KUCHING: The various indigenous ethnic groups in the state are urged to take good care of their languages as they seem to be ignored or abandoned by succeeding generations.

“Many parents living in urban areas seem not to bother whether or not their languages are inherited by their children,” said Associate Professor Dr Norazuna Norahim from the Faculty of Language and Communication at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).

Dr Norazuna made this assertion when giving a talk in a heritage language programme in the auditorium of Sarawak Museum Complex here yesterday.

Organised by Sarawak Museum Department, the talk was attended by staff members of the department and visitors.

Norazuna also revealed that based on her research, Sarawak has more than fifty languages.

“This shows that the number of languages are more than the ethnic communities that we have in the state”, she said.

The objective of gathering all the information on languages in the state is to make people aware of how important they are for the groups concerned.

“It is also to create awareness of a more systematic documentation of languages in digital form that can be used by all people”, she said.