ABSTRACT
In this case study, we focus on the Rungus ethnic community’s perception of the ethnic language ‘Kadazandusun’. The ethnic language is currently being taught under the Pupils’ Own Language policy of Malaysia from Primary 6 to 12 (ages 9 to 12 years old) pupils of Kadazandusun ethnic origin.2 ‘Kadazandusun’ is both the generic ethnic label used to encompass some 40 dialectal and tribal groups in Sabah, including the Rungus, and also the name of a standard language developed from the Dusunic languages. This language is the first ethnic tongue in the state of Sabah, Malaysia to receive institutional support from the government. Recently though, several schools in the Kudat area – where the Rungus community is the major ethnic group – have stopped teaching the Kadazandusun language. When questioned by the inspectorate officer then in charge of the language programme, a Rungus teacher said “it is not our language”. 3
One interpretation of this is that the Rungus people are reluctant to learn an ethnic language which is not theirs, or that the Rungus perceive that by learning Kadazandusun, they are being ‘kadazandusunized’ by the ‘more advanced’4 Kadazandusuns. These reports, whether true or not, indicate
that the situation warrants further research, to discover whether the Rungus perceive the Kadazandusuns as an equal friend or an imposing foe, and whether there is real resistance to learning an ethnic language that is not one’s own, even though it may be related to it.
