Bidayuh parentage and Use of Bidayuh Language

• Main Author: Ting, Su Hie
• Format: Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: P Philology. Linguistics
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/36789/1/EBTS_slides_28Nov2021.ppt; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/36789/

The study examined use of Bidayuh language by Bidayuh people with full and partial parentage. The specific aspects studied were Bidayuh usage in everyday life, proficiency in Bidayuh, and perception of effective ways to pass on Bidayuh to the young people. The descriptive study involved 245 Bidayuh participants (57.6% female; 42.4% male) from a range of age and income groups. A majority had diplomas (19.6%) and degrees (61.6%). The questionnaire results showed that 66.9% spoke Bidayuh everyday but 9.4% did not speak Bidayuh at all, while 23.7% spoke Bidayuh several times a week. The use of Bidayuh decreased as they grew up because more of them (78.8%) spoke Bidayuh as a child. More should be speaking Bidayuh everyday because 88.6% of them had Bidayuh parents. However, only 79.2% considered themselves to be full Bidayuh while the rest considered themselves to be partially Bidayuh. The Bidayuh participants had better mastery of oral skills than written skills in Bidayuh. However, they had far better proficiency in English and the best proficiency in Malay. The results on effective ways to pass on the Bidayuh language to young people showed that most chose ways that attributed agency to others but the cheapest way (speaking Bidayuh with family) was chosen by less than 30%. This could be due to growth of intermarriage because of the 145 married, divorced or widowed participants, only 53.1% had Bidayuh spouses. The findings suggest that intermarriages, rural-urban migration and higher education create conditions for a decreased role for the Bidayuh language among the Bidayuh people.