The language is fascinating, no matter when you read it. Let’s think about Ancient Egypt for a moment. For thousands of years it was written in hieroglyphs, and later in hieratic and demotic script. However, with the advent of Christianity, Egyptians began to adopt the Greek alphabet to write their language. This script, known as Coptic, preserved the language in a more phonetic and accessible form. We don’t know if they are based on this story, but a tribe in Indonesia has a fascinating story very similar to this.

Linguistic legacy of Cia-Cia. This story takes us to the Indonesian island of Buton; here the Cia-Cia language has been a pillar of the identity of the tribe of the same name for centuries, but with a “but”: it survives only through oral tradition.

As with many other ancestral languages, the lack of its own writing system has seriously endangered its preservation, especially in a linguistically diverse country like Indonesia, where there are more than 700 languages ​​facing similar challenges. Faced with the risk of one day losing the communication they always maintained, the Cia-Cia community found an unexpected and unique solution in Korea and the Hangul alphabet, which was adopted as the basis for writing its language.

We accept the Korean alphabet. Unlike other local languages ​​that attempted to adapt to the Arabic alphabet, Cia-Cia’s special phonetics made it incompatible with that script. This proved particularly problematic in Buton, where the Wolio dialect had been entrenched in Arabic since the 16th century.

What happened? In 2009, a team of South Korean academics came up with a radical proposal: to use Hangul as Cia-Cia’s writing system. Developed in the 15th century to make writing accessible to all social strata in Korea, this alphabet showed incredible phonetic compatibility with Cia-Cia.

A pioneering collaboration. According to the New York Times report, there are two names that need to be emphasized to make this transition possible. These are two Baubau instructors, including Abidin, who studied at Seoul National University. For six months, Abidin worked to adapt Hangul characters to the specific sounds of Cia-Cia, creating a system that respected the phonetic properties of the language.

His dedication made Abidin the pioneer of translating Cia-Cia into Hangul, and his efforts resulted in the creation of a formal teaching method currently taught in Buton schools. Abidin highlighted how Hangul allows certain pronunciations and tones of Cia-Cia to be captured faithfully, providing a solid basis for the written preservation of the language.

Cultural immersion. Today, in the Sorawolio area of ​​Baubau, the presence of Hangul has spread to places that were unimaginable a few years ago. It can be seen on street signs, public buildings or schools as a visual reminder of this unique cultural fusion on the planet.

When the first Cia-Cia Hangul dictionary was published in 2020, efforts to teach the alphabet to local students were renewed; this preserved the language as well as underlining the cultural identity of the community in a modern context. Schools are now producing their own teaching materials for fourth and sixth grade students in Hangul, thus strengthening the bond between Cia-Cia and the new generation.

The complexity of the “trick”. There is no doubt that the decision to adopt Hangul may be controversial and has actually led to conflicting opinions. While some observers fear that the use of foreign alphabets could change Cia-Cia’s identity, others see this mix as an opportunity to preserve their own culture.

Facing the negative tide and actively supporting the project, former mayor Amirul Tamim told the New York Times that resistance to external influences could mean the extinction of the language. Amirul argues that Indonesia’s cultural diversity is strong enough to benefit from a tool that guarantees the survival of minority languages.

Challenges and the future. Despite the declared progress, Cia-Cia faces a challenging reality: the influence of the national language, Bahasa Indonesia, is in danger of displacing the use of this language in daily life, especially among the younger generations. In the words of Djunuddin, a community leader, many children are starting to not speak Cia-Cia at all and the oral transmission of the language is weakening.

Solutions? To address this problem, local elders and scholars have stepped up documentation efforts by trying to record terms and expressions in Hangul and encouraging their use at home. Additionally, traditional stories and tales are written down to keep alive the tribe’s life lessons and ancestral values.

Ultimately, beyond being a means of communication, language, wherever it is, is history, science and wisdom living in the example of a tribe. As Baubau sociologist La Ode Alirman explained to the media, the preservation of Cia-Cia is crucial to convey to future generations not only the words, but also the essence of its identity and worldview.

Picture | Samuraijohnny, Bagas Hutagalung

in Xataka | This wonderful map explains the family relationships of all the languages ​​of Europe

in Xataka | Searching for the world’s oldest language (currently in use): from Lithuanian to Basque, from Ge’ez to classical Hebrew