KOTA KINABALU (Sunday Aug 20): Dusun Talantang is among the over 60 dialects and 150 sub-dialects of Kadazandusun that had been uploaded on Wikipedia, the world’s largest free encyclopaedia.
Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia President Dody Ismoyo said these are dialects of the Bundu, Liwan, Talantang, Lobu, Tindal and Tangaa ethnic groups.
He said words included in Wikipedia include “walai” from the Bundu and Liwan communities and “hamin” (Tangaa/Kadazan) meaning house.
“This approach to digitisation is important, especially given the language vocabulary of ethnic groups, which is becoming less used by the younger generation in Malaysia.
“I hope that more individuals, government agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will support Wikimedia Malaysia in its efforts to honour all racial and ethnic languages in Malaysia so that they do not become extinct,” he told Bernama in Singapore, Friday.
Dody was met at the launch of the Wiki Kent Club at the Wikimania Conference 2023 at the Suntec Exhibition and Convention Centre.
The event was officiated by the Institute of Teacher Education (IPG) Kent Sabah Campus Director Dr Hamidah Samsudin.
Meanwhile, the establishment of the club aims to strengthen the Kadazandusun language and introduce and promote the language internationally.
“Wikipedia is one of the fastest channels for disseminating information, so we see this opportunity as a good fit for IPG Kent Sabah’s work as there are potential educators who are already trained in the Kadazandusun language,” she said.
The 18th edition of the Wikimania 2023 conference, from Aug 16 to 19, brought together more than 3,000 delegates from 138 countries to celebrate “Wikimedians” and volunteers who contribute to the Wikipedia project.
