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INDONESIA
“A new language
for a new nation”
James Sneddon
The Indonesian Language: Its history and role in
modern society
The history of the language
- Where: coastal plains of east and
southeast Sumatra, Malay Peninsula,
coastal areas of Borneo
- Who: seafarers, traders
- Usage: lingua franca, literary tradition
- 1928: declared the language of unity
- 1945: the national language
ASIAN COUNTRIES
COUNTRY LANGUAGES NATIONAL
LANGUAGE
INDIA 17 HINDI
INDONESIA 350 BAHASA
INDONESIA
BURMA At least 7 BURMESE
BRUNEI 3 MALAY
CAMBODIA At least 2 KHMER
LAOS At least 3 LAO
MALAYSIA At least 8 BAHASA
MALAYSIA
THE PHILIPPINES 10 FILIPINO and
ENGLISH
SINGAPORE At least 7 MALAY, ENGLISH,
MANDARIN, TAMIL
THAILAND At least 2 THAI
VIETNAM At least 5 VIETNAMESE
The standardisation
- 19th century: High Malay, or Riau Malay,
used in education; this was not spoken by the
common people
- By 1945: high or formal language used in
education, government business, the law,
mass media, and formal activities; low or
informal language used at home and in
informal social interaction
- Conclusion: “Formal Indonesian is expected
to be mastered by educated people and
proficiency in it is a mark of a person’s level
of education.”
Is standardisation good or
bad?
• Bahasa formal: used in formal events
• Bahasa sehari-hari (everyday language)
• Native speakers: 41% (1971) and 83%
(1990)
• Motto: Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in
Diversity)
The language family
• The Austronesian language family:
contains more than 1000 languages
• 20% of the 5000-6000 languages
estimated to be spoken in the world
• In the west: Madagascar
• In the east: Easter Island
• In the north: Taiwan and Hawaii
• In the south: New Zealand
The speakers
• Total speakers: 300 million
• Majority: in Indonesia and the
Philippines
• “25 Austronesian languages today have
more than a million speakers, all of
them spoken in the Southeast Asian
archipelago, with the exception of the
Malagasy language of Madagascar.”
First language speakers
• Javanese: the largest, with 75 million
speakers
• Sundanese: 28 million speakers
• Cebuano: 12 million speakers
• Tagalog: 11 million speakers
• Compare with: Samoan (200,000),
Fijian (200,000), Tongan (90,000), and
Tahitian (70,000)
The language of the colonial
power (p. 11-12)
MALAYSIAN INDONESIAN
MALAYSIAN INDONESIAN
Saya Mona.
Saya mahasiswa.
Apa kabar?
Baik. Mbak?
Kurang baik.
Saya capai.