Ethnolinguistic Notes on the Language Endangerment Status of Mintil, an Aslian Language

Abstract

The Mintil language is considered one of Malaysia’s most endangered languages. The language is a linguistically distinct member of the Menraq-Batek branch of the Northern Aslian language family. It is still spoken by around 400 people who refer to themselves as “Batek Mayah”. The previously assessed language endangerment status of Mintil as being ‘moribund’ is based on limited information. This paper reviews the history of the Mayah over the past century and presents research on the present endangerment status of Mintil. Based on this, I assert that the status of the Mintil language is stable since it continues to be spoken by almost all adults in the three established villages and it is also being passed on to children in that speech community. Nevertheless, the small number of speakers and the lack of official recognition mean that the language cannot be considered safe.