Rafferty, Languages of The Chinese of Java

Languages of the Chinese of Java--An Historical Review
Author(s): Ellen Rafferty

Source: The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Feb., 1984), pp. 247-272
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
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VOL. XLIII, No.
JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES
FEBRUARY 1984
Languagesof the Chinese of Java

An Historical Review
ELLEN RAFFERTY
he history of Chinese contact with insular Southeast Asia dates from the first
century A.D., but the Chinese traders did not begin to settle on the north coast
of Java and establish their own distinctive Peranakancommunities until the thirteenth
century. Peranakanidentifies a person of mixed blood, and in Dutch colonial times the
term was used to refer to anyone of mixed racial ancestry.Thus there were Peranakan
Dutch as well as Peranakan Chinese. Originally Peranakan Chinese were the
descendants of Chinese men who had settled in Indonesia and married local women.
Today the term Peranakanhas taken on a sociocultural meaning; it refers to those
Chinese who are no longer culturally oriented toward China and who do not speak a
Chinese language at home. Although it is impossible to determine the exact number
of Chinese living in Indonesia today (the last census to enumerate residents according
to race was in 1930), at least 1,370,000 PeranakanChinese lived on Java in 1983.2
The loss of competence in Chinese languages and the adoption of the lingua franca
(Low Malay) as well as regional languages (primarilyJavanese)have been and still are
the distinguishing characteristicsof the PeranakanChinese of Java.3 In colonial times,
Low Malay was primarily an oral, nonstandard language with many dialectical
variants contrasting with High Malay, which was the prestigious language of the
Malay courts and literature. Low Malay was commonly used in interethnic communication and trade from the time of the Sriwijaya Empire (from the sixth to the
Ellen Rafferty is Assistant Professor, Department of South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
This article is based on research on the languages of the PeranakanChinese conducted in the
district of Malang, East Java, during the years
1975-1976, with financial support from the Social
Science ResearchCouncil, Foreign Area Fellowship,
Fulbright Hays research grant no. GOO-75Q17 12, and on research conducted in Yogyakarta,
CentralJava, in 1980, with support from Fulbright
Hays research grant no. 3004210. The author is
grateful to the Indonesians who made the research
possible, in particularto the members of the government research board Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan
Indonesia, to informants who welcomed her into
their homes, and to her researchassistants. She also
expressesgratitude toJohn U. Wolff andJean Taylor
who commented on an earlierversion of this article.
l In this article Peranakanrefersto the Chinesc
Peranakanunless otherwise stated.
2 This estimate is based on a yearly 2 percent
increase in the 1930 census figure of 1.2 million
Chinese in Indonesia (see Mabbett 1972). The 2

percent per year increase is a conservative estimate;
the country increase per year from 197 1 to 1980
was 2.34 percent. Following Skinner (1963:99), I
estimate that 50 percent of the Chinese of Indonesia
live on Java, and that at least 80 percent of these
Chinese are Peranakanbecause in 1930 79 percent
of the Chinese of Java had been born in Indonesia
(Skinner 1958:3). PeranakanChinese are not equivalent to locally born Chinese: many locally born
Chinese maintain a Chinese-language and cultural
orientation toward China, but the tendency is for
the second and third generations to become more
and more oriented toward the local culture. It is
assumed here that the percentage of Totok (Chinese
culturally oriented toward China) did not increase
after 1930 because there has been no significant
immigration of Chinese since then.
3 For a general discussion of the Chinese of
Java, see Skinner (1958, 1963), Suryadinata(1978
a, b, c), Purcell (1965), Willmott (1960), Mackie
(1976), and Mabbett (1972).
247
248
ELLEN RAFFERTY
twelfth century) to the time of Indonesian independence in 1945, when Indonesian

replaced Malay (Alisjahbana 1956, Teeuw 1969:64).4
This use of the local languages, Low Malay and Javanese, might appear on the
surfaceto be the perfect example of radical linguistic assimilation, yet investigation of
the language repertoireof the Peranakanof Java today revealsa repertoiresignificantly
different from that of the Javanese. The Javanese use standard Indonesian for their
primary written language and for many formal speaking situations, especially those
situations involving governmental and educational institutions. For all other formal
and informal occasions High and Low Javanese (Ngoko) are used.5 The Peranakan
Chinese living in Javanese-speaking areas likewise use standard Indonesian for their
primary written language and for most formal speaking situations, and they use
Ngoko but not High Javanese when speaking with Javanese acquaintances. More
significantly however, the PeranakanChinese speak a hybrid language that combines
Indonesian and Ngoko as the language of their homes.6 This hybrid language is
referred to as Indonesianized-Javanesebecause the language is morphosyntactically
based on Javanese.7 The linguistic history of the Chinese of Java-from a restricted
repertoireof Low Malay and Javaneseto a more diversified repertoireof Dutch, various
Chinese languages, Javaneseand literary Low Malay,and finally to their contemporary
repertoire of standard Indonesian, colloquial Indonesianized-Javanese, and Ngoko
-covers centuries of shifting political power and offersthe historian and sociolinguist
a glimpse at processes of social change within the Peranakancommunity in particular
and within Javanese society more generally.
