Enggano, with about 1500 speakers, is spoken on Enggano Island, off the southern coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, with a population of about 4000. Enggano is classified as “threatened”: only the elder generation are fully competent and fluent speakers. Many children speak Indonesian and little to no Enggano. Intensified contact with non-Enggano speakers is likely to continue and spread throughout the island, to the detriment of Enggano.

The Enggano language project began with a pilot visit in February 2018, where we met with elders of the five Enggano clans, recorded some traditional stories, and worked with some younger speakers to record some verbal paradigms. We also visited an elementary school and the high school, discussed our project with the headmasters and some of the teachers, and gave presentations about our project to the students.