Abui stories : seven children

Abstract

SEVEN CHILDREN is one of the many folklores of the Abui people from the Alorese

islands in the Indonesian Archipelago. Thriving on an oral tradition, these stories, like the

traditional Abui language, bear no written form and are at risk of extinction. As the Abui

community is standing at a mere population of approximately 20,000 in the current days, the

urgency of documenting the Abui culture and language, of which the Abui folklore plays a

crucial role, becomes all the more apparent. Hence, the professor of linguistics, Prof.

František Kratochvíl, based in Nanyang Technological University’s School of Humanities and

Social Sciences, has taken the initiative in teaching himself the Abui language, documenting

the results in a compilation entitled ‘A Grammar of Abui’. Among the studies of Prof.

Kratochvíl, the Abui folklore forms a significant segment for which he has translated into

English, Bahasa Indonesia, and Mandarin, facilitating the accessibility of this obscure culture

with regards to the modern context – both in Indonesia and abroad.