Shifting LanguagesIndonesian is the national language of a vast, plural nation state, the world's fourth-largest country with a population of over 200 million. Although its use is growing rapidly, and is now spoken by nearly everyone over the age of six, it has almost relatively few native speakers. This remarkable growth, unprecedented in the development world, is largely due to the forceful presence of state institutions that use, promote, and disseminate a language first introduced by the Dutch colonial administration. Joseph Errington's third book on language in Indonesia is a detailed analysis of 'shifting languages' in two small Javanese communities. A key figure in this area of research, he examines changing conversation practices in relation to questions of ethnicity, nationalism, and political culture. Errington concludes that the Javanese story has theoretical implications beyond the two villages to other parts of Indonesia, South East Asia, and to the developing world in general. |
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acts appears aspects authority become bilingual broad broader broadly called chapter code switching communities comparative considered context contrast conversational count culture described discourse discussed distinct dynamics effects elements elite ethnic event example exemplary feel figure framed function grounded Gudhangan hand helps high básá ideology Indonesian instance institutional interactional interpretive Java Javanese kin term kind kuwi language least less linguistic low básá Malay marked means mediate Mulih native nčk ngoko official Order otherwise particular patterns phrase political practice present presupposed pronoun recorded reference relations relatively reported respect salience seems sense serve shaped shifting significances situated sketch social speakers speaking speech modeling speech styles standard status strategy structural style subjective suggests syncretic talk territorial thought traditional turn understandings urban usage utterance village wong