Historically the process of shifting language loyalties of the PeranakanChinese
demonstrates linguistic assimilation to the Javanese, Coastal Malay,and, later, Dutch
and Chinese cultures of Java. The Chinese of Java spoke only Low Malay and Ngoko
and had no written language from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century (Skinner
1958:2; Purcell 1965:413-14). There were, of course, a few Chinese throughout
their history who participated in the Javanese literary arts,8 but it was not until the
mid-nineteenth century that literacy in Chinese (Hokkien and later Mandarin),
4 The change from Malay to Indonesian was
primarily a name change, although until the time
of independence the Low Malay of Indonesia was
undergoing rapid standardization that allowed for
influences from local Indonesian languages. During
the postindependence period, change continues to
occur, but more slowly. Malay and Indonesian today
are mutually intelligible and thus considered as one
language; differencesreflect dialectal variation. The
establishment of national boundaries has encouraged the process of standardization to occur independently in Malaysia and Indonesia, although in
recent years there have been efforts to establish
common usages.
5 Low Javanese or Ngoko is the language level
used with social equals and those of lower social
status. High Javanese is the level of language used
with elders and those of higher social status in order
to show respect and deference. Both levels are used
in oral or written language when an appropriate
situation arises. Since Low Malay and Low Javanese
do not have parallel functions, I will use the term
Ngoko to refer to Low Javanese.
6 The dialect Indonesianized-Javanesedescribed
here is spoken in Central and East Java with some
regional variations. Note that the Javanese used is
Ngoko, not High Javanese. For further discussion

of this language, see Dreyfuss and Oka (1979),
Rafferty(1982), Wolff and Poedjosoedarmo(1982),
and Poedjosoedarmo (1978).
7 Dreyfuss and Oka (1979) and Rafferty(1982)
refer to this dialect as Chinese-Indonesian, emphasizing its Indonesian elements, while Wolff and
Poedjosoedarmo(1982) label it a dialect ofJavanese,
focusing on the Javanese elements. The difference
in perspective may be explained by the fact that
Wolff and Poedjosoedarmoconducted their research
in Central Java, where the influence of Javanese is
strong, and Oka, Dreyfuss, and Rafferty worked in
EastJava, where the influence of Indonesian is more
prominent.
8 There is evidence that the Chinese participated in High Javanese language and culture, patronizing Javanese arts and literature (Pigeaud
1967:258-59; Salmon 1981:15; Ras 1976:60).
However, given the lack of educational facilities,
the number of Chinese able to participate in the
literary arts was certainly small. Although most
Chinese were illiterate in the second half of the
nineteenth century, a few Chinese scholars began
translating Chinese literature into Javanese and
Malay (Schlegel 1891:148-5 1).
LANGUAGES
OF THE CHINESE
Table 1.-Language
Domains of
Language Use
249
OF JAVA
Use in the Netherlands Indies and Indonesia
Before 1800
1880-1945
After 1945
Low Malay,
Ngoko
Ngoko,
Low Malay
Low Malay,
Ngoko
Ngoko,
Low Malay
IndonesianizedJavanese
Ngoko, Indonesianized-
Low Malay
Standard Indonesian
Standard Indonesian
1800-1880
PERANAKAN
Low Malay,
Javanese
Local/Regional Javanese,
Low Malay
Home
Javanese
Extralocal
Low Malay
Low Malay
Written
None
Some Javanese Low Malay

DUTCH
Home
Low Malay
Local/Regional Low Malay

Low Malay
Extralocal
Written
Dutch, some
Low Malay
Low Malay
Low Malay
Low Malay
Low Malay,
Dutch
Low Malay,
Dutch
Low Malay
Low Malay
Low Malay,
Dutch
Not present
Javanese
Javanese
Standard Indonesian
Standard Indonesian,
Not present
Not present
Not present
JAVANESE
Javanese
Home
Local/Regional Javanese
Low Malay
Extralocal
Javanese
Javanese
Low Malay
Javanese
Javanese
Low Malay
Written
Javanese
Javanese,
Low Malay
Javanese
Javanese
Ngoko is Low Javanese; see n. 5.
