LI NIHA RAYA: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE SOUTH VARIETY OF NIAS LANGUAGE

Abstract

The vitality of regional languages in Indonesia remains a pressing concern, particularly for minority varieties suppressed by historically dominant dialects. Li Niha Raya literally "the language of the Nias people in the South" (li = language; niha = people; Raya = south) is the South Variety of the Nias language spoken in South Nias Regency, North Sumatra, distinct from Li Niha (the North Variety) and the Central Variety, which represents a mixture of both. These three varieties are distinguishable through grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, and share a vowel-dominant phonology in which every syllable invariably ends in a vowel. Despite this shared heritage, Li Niha Raya has been systematically marginalised since the nineteenth century, when European missionaries standardised Li Niha as the sole medium of religious and literary production across Nias, causing its speakers to progressively abandon their mother tongue in formal and religious domains. This study provides a systematic linguistic description of Li Niha Raya, focusing on four grammatical features: its alphabet system, noun mutation, verb forms, and active pronouns. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews, naturalistic speech recording, and document analysis, then analysed using the distributional method with triangulation validation. Findings confirm that Li Niha Raya is a grammatically independent variety of considerable linguistic complexity, comprising a 24letter alphabet, a dual-pattern noun mutation mechanism, a three-form verbal morphology, and a seven-pronoun active system warranting urgent documentation, curricular integration, and sustained revitalisation efforts.