compiling a dictionary of Namla Dialect in Senggi Village where its users are only hundreds, around 15 to 28 of households,” Supriyanto said.
The dictionary is expected being published soon since the Language Center has sent the draft to the Language Board for further process. At the previous year, the Language Center conducted a research in Fakfak and compiled a dictionary of Iha Dialect that is still spoken by its natives.
“The research is a willingness of the local government in order to encourage the local dialect to be adopted as a local content in the curriculum. We are also compiling a dictionary of Maybrat Dialect. We have divided the compiling process into four stages because of its complexity,” he said.
Related to the research, Munihanah and Normawati, the researchers from the Provincial Language Center of Papua and Papua Barat who conducted a research of the Determination of Jayapura Folklore as the Reading Materials for the Elementary Students said that Jayapura has a lot of folklores and oral traditions.
“However the oral traditions have not yet adopted as literature references in the educational environment, in particular for the elementary school. Therefore a scientific study is required in order to determine a folklore that can be adopted in the reading materials for the elementary students,” Muntihanah mentioned in her research paper. (Jubi/Aprila/rom)