This table identifies the most characteristic languages and is thus not meant to be a comprehensive
presentation of all languages used within a community.
NOTES:
Malay,and Dutch became available through formal education to some of the Chinese
population in Java (Suryadinata 1978:4-7; Purcell 1965 451-57; Furnivall 1930:
364-70). I propose that a break in the type of linguibcic assimilation that had
characterizedthe Chinese of Java for more than four centuries occurred around 1945
with the emergence of an Indonesianized-Javanesedialect particular to the Chinese.
The transition from a Low Malay and Javanese repertoireto one that includes Ngoko,
Indonesianized-Javanese,and standardIndonesian has allowed the Chinese to establish
their own distinctive dialect, not spoken by the Javanese, by combining Ngoko and
Indonesianat the morphemic level. In contrast, when Javanesemix the two languages,
they insert Javanese words or phrases but not morphemes into Indonesian discourse.
250
ELLEN RAFFERTY
(See Rafferty 1981, Dreyfuss and Oka 1979, and Wolff and Poedjosoedarmo 1982
for a discussion of the differencesin the two types of mixing.) This process of creating
this dialect is not analogous to the usual process of acculturation whereby local
elements and elements of an intruding culture interact to produce a new cultural
system; rather it is a reworking of indigenous systems (Indonesian and Javanese
languages) into a new form.9
Table 1 summarizes the linguistic repertoires of the Peranakan, Dutch, and
Javanese communities over the last few centuries.
Historical Outline
Although the Chinese had visited Java from at least A.D. 400, historical evidence
of the first permanent settlements in cities along the north coast of Java does not
appear until the thirteenth century.10 These incipient communities primarily of
Hokkien speakers received an influx of new members in 1292, when Emperor
Khubilai's expeditionary force to the court of Kertanegarain East Java (20,000 men)
met defeat, and remnants of the army settled permanently on Java (Cator 1936:3;
Williams 1960:1). Contacts were frequent between Java and Fukien province from
the thirteenth century onward, allowing Grisek and Surabayato develop important
Chinese settlements by 141 1. Laterother north-coastcities-such as Tuban, Bantam,
and Jacatra-all had prosperous Chinese sectors (Cator 1936:3-6). Chinese settlements in port cities were nucleated in sections close to the harbor,where the all-male
immigrants took native wives and created the Chinese Peranakancommunities.
Languagesof the Early ChineseCommunities
It is difficult to determine precisely what languages were spoken by the Chinese
when they began settling on Java, but most sources agree that Low Malay was spoken
by early traders throughout insular Southeast Asia (Purcell 1965:413, 414; Skinner
1958:2; Shellabear 1913:49-63). Certainly Malay was the established lingua franca
during the Sriwijaya Empire; thus one must assume that the Chinese who were
involved in trade during that period spoke Malay (Alisjahbana 1956:6; Teeuw
1979:4-5).
The Malay language of trade and interethnic communication was not a uniform
language; it was a set of related dialects, each of which was adapted to the local and
foreign languages in the environment. This variability is evidenced in the earliest
Malay word-list made by Pigafetta in 1521, which includes items from several
regional languages (Blagden 1931:136) and shows influences from Chinese as well
(Drewes 1929:136).
After the arrival of the Dutch, Low Malay became the language of the colonial
administration as well as the language of Chinese working as intermediaries between
the Dutch and the local populations. Evidence concerning the extent of Malay and
local-language use (Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese) by the Chinese prior to the
twentieth century is sketchy. It has been suggested by Skinner (1958:2) that the use of
9 Acculturation is the process whereby two or
more cultures or symbol systems come into contact
and interact to produce a new symbol system with
elements from both of the original systems. In the
Peranakan situations, the Chinese had lost their
own Chinese language before the mixing of the two
systems occurred, thus the mixing is not an example of acculturation (see Herskovits 1958).
10 See Cator (1936:1) and Krom (1931:10918); Krom estimates that the Chinese have been
coming to the Indonesian archipelago since the first
century A.D.
LANGUAGES
OF THE CHINESE
OF JAVA
251
local languages increased in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as larger
Chinese communities developed in the interior. This may be true in West Java, which
was not opened to the Chinese until 1870, but does not appearto be so for the rest of
Java. In 1920, the distribution of language use on Java did not divide Java into coastal
and interior sections, but rather into western, central, and eastern areas. Local
languages were most widely used by the Chinese in CentralJava and the two adjacent
residencies, Cheribon and Rembang, and Malay was more widely used in the west of
Java (south and west of Cheribon) and in East Java (excluding Madura) (Coppel
1973:156). Despite some movement into the interior of Java, the Chinese remained a
predominantly urban population throughout their history. Figures from 1900 show
that about half of the 277,000 Chinese of Java resided in the three major north-coast
cities of Batavia, Semarang, and Surabaya(Dahm 197 1:11). In 1920, after restrictions
on residence had been lifted, still about 50 percent of the Chinese lived in the major
cities and towns of Java (Somers 1964:2).
