Nias in Indonesia

Speakers

748,309

Type

Location

Country

Information available

1. Basics

Names

Nias in Indonesia

Size

748,309

2. Status

Status

  • Official country wide language
  • Official regional language
  • Official minority language
  • Recognised community language
  • Unrecognised community language
National language
No
Indigenous language
Yes
Comments
Nias is a local language (bahasa daerah) in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia.

3. State

Documentation: materials

Written

  • Extended corpora
  • Annotated corpora
  • Corpus/corpora
  • Materials/corpus
  • Some materials
  • No materials
Comments
A Nias language Bible, rudimentary grammar, Nias language music videos, and Nias language audio recordings are available.

divider

Video

  • Extended corpora
  • Annotated corpora
  • Corpus/corpora
  • Materials/corpus
  • Some materials
  • No materials

divider

Audio

  • Extended corpora
  • Annotated corpora
  • Corpus/corpora
  • Materials/corpus
  • Some materials
  • No materials

divider

Documentation: descriptions

  • Elaborated dictionaries, grammars, statistical language models, etc.
  • Dictionaries and grammars
  • Dictionary and grammar
  • Glossary and descriptions
  • Few descriptions
  • No descriptions
Comments
There is a Nias language dictionary, a grammatical description in Nias, and research that explores the Nias language's lexical and grammatical notions.
Digital Nias documentation is available on Nias Wiki, which includes Li Niha's Wiktionary (dictionary), Li Niha's Wikipedia (encyclopedia), and Li Niha's Wikibook (book). Furthermore, Nias dictionary is also available on Google Play, namely Kamus Nias-Indonesia.

Standardization

  • Modern standard language
  • Young standard language
  • Standardised language
  • Quasi-standard language
  • Semi-standardised language
  • Un-standardised language
Comments
The spelling and grammar of Nias have not been standardized.

Graphisation & script encoding

  • Standardised writing system with full script encoding
  • Conventionalised writing system with partial script encoding
  • Consistent writing system with no script encoding
  • Unsystematic writing system(s)
  • Limited written use
  • No written use
Comments
Latin script is used to write Nias.

4. Users

Geographical distribution

  • Users live and dominate in all regions of the country
  • Users live in one [state/...] of the country
  • Users live in a cross-border region [state/...] of the country
  • Users live in separated [states/...] of the country
  • Users live dispersed across one [state/...] of the country
  • Users live scattered all over the country

Settlements

  • Rural
  • Urban
Administrative units of the country
The regencies of South Nias, North Nias, West Nias, Nias, and Gunungsitoli in North Sumatra Province.
Comments
Nias is spoken in Simaluaya village, Pulau-Pulau Batu Subdistrict and Pasar Teluk Dalam village, Teluk Dalam subdistrict, South Nias regency; Hilimboe village, Susua subdistrict, Olora village, North Gunung Sitoli subdistrict, Gunungsitoli Municipality; Pasar Lahewa village, Lahewa subdistrict, Nias Regency; North Nias regency; and West Nias regency, North Sumatra Province.

Size / Number of users

Number of users

748309
Source
Indonesia Population: Result of Population Census 2010 (BPS-Statistics Indonesia)
Year
2010

Users within total population

0.31000
Less than 1% use the language

PROPORTION

Actual percentage
0
Source
Indonesia Population: Result of Population Census 2010 (BPS-Statistics Indonesia)
Year
2010

Users within the reference community

Less than 10% use the language
Actual percentage
5
Source
Indonesia Population: Result of Population Census 2010 (BPS-Statistics Indonesia)
Year
2010

Age distribution of users

229,877
31
percentage of members of young generations (< 15)
Source

Indonesia Population: Result of Population Census 2010 (BPS-Statistics Indonesia)

Year
2010
Comments

This figure represents the age distribution of Nias users throughout the nation.

Age distribution of users

497,689
67
percentage of members of middle generations (15-65)
Source

Indonesia Population: Result of Population Census 2010 (BPS-Statistics Indonesia)

Year
2010

Age distribution of users

20,743
3
percentage of members of older generations (> 65)
Source

Indonesia Population: Result of Population Census 2010 (BPS-Statistics Indonesia)

Year
2010

Generational use

49
51
699,601
All generations
Source

Indonesia Population: Result of Population Census 2010 (BPS-Statistics Indonesia)

Year
2010
Comments

The Nias is still spoken by children under the age of 15, however at a declining rate.

Educational attainment

Comments

The Agency for Language did not obtain information on the number of users based on educational attainment when conducting research on the vitality of the Nias language in 2021. However, the greatest degree of education attained by Nias users is tertiary education.

