Chapter 1: An Introduction to the *KadazanDusun Culture and Language
( Disclaimer: *The
ideas represented here are fully based on the blogger’s personal knowledge and experience
and are not related to the particular interests of any groups, race or religion.
Readers are advised to use their own judgment and discernment while reading any
parts of the article).
Hello again to my followers
(if any)..hahaha! I know that long wait finally comes to fruition when I
compiled my experiences into a short, descriptive post here. Well, guys, sorry
for making you all waiting a tree stump since I was so engrossed with my daily
routines as a school teacher. I’ve been in a hiatus mode for most of the year
2014 but it doesn’t means that I am shutting down myself in the real world. For
most people, blogging is just another way to spend their free time rather than
a life-generating source of income. A big thank you to all of my followers out
there, especially to my totally unexpected visitors from the United States,
Great Britain, Russia, Germany and even right from my own soil; Malaysia. Right, here it is…for those of you who have
read my previous posts, I am absolutely sure that most of those posts are
related to my numero-uno passion- Feng Shui! Some of you might get sick with my
Feng Shui stories despite the interest of some who really would like to
discover for themselves the uniqueness of this esoteric art.
Okay, okay, enough with the
Feng Shui terms! What am I going to tell you now is not about my vacation or my
new love experience; despite the long school holidays. I would like to share my
experience in learning one of the most alluring languages I ever learnt; the
KadazanDusun language (or some might prefer it as either the Kadazan or Dusun
language, since they considered these two languages are two separate entities
that share many linguistic similarities). My experience might be few, but I
really hope that there will be those who are learnt in this field contribute
their expertise in improving my linguistic abilities. As a matter of fact, I am
an Iban and honestly saying, I am not a linguist or an anthropologist who have
expertise in conducting researches. So, please don’t get it too serious if any
of the information included here is inaccurate or totally irrelevant. By the
way, this blog is not for academics purpose. PLEASE TAKE NOTE..AGAIN..!
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| The KadazanDusun priestess are called "bobolian/bobohizan". Like other cultures that believe in the supernatural, these "bobolians" connect the spiritual realm with the mortal world. |
Epilogue:
How It All Started
During my university days, I
lived with a sort of three to four KadazanDusun housemates; all of them were
males. You might expect that I was first introduced to this language by learning
it from them but wait, you’re wrong! Ironically, they came from different
dialects groups of the same language and they NEVER communicate in their own respective dialects! ( well, I never
had such difficulties in speaking the Iban languages despite the different
dialects which share almost 90% similarities, which does not impede casual
conversation). They used the Sabahan Malay, some sort of an informal Malay
dialect which is spoken throughout Sabah; regardless of the ethnicities.
According to them, there might be similarities but different vocabulary and
grammar rules that would make a normal conversation turns difficult. Some of
them only used the language during conversation with their close family members
while others never used the language at all.
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| The KadazanDusuns are very well-known for their fondness to music, merry-making and lots...and lots of dancing! |
I am still wondering why I always have a chance to meet a KadazanDusun
friend wherever I am. Since leaving my hometown in Sarawak, I always had
encounters with numerous new friends which happened to be always Sabahans.
Perhaps it was related to my past-lives karma. Perhaps I was one of their
ancestors’ close acquaintances, who know. My first encounter with the Sabahan
native was during my pre-university days. One was a Lotud Dusun (hailed from
Tuaran) and the other is a Muslim Sungai (the Sungai dialect is a Dusunic
language; despite its unintelligibility with the rest of the Dusun
dialects…hmmm..that’s interesting!!). I still remembered that my Sungai
ex-floor mate whom I still recalled as ‘Yok’ from Kinabatangan (I don’t know
his real name…unfortunately I lost contact with him and never had a chance to
meet him after my graduation) gave me a simple answer when I asked “I never
heard how the Sungai people speak, can you please give me one word in your
native language??”. The Sungai pal simply answered, “It’s more or less like the
Dusun language; for instance both languages refer to water as “waig”.” I did
not further my question since we were running out of time; well as
like the rest of other pre-university students during that time, we were more
interested with our books rather than with our room mates. Honestly, my
exposure to the KadazanDusun language and culture was almost zero, since I knew
nothing other than “Sumazau”, Mount Kinabalu and “Jambatan Tamparuli”
song…LOL!!! (to be continued...)
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| Mount Kinabalu is the most prominent feature that can be seen even from the bustling capital, Kota Kinabalu |
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