It may be assumed that the Chinese learned to speak all languages that were useful
and accessible to them, and they chose as their home language, the most prestigious
one. Since Javanesewas the most prestigious language throughout most of Java until
1830 (the beginning of the Culture System), when Malay and Dutch began to gain
prestige, one may conclude that many Chinese spoke Javanese in the home and Low
Malay for business and interethnic communication during the eighteenth century.
Rather than finding an increase in the use of Javanese among the Chinese in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, I propose that there was a decline in its use
as the home language of the Peranakanconcurrent with the decline in economic and
political power of the Javanese. As Dutch and Malay became more powerful and
prestigious after 1830, the home language of the Peranakanmust have shifted away
from Javanese toward Malay in most cases and toward Dutch among the few elite.
Although research on the linguistic repertoire of the Peranakan of the twentieth
century reports competence in both Low Malay and local languages (Tio 1959:16;
Nio 1955:301-4), it is the Low Malay that is repeatedly identified as the language of
the Peranakan (Teeuw 1969:47; Alisjahbana 1957:55-61). Nio states, "Bahasa
pergaulan orang Tionghoa Peranakanadalah Bahasa Melayu Rendah" [The conversational language of the PeranakanChinese is Low Malay) (1962:14). Because of the
prominence given to Low Malay as the language characteristicof the Peranakanof Java
in this century and because of the evidence showing Low Malay to be the language of
trade and interethnic contact in prior centuries, one may conclude that throughout
their history the predominantly urban Peranakancommunity spoke a Low Malay
dialect as well as a local language, usually Javanese.
Finally mention should be made of the role that Chinese languages played in the
early Peranakan communities on Java. Most members of the merchant class of
Hokkien immigrants during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had had some
education, and attempts were made to maintain competence in spoken and written
Chinese (Purcell 1965 :452). Generally speaking, however, the majority of Peranakan
did not maintain their language for only the elite were able to hire tutors from China.
Only after 1875 did Hokkien-language schools become popular in Indonesia, and
217 such schools were operating in Java and Madura by 1899 (Suryadinata 1978:3;
Somers 1965:48; Purcell 1965:451-57).
Let me pause before leaving this section on the languages of the Chinese to define
a few terms that will be used in the remainder of this article.
It is appropriate on linguistic grounds to divide Java into three areas. The first
areais Batavia, which is unique in that it has no local language besides the distinctive
252
ELLEN RAFFERTY
Low Malay called Batavian Malay that developed there during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. The rest of the island may be divided into the Javanese- and
Sundanese-speaking areas, where the Chinese learned both Low Malay and the local
language. In the literature there is considerableambiguity in the use of the terms Low
Malay, Batavian Malay, Chinese Malay, Officialese Malay, Riau Malay, High Malay,
standard Indonesian, and Jakartanese. In this paper, Low Malay is defined as the
spoken form of Malay that was used for interethnic communication from the time of
the Sriwijaya Empire until 1945. Low Malay is a generic term covering all the
varieties of colloquial Malay that existed throughout the archipelago for centuries;
thus Low Malay is not one coherent language system, but many. Batavian Malay or
Betawi is a Low Malay dialect that began in the multiethnic environment of Batavia
during the eighteenth century when the Dutch were importing slaves primarily from
eastern Indonesia, especially Bali. The dominant groups inhabiting Batavia during
the formation of this dialect were Balinese, Chinese, Malay, European, and a few
Javanese and Sundanese (Ikranegara 1980:1-2). The Betawi language is still spoken
by some Betawi people in Jakarta today, but it is rapidly being replaced by the
colloquial language, Jakartanese (Wallace 1977:27-33). ChineseMalay is the Low
Malay dialect spoken by the PeranakanChinese. The term ChineseMalay was first used
in the 1920s to distinguish the Low Malay of the Chinese from that of other ethnic
groups (Salmon 1981:115-17; Tio 1959:86-87). This language of the Chinese
varied from place to place on Java (Alisjahbana 1957:57); with the florescenceof the
Low Malay press at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Chinese Malay dialect
of Jakartabegan to dominate other varieties. Officialese
Malay or Foreigner's
Malay was
the Low Malay spoken by foreigners. Teeuw (1961:46) remarks that the distinctions
among Malay of Java, Malay of Jakarta, and the Malay of foreignersare far from clear.
