The Reinterpretation of Knowledge and Its Role in the Process of Language Obsolescence

This paper seeks to examine a central aspect of the process of language obsolescence that is taking place in the village of Lohiatala, located in western Seram, eastern Indonesia. In this village, a small group of younger fluent speakers of the Alune language are reinterpreting the status of folktales from the secular to the sacred category of knowledge. Although in other settings the threatened language has been shown to persist in the domain of religion, among the Alune a restriction exists that prevents the open transmission of sacred knowledge. The process of reinterpretation therefore appears to be hastening the demise of Alune because the access of imperfect speakers and passive bilinguals to folktales has been blocked.