The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main
language as the Sa'dan Toraja.
Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is
spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana
Toraja teach Toraja language.
Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan,
belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian
family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana
Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal
administration of Tana Toraja,
some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other
languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism
period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages.
A prominent attribute of Toraja language is
the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja
culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief
and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms
referring sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. It is a catharsis to
give a clear notion about psychological and physical effect of loss, and
sometimes to lessen the pain of grief it self.
source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toraja
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