In the texts for Europeans one finds both Java Malay and Jakarta Malay. As with all
varieties of Low Malay,that spoken by the Europeanexhibited a significant amount of
regional variation. Riau Malay is the literary Malay written in the Riau area during
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by writers such as Raja Ali Haji. This form of
Malay was regarded by the Dutch as the "pure" or correct variety of Malay, and it
often formed the basis for prescriptive grammars and attempts at standardization.
High Malay identifies any literary form of Malay and is associated with the premodern
period (prior to this century). Clearly, over centuries of literary tradition (from the
fourteenth century onward) in the Malay world, High Malay changed and developed
(Teeuw 1959:138-56). High Malay (like Low Malay)was not a single language system,
but many. Standaard
Indonesianis the language taught in schools in Indonesia and is
primarily a written language. It exhibits influences from both low and high forms of
Malay as well as influences from regional languages. Early in the independence period
the Minangkabau language was influential, whereas today Javanese plays a more
significant role in the development of Indonesian. Finally,Jakartanese is the colloquial
language spoken in Jakartasince the time of independence. It is the oral language that
has developed in the racially complex city of Jakarta based on Betawi with strong
influences from Javanese, Sundanese, and Indonesian (Wallace 1977:27-33).
Europeansand the Development
of Low Malay
Low Malay, which characterized the Chinese Peranakan community, was the
primary language of interethnic communication for Europeans in the archipelago
from the time of contact, and it later became the language of Dutch and Eurasian
homes as well as the language of Dutch administration (Hoffman 1979:65 -92; Taylor
LANGUAGES
OF THE CHINESE
OF JAVA
253
1975:80-96; Drewes 1929:153). At the time of Pigafetta'svisit to Southeast Asia in

1521, a Malay trade language was used throughout the area by Europeansand some
members of the local population. The Low Malay trade language at that time was not
generally spoken by the local populations; it was only the language of court scribes
and traders, who themselves often had but rudimentary competence in the language.
Blagden, commenting on two letters written in 1521 and 1522, notes that the scribes
who wrote them were not native speakers of Malay. The style and grammar of the
letters demonstrate an imperfect command of the Malay language and show
considerable influence from the local Ternatelanguage, which was structurally quite
different from the literary Malay of the Riau-Johore area (Blagden 1930-1932:
87- 10 1).
In 1596 when the Dutch arrived in the Indonesian archipelago, the Portuguese
had been there for almost a century (since 1511) and had established trade routes
between Malacca and the Moluccas. In both places a Malacca-variety of Malay
influenced by Portuguese developed. When the Dutch took the Moluccan islands in
1605, they tried to eradicate the Portuguese influence by converting the inhabitants
to Protestantism and by teaching Dutch; the latter goal proved too difficult. A
Portuguese-Malay creole was also well established in Batavia by the seventeenth
century, and it thrived throughout that century while the Dutch imported slaves who
alreadyspoke a Portuguese creole from Persia, India, and Malaysia. (For a description
of this language see Schuchardt 1890.) Thus, the common language among many
residents of Batavia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was a PortugueseMalay creole, which for a time vied with both Dutch and Malay as the language of
interethnic communication. This Portuguese-Malay creole rapidly declined in
prominence after 1800 due to the cessation of the slave trade with creole-speaking
areas, and gradually it gave way to local varieties of Low Malay in Batavia and in the
Moluccas (Hancock 1972:549-54, 1975:211-36; Drewes 1929:137-39).
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Dutch-unsatisfied with
the prominence of a Portuguese creole as the lingua franca-tried to teach Dutch to
those with whom they associated (wives, children, and slaves). The greatest efforts
were made in Batavia and the Moluccas, but it soon became clear that the teaching of
Dutch presented too great a task for the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde
Oost-Indische Compagnie [VOC}). The job was particularlydifficult because most of
the Dutchmen who had come to the Indies before 1850 had married local or Eurasian
women who did not speak Dutch, and consequently they made Low Malay the
language of their homes. With the opening of the Suez Canal (1869) more Dutch
women accompanied their husbands to the East Indies, and the Dutch language was
used more often in the home. In spite of improved transport, however, a majority of
the 62,000 Europeans living on Java in 1900 were Eurasian (Dahm 197 1:11;
Furnivall 1939:212), indicating the continuing importance of Low Malay in the
Dutch/Eurasian community on Java.
