Ata Tana 'Ai - Orientation

Identification. The Ata Tana 'Ai are a branch of the Sikkanese peoples of eastern Flores. The ethnonym "Ata Tana "Ai" means "People of the Forest Land," an appellation used both by the Ata Tana 'Ai themselves and by other people of eastern and east central Flores.

Location. The Ata Tana 'Ai inhabit a region known as Tana 'Ai in the eastern part of the administrative regency of Kabupaten Sikka on the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia. The eastern wall of the Tana 'Ai valley is a range of mountains that runs north and south across the island and rises to the peak of Ili Wukoh (1,446 meters). To the west, Tana 'Ai is bounded by a series of high, broken, and rugged ridges that rise to Mapi (called "Ili Egon" by the central Sikkanese), an active volcano with an elevation of 1,704 meters. Almost the whole of the Tana 'Ai region lies in the catchment of Napun Geté ("Big River" or "Big Valley"), a river that rises at the southern watershed of the island and flows northward to empty into the Flores Sea. Climax vegetation is principally deciduous, with eucalyptus forests altered through the horticulture of the valley's inhabitants. The climate of Tana 'Ai is mild, with distinct rainy and dry seasons. Rains usually begin in November or December. The heaviest rainfall, often accompanied by storms, occurs in January and February. Rainfall decreases steadily from March to May and is rare between July and the beginning of the first intermittent and light precipitation in mid- or late October. In each year between 1977 and 1989 the valley received in excess of 125 centimeters of rain.

Demography. The national census of 1980 put the total population of the regency of Sikka at 219,650. This number includes approximately 175,000 people who speak Sara Sikka, the Sikkanese language. The population of the Tana 'Ai region is approximately 8,000 people.

Linguistic Affiliation. Sara (way, language) Tana 'Ai is a dialect of Sara Sikka, an Austronesian language that Wurm and Hattori (1983) include in the Flores-Lembata (Lomblen) Subgroup, Timor Area Group of the Austronesian languages of the Lesser Sunda Islands and Timor. At least three dialects of Sara Sikka can be recognized: (1) that spoken by the people in the region of Sikka N atar, the village of Sikka on the south coast of Flores, from which the administrative regency takes its name; (2) Sara Krowé, which is spoken in the central hills of the regency of Sikka; and (3) Sara Tana 'Ai, which is spoken by approximately 6,000 people.