Ormu language 

Ormu [orz] is a shifting language with the number of active speakers around 500 people. Ormu is also known as Rarankwa language, which is administratively located in Papua province, Jayapura regency, Reveni Rara district, Newa and Nechive villages (Eberhard et al., 2025). These two villages lie in a remote area with no land access. Ormu is a part of Austronesian language family, particularly Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Western Oceanic, North New Guinea, Sarmi-Jayapura Bay, Jayapura Bay (Hammarström et al., 2024). The language is still used in the villages, mostly spoken by elders and introduced at primary schools as a local language subject. However, there has been a significant decline in the number of speakers nowadays since it is no longer being spoken by children.

Three children playing with a canoe  (Photo by Asep Rosadi, September 20 2023).

The Ormu speakers, widely known as Rarankwa tribe, are a coastal community that continues to uphold their customs and ancestral beliefs, although these traditions are gradually eroding under the influence of modernization. Most of them are fishermen, skillfully catching fishes and other marine creatures in the ocean. Others work in the garden and plant some fruits and vegetables, relying on the fertile land to supplement their livelihoods. The harvest is sold in markets, while the remaining food is kept for daily consumption at houses. Yet, nature can be truly unforgiving. In certain months, both villages are impossible to reach because of tremendous waves of the Pacific Ocean. With their physical endurance, they sometimes cross the Cycloop mountains, traveling on foot which takes approximately two days and nights to reach Jayapura for trading in the markets.

Recently, a wordlist of Ormu has been collected, such as ana for mother, nyoya for tooth, manu for bird, rakwa for leaf, amana for sun, kwanin for eat (verb), mariri for cold (adjective), njing for one (number), nau for I (first-person singular), and o for you (second-person singular). Along with Tobati [tti] and Kayupulau [kzu], the linguistic features of Ormu are unique. According to Purba et al. (1997), Ormu language has a voiceless velar fricative /x/, taking the example kharu /xaru/. Reduplication can be used in several words, such as sia-sia for fishes and foro-foro for pigs. For possessive adjective, the head is preceded by the modifier in nekhu yaitofia for my stick and onyi manu for your bird. Furthermore, the word order is SOV which means the sentence begins with the subject and the verb is preceded by the object. For instance, neni o adomyou for we see you and Pitter nau khesau for Pitter calls me.  

 

References

Eberhard, D. M., Simon, G. F., & Fennig, C. D. (Eds.). (2025). Ethnologue: Language of the world (28th ed.). SIL International. https://www.ethnologue.com

Hammarström, H., Forkel, R., Haspelmath, M., & Bank, S. (2024). Glottolog 5.1. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. http://glottolog.org

Purba, T. T., Paidi, Y., & Kainakainu, B. (1997). Morfologfi Bahasa Ormu. Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa.