Leiking (seated second left), Binjua (seated left), Disimon (seated second right), and Ekol (seated right) with the rest of the project committee members at the press conference yesterday.
PENAMPANG: Preserving the native tongue had been proven to be challenging amidst development and growing diversity, but seeing the importance of doing so had prompted Kadazan Society Sabah (KSS) to revive an old version of the first Kadazan dictionary compiled by a Mill Hill missionary priest.
KSS had reprinted the first Kadazan dictionary compiled by Rev. Fr. A. Antonissen of the Mill Hill Missionaries, with revised contents and an additional Bahasa Malaysia – Kadazan section, looking to launch the book on December 20.
The dictionary, which Antonissen started compiling in 1932 and completed in 1956, was first printed in 1958, but had not been available to the public with only few rare copies being kept among individuals.
President of KSS, Datuk Marcel Leiking, disclosed at a press conference held at his residence in Kg Limbanak here yesterday that KSS was prompted to start the Kadazan dictionary project to provide the public with better accessibility to learning the Kadazan language.
“We the Kadazans do not wish to see our language become an ancient relic of the past. Development and growing diversity via migration and inter-marriages had contributed to the declining use of the Kadazan language but we hope that this dictionary will assist one way or another, the effort to preserve this beautiful, God-given language,” said Leiking.
He said based on this realisation, KSS then set up a committee for the project in 2009, three years after KSS was formed, and headed by Freddy Ekol, with Leiking himself as the advisor.
Chief editor of the dictionary, Blasius Binjua, revealed that it took him two years to compile the dictionary, assisted by Peter Lidadun, Wilfred Mojilis, Sylvester Disimon, and the late George Mokunjil, who passed away just before the dictionary was completed.
He also said during the conference yesterday that one of the biggest challenges faced during the compiling works for the dictionary was the lack of available materials.
However, he said, the committee managed to come up with a 420-page dictionary, with an additional section for Bahasa Malaysia – Kadazan translation section, an improvement from the original 270-page dictionary by Antonissen.
He admitted that the dictionary was not complete as there were countless other Kadazan words that had proven to be difficult to translate to other languages.
A total of 10,000 copies of the dictionary had been printed whereby 5,000 are hardcover versions and 5,000 paperbacks. They will be available after the launching on December 20 at the Pacific Sutera, by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, who will represent the Prime Minister.
The hardcover version will be sold at RM50 each while the paperback copies will be sold at RM30 each.