Documenting the Mentawai Language Through Socio-Cultural Aspects in Indonesia, May 2023

In May 2023 a team lead by Dendi Wijaya from National Research and Innovation Agency/BRIN, together with Engga Zakaria Sangian from Dehasen University of Bengkulu and Research Assistant Sumario Tatubekket, all affiliates of Udayana University CIRHSS (Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Humanities and Social Sciences) undertook a long journey for a linguistic documentation of Mentaway culture.

This Mentawai project focuses on exploring vocabulary related to the culture and daily life of the indigenous Mentawai people. The research was conducted in Buttui Hamlet, one of the villages in the Madobbag Village area, Siberut Seletan District, Mentawai Islands Regency.

To reach this hamlet, Dendi Wijaya lead the team started from the city of Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province to Siberut Island using the 'Mentawai Fast' fast boat for five hours. After arriving at Maileppet Harbor, South Siberut, the journey was continued towards Sekkola Village, Muara Siberut. There is no public transportation to reach Buttui Hamlet, to get there one can rent a vehicle from Sekkola Village to Roddog Village, a two-hour journey. Upon arrival at Roddog Village, journey was continued by using a machine canoe ('pompong') along the Siberut River for two hours to the mouth of the Buttui River. From there, travel on foot for one hour through the forest and down a tributary to reach the house of Aman Sasali, one of the 'Sikerei' or Shamans who served as a research consultant.

Location of the Siberut Selatan District where the team collected language data from the Mentawai people

1. Aman Sasali is designing a tattoo pattern. 2. Kapurut is a traditional food of the Mentawai tribe.

3. Aman Sasali's family with Dendi Wijaya

4. The kitchen in the middle part of the uma. 5. Tetew or grandmother, is braiding a rope.

Along the way, there are several small villages, but only Buttui Hamlet still adheres to the ancestral traditions of the Mentawai people and has not been touched by modernity and accessibility. Buttui Hamlet does not have electricity or a cellphone network, making long-distance communication impossible. Additionally, the scarcity of fuel is one of the main obstacles faced by the Mentawai people in the hinterlands. This makes it difficult to inform others about conditions in the field in a timely manner. There is no market in Buttui Hamlet, so the team had to prepare supplies of food purchased from the sub-district capital, Muara Siberut. For the indigenous Mentawai people, this is not a problem as they consume natural resources such as sago, sago caterpillars, bee larvae, taro, and other forest products.

On the other hand, Engga Zakaria, one of the investigators, collected data in the village of Muntei, one of the villages in the South Siberut sub-district, which is accessible by vehicle and has cellphone and electricity networks. This location was chosen to see if there is a change or shift in the use of the Mentawai language vocabulary between people in isolated areas and those in areas with better accessibility.

6. Engga with one of the Sikerei in Muntei village. 7. Uma, the traditional house of the Mentawai tribe.

The data obtained includes audiovisual recordings about the use of the Mentawai language in various cultural domains such as tattoo making, traditional clothing, tooth sharpening, and the daily life of the Mentawai people. Additionally, more than a thousand vocabulary words were collected in audio form. These recordings were processed using the ELAN application to facilitate the analysis of various linguistic features of the Mentawai language. The real outcome is a comprehensive list of Mentawai language words. The Mentawai project is considered important as the culture of the Mentawai tribe is increasingly experiencing a shift and could potentially disappear due to modernization.