When talking about cultural diversity in the land of Papua, it feels kind of incomplete if you did not talk about the language. It is because language diversity in Papua is very rich. You could find more than 400 languages, and it is not included in Papua New Guinea. One of them is the Batanta language.
Batanta is the name of one of the islands in the West Papua region. However, it turns out that Batanta is also one of the regional languages of Papua. Then, where is the language spoken and who are the speakers? Aside from that, how many speakers and how is it different from other languages?
So, here are all the things you should know about the language of Batanta!
The Places Where the Language of Batanta is Spoken
There are many people who are curious about where the language of Batanta is spoken. This is because the use of regional languages in Papua usually only applies on a small scale. Normally, its use is limited to one or two villages only. This also applies to the use of the Batanta language.
Just as the name suggests, the use of this language is mostly on Batanta Island. To be precise, in the Pepasena Village, South Batanta District, Raja Ampat Regency, West Papua. Aside from that, most of the villagers from the Yenanas Village and the Waybelet Village also speak the language.
However, besides the language of Batanta, some of the villagers also speak Biak. Especially in the Yenanas Village and the Waybelet Village. In Waybelet Village, people who speak the language of Batanta come from the west. While the rest of the villagers speak the Biak language.
According to the local community, in the eastern part of Pepasena Village, there is Amdoi Village. There, the villagers speak the Biak language. On the northern side, there is Waybelet Village. The villagers that live there speak both the languages of Batanta and Biak language.
Then, in the south, there is Solol Village. Here, the people neither speak Batanta nor Biak language. It is because this village is definitely the Tepan language-speaking area.
The Speakers of the Language of Batanta
After knowing where the area is spoken, you must be curious about who speaks the Batanta language. In fact, speakers of this language are the Batanta Tribe. This tribe is the majority population that inhabits the Pepasena village. There are around 80% of the villagers come from this tribe.
But unfortunately, there is no official record of how many speakers of the Batanta language are currently. In 2021, there were around 2.210 people that lived in South Batanta District. However, not all citizens there are Batanta language speakers. So, the number of speakers is clearly fewer than that.
However, it is kind of common in the land of Papua. Due to a large number of languages, the number of speakers is indeed less than regional languages in other regions that exist in Indonesia. There are only a few of them who have more than 100,000 speakers.
The Uniqueness of Batanta Language
Based on dialect metric calculations, the language of Batanta is indeed a language and not just a dialect. This is because the percentage difference with other languages is quite high. The total percentage difference is between 82,75% to 100%. This is based on lexical and phonological differences.
With the Tepin language, there are 82.75% differences. While with the Esaro (Kawit) language, there are around 89.25% differences. It also shows a difference with Ambel language with around 95.75%. And, there are around 99% with Moi Sig language. Then, the Efpan language with 99.75%.
It shows that Batanta language is indeed a language that is different from any other language. Therefore, its existence must be sustainable.
