Dr Nelson Tandang
SIBU: The Iban language has reached another level in academic study when Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) recognised the language as the major subject at doctorate level.
According to Dr Nelson Tandang, a lecturer from Sarawak Teachers Education Institute (IPG) Miri campus, UPSI will present the recognition during its 19th convocation ceremony scheduled for Oct 24 to 26 at its campus in Perak.
Dr Nelson conducted a linguistics study entitled ‘Structure and Pragmatics of Pantun Bulan’.
“This study emphasises the structural and pragmatic characteristics of the Pantun Bulan which met the standard and criteria of the linguistic value and oral poetry. It can thus be used as a scholarly corpus in language studies,” he said in a statement yesterday.
He said that the study was awarded the `Best Academic Paper’ by International Symposium on Language and Arts (ISOLA) 2015 and was also conferred with `Graduate on Time Award’ (GOT) 2017 by UPSI as the research was completed in two years and five months.
Dr Nelson is an Iban from Rumah Jelanie at Pok in Betong who has been involved in drafting, legislating and reviewing the syllabus for Bachelor Degree Programme of Iban language since 2009.