From the beginning of the Dutch colonial period in the early seventeenth century,
Malay texts (hymns, catechisms, dictionaries) were published in Holland for use in
the Indies (Chijs, van der 1875). The Dutch East India Company was interested in
developing Malay in an effort to achieve unity and to increase efficiency of communication in the archipelago. It commissioned the Malay translation of the bible by
Leydekker and Werndly, published in 1735, and the Werndly Malay grammar,
published in 1736. Both books were written in Riau-style High Malay in an effort to
achieve unity through the dissemination of a "pure"Malay.The bible, which was not
understood by the local people because the High Malay was strongly influenced by
254
ELLEN RAFFERTY
Arabic, was followed by an explanatorydictionary of Arabic terms, published in 1743

(Hoffman 1979:65-92). Malay was soon thought of as the language of the Dutch
because of their interest in its development and standardization. Malay tended to
follow the economic and political interests of the Dutch throughout the archipelago,
but not all Dutchmen agreed that High Malay was the correct language choice. Many,
most notably Valentyn, argued that Low Malay was more appropriatein dealing with
the local populations because of its flexibility and adaptability to local needs.
Valentyn continued using Low Malay in his missionary work in Ambon despite
pressure from the Dutch East India Company to promote High Malay (Hoffman
1979:68-70).
After 1850, the debate over High versus Low Malay became academic; Dutch
interests expanded and shifted from the eastern islands of the archipelago to Java,
where Low Malay was the only expedient mode of communication. Dutch linguistic
interests turned from "pure" Malay to Javanese studies, and Dutch programs were
established to teach Javanese. These programs were never very successful, and
administrators continued to rely on Low Malay or what was often referred to as
"Officialese Malay" to communicate with the Javanese.
Acculturationof the PeranakanChineseofJava
As Malay grew in importance during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the
small Chinese population grew slowly-perhaps by only one thousand a year.In 1800
there were an estimated 100,000 Chinese on Java, and by 1860 there were 150,000
Chinese. The Peranakanculture of Java must have stabilized about 1800 as the Chinese
established an economic and cultural niche between the Dutch and the local
population. Prior to the nineteenth century, Peranakanculture was open in the sense
that individuals might pass through it before being assimilated to the local culture
(e.g., Javanese culture).
The existence of an assimilative process is supported by evidence of conversions to
Islam from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century (The 1965:69; Salmon 1981:
15-16), although Richlefs notes that some Chinese may have been Moslems before
coming to Java (1981:6). Although conversions to the Islamic religion immediately
following the 1740 massacre of the Chinese of Batavia and at other politically
unstable times were probably more for reasons of economy and security than for
religious or cultural reasons, in any case the Chinese were seeking refuge under an
umbrella of cultural identity with the local population (Blusse 1981:159-78). Other
evidence of assimilation to local Javaneseculture is indicated by Chinese participation
in Javanese arts. l
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, interest in assimilation had
declined. The change in the meaning of the term Peranakanaround 1828 indicates a
growing disinterest on the part of the Chinese in the religion and culture of the local
population. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the term Peranakan
Tionghoa identified a Chinese male convert to Islam. The Moslem Chinese were
originally part of the Indonesian community, but from 1766 to 1828 they were
considered a separategroup within the Indonesian community with their own leaders.
Then, with the abolition of the head tax on the Chinese in 1828, the number of
converts to Islam decreased, and thereafterthe term Peranakanidentified non-Moslem
" See n. 8.
LANGUAGES
OF THE CHINESE
OF JAVA
255
Chinese. Those few who converted to Islam after this time were assimilated into
Indonesian society and presumably were no longer identified as Chinese (Milone
1966: 200-12).
The evidence above indicates that between 1750 and 1828 assimilation of Chinese
to Javanesesociety was slowing down considerably.The division between the Chinese
and the Javanese widened throughout the eighteenth century, to a large extent
because of the economic niche the Chinese were offered by the Dutch. By 1750, the
Chinese were established as the middlemen of Java and an integral part of the Dutch
colonial system. The division between the Chinese and Javanese became more pronounced during the nineteenth century as the Chinese gained higher economic and
social standing through their alliance with the Dutch. Chinese desire to assimilate to
Javanese culture declined with the decline in status and real power of the Javanese
elite (The 1965:76-77; Skinner 1958:8). Diponegoro's order during the 1825
rebellion against the Dutch that all Chinese who did not convert to Islam were to be
killed was evidence of the growing rift. The end of any real assimilation to Javanese
culture by the Chinese may be associated with the beginning of the Culture System in
1830, when Dutch economic and political control over ruralJava increased and the
Chinese were given a profitable economic niche as revenue collectors. Peranakan
society became endogamous and therefore Skinner (1959:8) has referredto it as an
assimilation trap. Certainly by the mid-nineteenth century PeranakanChinese and
Javanesesocieties were distinct with their own religious and other cultural symbols.
