<div dir="ltr"><h1 style="font-size:40px;line-height:40px;margin-bottom:20px;margin-top:20px;font-weight:bold">The hegemonic force of <br>Indonesian</h1><p>In commemorating the Youth Pledge, which falls on Oct. 28, we
first need to contemplate the role of Indonesian as a unifying language,
promulgated in the historic event of 1928.<br><br>Since then, the
language has achieved its status as both the national and official
language of Indonesia. Also, it has become the lingua franca of peoples
in diverse regions in the archipelago.<br><br>This tremendous
development, due to conflicts initiated by Indonesian scholars
affiliating themselves in diverse language ideologies and schools of
thought, Indonesian has the added functions of being a lingua academica
(a medium of instruction in schools), lingua cultura (as a medium of
promoting cultural products) and lingua emotiva (as a medium of
self-expression in works of arts like popular music). <br><br>To be
fair, this development cannot be separated from the past language
cultivation program feverishly carried out by the Indonesian Language
Center and from language contacts that contributed to the modernization
of Indonesian. Yet, the use of the language has been abused by the
elites, being imposed on language users from diverse regions through
legislation or formal language policy. <br><br>A recent case in point is
the formulation of 30 recommendations on the status and functions of
the Indonesian language declared in the Congress of Bahasa Indonesia in
2013. <br><br>Of these recommendations, none touched on the current status and functions of heritage languages. <br><br>Given
that the country is blessed with a wealth of living heritage languages,
the elevation of the national language to a national level of
importance in the name of unity in diversity reflects the hegemony of a
common language (the national language). <br><br>In the context of a
multilingual and multicultural nation-state like Indonesia, the slogan
“unity in diversity” does more harm than good, as it may lead to the
destruction of the rich linguistic and cultural ecologies that the
country possesses. <br><br>With this in mind, the promotion of the
Indonesian language as the language of unity among people is motivated
by the ideology of political nationalism, rather than by the spirit of
multilingualism that is vibrant among the grass roots in many regions
across the archipelago.<br><br>More pluralist-oriented scholars have
warned against the hegemony of the national language over hundreds of
heritage languages, the majority of which are on the brink of
extinction. <br><br>Ascribing the disappearance of the latter to the
increased use of the former, they advise that language policy and
planning activities be more inclusive, to embrace the interests of those
who are still ardently preserving their heritage languages through
either formal documentation practices or informal everyday linguistic
practices. <br><br>The pressure of safeguarding heritage languages
emanates from both internal and external factors; that is, it is due to
the effects of globalization where English becomes the dominant lingua
franca trans-nationally, as well as due to the imposition of using the Indonesian language in almost all domains of life.<br><br>In
the context of globalization, external pressure has often masked
internal pressure, thus giving the impression that the use of English as
a language of wider communication is the sole factor that causes
language shifts to occur. <br><br>It is English that is seen as having
an imperialistic force, gobbling up the world’s living languages and
language varieties. Yet, Indonesian also carries a powerful hegemonic
force always sustained through the feverish <br>campaign of the politics of nationalism — Indonesian as the language of unity. <br><br>In
hindsight, as Indonesian language planning became the exclusive
activity of the elites with no spaces given to language users to
participate, language policy was and now is created within the framework
of the politics of prescriptivism known popularly through the slogan
“Bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar” (correct and good use of
Indonesian).<br><br>It is important to highlight here that intellectual
endeavors to revitalize (as the 2013 Indonesian Language Congress did)
the slogan may no longer be germane in the emerging context of language
as an urban phenomenon known as “metrolingualism”, where people perform
mixed linguistic practices or do trans-languaging without being limited
by legal or formal regulation of language practices. <br><br>In such a
context, people show their resistance to prescriptivism and do
trans-languaging instead, crossing from one language or language
varieties to other languages. <br><br>A clear case in point is the
use of non-standard or low variety (e.g. Jakartan colloquial varieties)
of Indonesian, a variety deemed improper in certain contexts of use,
with a mixed flavor of English and even heritage languages. <br><br>While
the standard variety is considered too stilted and archaic, the
non-standard one prevails among young people living in urban spaces. It
is the widespread use of the non-standard variety that causes people
either to shift from their heritage languages or switch languages, with
the latter being the vibrant practice hitherto. </p><p>_______________ <br><br><strong>The use of the language has been abused by the elites, being imposed on language users from diverse regions through legislation.</strong><br><br>________________________ <br><br><em>The writer is an associate professor of applied linguistics at Atma Jaya Catholic University, Jakarta.</em></p><p><em><a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/10/28/the-hegemonic-force-indonesian.html">http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/10/28/the-hegemonic-force-indonesian.html</a><br></em></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************
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