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This paper aims to understand how speakers of Routa language retain their language, a language of the marginalized in Routa sub-district, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Routa language has long been in the category of ‘language at risk-, because the realm of its use is limited and the number of speakers is smaller than the other languages that exist in the community. The language even gets into the endangered category (disappearing) when viewed from the perspective of the dwindling number of native speakers from generation to generation. Currently, Routa language is not passed on by the older to the younger generation, so in this situation, the language can also be categorized as a language that is in mortal danger (moribund). This study applied ethnographic and sociolinguistic approaches by applying several methods of collecting relevant data such as participant observation, questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions. The results of this study indicate that the competition of the local languages that occur in the region has led to a dramatically decreased use of Routa as the speakers switch to using other local languages such as Tolaki, Bugis and Toraja. Routa speakers only use the language in a restricted environment only within the family of three generation.