My trip to Miri not only gave me the opportunity to reunite with old friends that I missed dearly but I also took the golden opportunity to learn more about my dad's language. My dad is a Melanau from Kpg Suyong, Balingian. Their melanau dialect differs from the rest of the Melanau dialects from Mukah, Oya, Rejang, Dalat, Matu, Igan & Bintulu. Sad to say that this particular dialect is slowly disappearing. Even my aunt Regina or fondly known as Usu Ina who is married to a melanau from Bintulu is at loss with her own Balingian dialect at times. So far, I've noticed that only my dad, my first cousins Lai & Kak Senah are still speaking this beautiful dialect fluently. Usu Ina converse mostly in the Mukah dialect and I observed that she would refer to Lai if she was not sure of the language itself. My dad and his siblings back in Balingian still converse in their own dialect but once they are out of their kampung, they would converse in the Mukah dialect again. Mmmmmmmmmmm....
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