BAHASA

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

suitcase beg kopor (koffer)

tire tayar ban (band)

bicycle basikal sepeda

(velocipede)
ticket tiket karcis (kaartjes)
 The English and Dutch
influence (p. 12)
MALAYSIAN INDONESIAN

police polis polisi (politie)

policy polisi polis (polis)

television televisyen televisi

(televisie)
August Ogos Agustus
(Augustus)
 Other borrowings (p. 12)

MALAYSIAN INDONESIAN

towel Tuala handuk (Dutch)

(Portuguese)
Christmas Kerismas Natal
(English) (Portuguese)
room bilik (Malay) kamar (Dutch)

file fail (English) berkas (Malay)

 LET’S PRACTICE!

Saya Mona.

Nama saya Andrew.

Saya mahasiswa.

Saya belajar budaya

Indonesia.
Nama Anda?
 LET’S PRACTICE!

Saya suka pizza.

Mbak suka apa?

Saya dari New York.

Mas dari mana?

Mbak mahasiswa juga?

 LET’S PRACTICE!

Apa kabar?

Baik. Mbak?

Saya baik juga.

Kurang baik.

Saya capai.