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Indonesia Language
The major languages of Indonesia are Austronesian.
Austronesian
is a family of agglutinative languages spoken in the area
bounded
by Madagascar in the western Indian Ocean and Easter
Island in the
eastern Pacific Ocean. There is a considerable diversity
in the
languages used in Indonesia. No less than 669
languages--the vast
majority are Austronesian, the rest are Papuan and found
in parts
of Timor, Irian Jaya, and Halmahera--have been accounted
for.
Based on very rough estimates that cannot be adequately
validated, the primary languages spoken by 1 million or
more people
included Javanese (70 million), Sundanese (25 million),
Malay (10
million), Madurese (9 million), Minangkabau (7.5 million),
Bahasa Indonesia
(or Indonesian, 6.7 million; see Glossary),
Balinese (3
million), Buginese (2.5 million), Acehnese (2.2 million),
Toba
Batak (2 million), Banjarese (1.8 million), Makassarese
(1.5
million), Sasak (1.5 million), Lampung (1.5 million),
Dairi Batak
(1.2 million), and Rejang (1 million). Additionally, some
2 million
inhabitants also spoke one of several dialects of Chinese.
Perhaps the central feature of the Indonesian national
culture
in the late twentieth century was the Indonesian language.
Malay
was used for centuries as a lingua franca in many parts of
the
archipelago. The term Bahasa Indonesia, which refers to a
modified
form of Malay, was coined by Indonesian nationalists in
1928 and
became a symbol of national unity during the struggle for
independence
(see
The National Revolution, 1945-50
, ch.
1). Bahasa
Indonesia was spoken in more than 90 percent of households
in
Jakarta, but outside the capital only 10 to 15 percent of
the
population spoke the language at home. In Javanese areas,
only 1 to
5 percent of the people spoke Bahasa Indonesia in the
home.
Nationwide, however, some 6.7 million Indonesians used
Bahasa
Indonesia as a primary language while more than 100
million others
used it as a secondary language. In the early 1990s, it
was
primarily the language of government bureaucracy, schools,
national
print and electronic media, and interethnic communication.
In many
provinces, it was the language of communication between
Chinese
shopkeepers and their non-Chinese patrons.
Although Bahasa Indonesia is infused with highly
distinctive
accents in some regions (particularly in Maluku, parts of
Nusa
Tenggara, and in Jakarta), there are many similarities in
patterns
of use across the archipelago. One widespread feature
concerns the
variations in speech use depending on the rank or status
of the
speaking partner. This feature is not as complex as that
found in
the elaborately hierarchical Javanese language, but it is
nonetheless important. Respected elders are typically
addressed in
kinship terms--bapak (father or elder) or
ibu
(mother). The use of second person pronouns in direct
address is
generally avoided in favor of more indirect references
unless
speaker and listeners are on intimate terms. There is also
a subtle
grading of terms employed when offering things to someone
and when
issuing directives. Different ways of saying "please [do
something]" for instance, vary in formality. When speaking
Indonesian, it is sometimes awkward to make direct
negations of
factual states, such as "I have no children" (saya
tidak punya
anak); it is preferable to treat certain events as
being in
process and therefore to say "not yet." In casual
contexts,
however, such as when speaking to cab drivers, street
peddlers, and
close friends, formal textbook Indonesian often gives way
to the
more ironic, sly, and earthy urban dialects.
Data as of November 1992
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