Literacyin Low Malay
As the Chinese were drifting away from Javanese society, the social distance
between the Chinese and the Dutch was strictly maintained. The Dutch language was
reserved for Europeans until late in the nineteenth century, thus encouraging the
Chinese community to seek literacy in Malay. It was not until the mid-nineteenth
century that Low Malay began to be used as a literary language-not only by the
Dutch and Eurasians living in the Indies but also by the Chinese and indigenous
peoples as well. The rise in status of Low Malay from a language that was primarily
oral to a written one was mainly the result of liberalizing policies in Holland in the
mid-nineteenth century, which permitted the establishment of a Malay press in
the Indies and the opening of educational facilities in the Indies for Chinese and native
children (Suryadinata 1978c: 130). Although Dutch government schools opened their
doors in 1864 to indigenous and Chinese children, few were able to gain entrance
because the demand for education far exceeded the resources of the schools. In the
nineteenth century, Chinese children were more likely to obtain formal, Western-style
education in Malay or sometimes in Dutch (both in roman script) in schools
established by missionaries or retired Dutch officers than in government schools.
Equally significant as the establishment of schools for the development of a
literary Low Malay was the establishment of a Malay press in 1856 by the Dutch/
Eurasiancommunity, after the relaxation of press regulations in Holland. The first
Peranakan,Low Malay newspaper, Li Po, was printed in 1901 in Sukabumi, West
Java, and soon thereafter control of the Low Malay press was transferredfrom the
Dutch/Eurasian community to the Peranakancommunity. The growing desire for
literacy within the Peranakancommunity in Java during the period from 1880 to
1920 was evidenced by a profusion of publishing houses. Numerous publications
written in Low Malay-ranging from translations of Confucian texts to Chinese
256
ELLEN RAFFERTY
history, Western literature, and original novels set in Java-appeared at the turn of
the twentieth century. Peranakanwere not only interested in learning about the West
but also about their own cultural background.
Prior to 1880 Peranakan Chinese of the Javanese-speaking areas frequently
published in Javanese, and at the beginning of the twentieth century a few presses
still published in Javanese for the Chinese community (Salmon 1981:102). To
facilitate communication with other areas of Indonesia and to compete with the
burgeoning press of Batavia and West Java, Malay was soon adopted as the literary
language of all Peranakan communities of Java. In 1900, Batavia was clearly the
leader in the publication of Low Malay literature, closely followed by Surabaya,
Bandung, and Semarang. In 1900, less than half of the Malay publishers were in
Central and East Java, but the percentage had increased to 80 percent by 1923. Low
Malay was popular not only in the cities of the north coast but in the communities of
the interior as well. Thirteen cities in East and Central Java- including smaller cities
such as Bondowoso, Malang, Blitar, Kediri, Bandil, Mojokerto, Madiun, and Solo
-had publishing houses (Salmon 1981:100-13). By this time, Low Malay,a written
form of a colloquial language, had clearly become. a popular spoken and literary
language throughout most of Java.
Although Low Malay was the medium of the popular press, it was not a
completely standardized language. Interest in its standardization and development
came from both the Dutch and Chinese communities. The first grammar of Malay as
spoken on Java was written in 1884 by a Peranakan Chinese, Lie Kim Hok
(1853-1912). He codified the Malay written by the missionaries of West Java, with
whom he had studied and worked (Salmon 1981:116). According to the Dutch, the
Malayof Java comparedpoorly with the Malayof Riau court society, most prominently
represented in the writings of Radja Ali Haji who published his Malay grammar,
Bustanu'Ikatibin,in 1857. Because Riau was an active center of the Malay literary arts
during the late nineteenth century, Riau Malay became the standard against which
the Dutch measured the quality of the Malay on Java (Teeuw 1961:43).
Although J. H. Abendanon, Director of Education, promoted the study of Dutch
among the Indonesian elite, he also acknowledged the pressing need for the
standardization of Low Malay, which was the medium of communication with the
masses. The Dutch Office of Education published a standardizedspelling-list compiled
by Van Ophuijsen in 1902; it was based on data gathered during his travels through
Riau and other native-Malay-speakingareas (Hoffman 1979:89).
Despite efforts to improve the Low Malay of Java, it flourished as the language of
the Peranakanpress in a nonstandard form. From approximately 1880 until 1925,
Low Malay was the most prominent language of newspapersand popular literature on
Java that reached a wide, ethnically diverse audience of Chinese, Dutch, Eurasian,
and indigenous populations. During the early years of the Malay press, these groups
worked together in the publishing houses to edit newspapersand to translateliterature
into Low Malay (Salmon 1981:31). The Dutch government reacted to the proliferation
of Low Malay literature with dismay and disappointment over the fact that the Dutch
presence had not produced any significant literary works in "pure" Malay (Teeuw
1961:46-47; Hoffman 1979:83-84). But the language debate now was not between
advocates of High and Low Malay; rather it was between those who advocated the
improvement and standardization of Low Malay, which was already widely known,
and those who urged the teaching of Dutch in order to impart some "culture"to the
elite of Indonesia. With the establishment of many new Dutch-language schools in
LANGUAGES
OF THE CHINESE
OF JAVA
257
the first few decades of this century, Dutch became the most prestigious language and
thus reduced the prestige derived from literacy in Malay.