Occupational qualifications

Comments

The Agency for Language did not obtain information on the number of users based on occupational qualification when conducting research on the vitality of the Nias language in 2021. The majority of Nias users are farmers, planters, government officials, service providers, or educators.

Language competence

Understand all, speak/sign fluently
Comments

In rural areas, some of the younger generation and up speak Nias fluently.

Year
2021
Source

The Nias vitality research report conducted by the Agency for Language Development and Cultivation of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology.

Understand some, speak/sign little
Comments

Some children, especially in rural areas, are fluent in Nias, but in urban areas, some children speak a tiny portion of Nias passively while the most speak Nias passively.
In urban settings, parents in their forties and younger already communicate with their children in Indonesian.

Year
2021
Source

The Nias vitality research report conducted by the Agency for Language Development and Cultivation of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology.

Literacy of users

Less than 10% of users with literacy in the language
Source

The Nias vitality research report conducted by the Agency for Language Development and Cultivation of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology

Year
2021
Comments

The written Nias is more frequent in northern Nias dialects than in southern Nias dialects.

Digital use

Less than 10% digital users of the language
Source

The Nias vitality research report conducted by the Agency for Language Development and Cultivation of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology

Year
2021
Comments

The Nias community primarily communicates digitally with close colleagues in Nias.

5. Use

Socio-geographic dimension

Geographic scope
  • International
  • Supranational
  • Cross-border (states)
  • State-wide
  • Supra-regional cross-border
  • Supra-regional
  • Regional cross-border
  • Regional
  • Local
Source
The result of language mapping in Indonesia conducted by the Agency for Language Development and Cultivation of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (2019)
Comments
Nias has four dialects: (1) Simaluaya, which is spoken in Simaluaya village, Pulau-Pulau Batu subdistrict, South Nias regency; (2) Pasar Teluk Dalam, which is spoken in Pasar Teluk Dalam village, Teluk dalam subdistrict, South Nias regency; (3) Hilimboe, which is spoken in Hilimboe village, Susua subdistrict, Nias regency; and (4) Nias Utara, which is spoken in Olora village, North Gunung Sitoli subdistrict, Gunungsitoli municipality and Pasar Lahewa village, Lahewa subdistrict, Nias regency.

Economic dimension

Economic scope
  • Quinary sector
  • Quaternary sector
  • Tertiary sector
  • Secondary sector
  • Primary sector
  • Language not used

Functional dimension

Functional scope
  • Public domains
  • Everyday domains
  • Private domains
Functional scope
  • Public domains
  • Everyday domains
  • Private domains
Nature
equal
Comments

The use of Nias in everyday life is stable. 

Functional scope
  • Public domains
  • Everyday domains
  • Private domains
Nature
exclusive
Stability
Decreasing

Functional use in administration

Language use in administration
  • International level
  • National level
  • Regional level
  • Local level
  • Auxiliary use
  • No use

Ethnoculture

  • No use
  • Informal learning
  • Skills and knowledge
  • Performing arts
  • Social practices
  • Customary law
  • Traditional medicine
  • Knowledge and practices
  • Traditions and expressions

Formal Education

Tertiary level
Type of language use in education
  • Medium of instruction
  • Immersion teaching
  • Teaching subject
  • Occasionally used
  • Symbolically used
Comments
One of Nias' universities has made the Nias language one of its language department's study programs.
Higher secondary level
Lower secondary level
Primary level
Comments
Nias is not the language of instruction in primary schools and is not part of the school curriculum.
Early childhood education
Type of language use in education
  • Medium of instruction
  • Immersion teaching
  • Teaching subject
  • Occasionally used
  • Symbolically used

Public healthcare

Comments
The language used in public healthcare is Indonesian.

Information, communication and cultural production

  • Information services
  • Broadcasting
  • Video, film
  • Sound/music recording
  • Publishing activities
  • Language not used
Comments
Pop and spiritual song in Nias language; Nias music application on Google Play.

Digital sphere

  • Language not used
  • Texting and messaging
  • Social media
  • Blogs, web pages, e-books
  • Edutainment products and services
  • Social media have a localized interface
  • Localized web search and e-commerce services
  • Localized operating systems
  • Machine translation
  • Top level domain name
Comments
Nias is occasionally used such as in texting or messaging and on social media
  • Language not used
  • Texting and messaging
  • Social media
  • Blogs, web pages, e-books
  • Edutainment products and services
  • Social media have a localized interface
  • Localized web search and e-commerce services
  • Localized operating systems
  • Machine translation
  • Top level domain name

Completion