The Folk Biology of the Tobelo People - Smithsonian Institution ...

NUMBER 34
FIGURE 8.—Village house at Pasir Putih, showing nipa palm roof, "lawn" completely cleared of vegetation,
flagpole (required for displaying the flag at certain government holidays), and "fence" of o balontas (Pluchea
indica Less.). Pandanus mats from the rooms inside have been hung out to dry and reduce bedbug infestation.
Reported language use in die home (as opposed to reported
language competence) is more complex, though fewer languages
are involved. Data on language use at Wasile Village
are derived from survey questions asking (1) what language do
die household head and his wife normally use when speaking
witii one anotiier, (2) what language do they normaUy use when
speaking to tiieir chUdren, and (3) what language do their
children use among themselves. The responses in Table 2 have
been separated into those from households in which neither
"spouse" (i.e., head of household or his wife) or parent, one
spouse or parent, and both spouses or parents are Tobelo. Heads
of household and tiieir wives who have no children responded
only to the first question. Note that five pairs of parents claimed
to speak botii Tobelo and Indonesian equally and one pair to
speak Tidorese and Indonesian equally (total six pairs or 9.8%).
In one case a 70-year-old man and his 60-year-old wife stated
tiiat he always spoke to her in Tobelo, and she spoke to him in
Pagu (otiiers verified that this was the case): they both usually
speak Tobelo to their children. (In Loleba village, at least three
couples have such Tobelo-Pagu linguistic "arrangements.") In
cases where two languages were used about equally by parents
when speaking to their children, botii parents used botii
languages, except in one case where both parents are Tobelo
and die father speaks to the children in both languages whUe die
modier speaks only in Indonesian.
At first sight die figures seem to suggest tiiat local language
use is disappearing. Among households in which one or botii
parents are Tobelo, the parents speak Tobelo among themselves
in 19 households (37.2%), but transmit die language to
tiieir children by primarily speaking Tobelo in only five
households (10.6% of households witii chUdren). Of households
witii more than one child, in only one (2.3%) is Tobelo
said to be die language normally used in communication
among children. By including households in which both
Tobelo and Indonesian or botii Tobelo and Pagu are used, die
figures even more strongly contrast die older and younger
generations: 25 households (51.0% of aU Tobelo or pardy
Tobelo households) use Tobelo among spouses; in 10
17