As Dutch-language education became more widely available to all ethnic groups,
fluency in Dutch became a means to improved social and economic standing. Due to
limited educational facilities, however, many Chinese, Eurasians, and native Indonesians were unable to attain competence in Dutch, and they lost social ground in
relation to those who did gain such competence. Competition among the ethnic
groups increased as educational achievements rose within certain sectors of all ethnic
groups. By 1920 Eurasians had organized a union to protect their rights against
encroachment from educated Indonesians (Wertheim 1956:130). Many Eurasiansand
Chinese alike had to settle for literacy in Low Malay, and this accounted for the
continued popularity and prominence of the Low Malay press. Drewes notes that Low
Malay literature was primarily intended for the PeranakanDutch (Eurasian)of lower
social standing and for the PeranakanChinese (1981:99). Thus, although the Dutch
language became available to some during the early decades of this century, many
continued to have access to literacy only in Low Malay.
LinguisticCharacteristics
of Low Malay
Nonstandardized Low Malay of the turn of the century (1880-1920) exhibited
considerablevariation in the spelling of lexical items, morphology, and syntax. Since
this article considers only written Low Malay, I will not discuss its phonological
variation here. Typically Low Malay morphological and syntactic characteristics
appeared in texts where High Malay forms also appeared; as a consequence, the
linguistic situation may best be thought of as a continuum from a colloquial to a
literary language. Low Malay exhibits a combination of influences from Javanese,
Balinese (via Betawi), Dutch, and Chinese. The most prominent characteristicsthat
distinguish Low Malay from High Malay and standardIndonesianare discussed below.
Two prominent morphological characteristics found in the Low Malay texts are
the transitivizing suffixes -in and -ken. The -in suffix, which comes from Balinese via
Betawi, is used in place of the High Malay and standard Indonesian transitivizing
suffixes -kan and -i:
naik-ininsteadof naik-kanfor lift something
The -ken suffix is used instead of the -kan transitive and causative suffix of High
Malayand standardIndonesian and is derived from the Javanesetransitive suffix -aken:
salah-keninsteadof salah-kanfor wrong-causative= blame
The remaining six characteristics are syntactic constructions that are peculiar to
Low Malay and have affinities with various languages. The first example of these
syntactic constructions is the demonstrative
adjective+ noun:
itoewaktoeinsteadof waktuitu for at that time
In High Malay and standard Indonesian the order is reversed, that is, the noun is
followed by the demonstrative adjective. This construction in Low Malay may be a
result of influences from either Dutch or Chinese, both of which have the Low Malay
word order. Note that the pattern was not generalized to include all adjectives but
remained limited to the demonstrative adjectives.
258
ELLEN RAFFERTY
The second example of a Low Malay syntactic construction is possessor+ punya +

possessedfor the genitive construction:
saya punya ibu for I own mother
my mother
The similar genitive construction in High Malay and standard Indonesian is possessed
+ possessor.'
ibu saya for my mother
Some have suggested that the Low Malay construction reflects an influence from
Chinese or Balinese, both of which have the possessorand linking word (or morpheme)
followed by possessed word (Ikranegara 1980:139-40; Nio 1962:17). This word
order is also found in local languages of the Moluccas (Collins 1980:30-32; Nio
1962:17) and in the colloquial language of Malay speakers in Sumatra.12 Hancock
(1975) suggests that this form is a calque on the Portuguese-Malaycreole. This Low
Malay construction appears to be the result of a combination of influences, some of
which were probably stronger in certain areas of the archipelago than in others.
A third syntactic construction is ada + verb(or adjective):
ia ada djadi
kaponakanAli
he is becomenephew Ali = He is Ali's nephew.

Use of the copular verb is is sometimes found in High Malay before a verb but only
occasionally before an adjective. In contemporary standard Indonesian the copular
verb does not precede either the adjective or the verb, but only nouns and locative
phrases.
The fourth Low Malay construction is verb + verbto form a causative verb:
bikin jato
makefall
to causeto fall, to drop
High Malay and standard Indonesian use the suffix -kan to form this verb:
jatuh + kan
drop something = to drop something

Reduction of morphology in a grammar and its replacement by periphrasticconstructions is generally regarded as a simplifying mechanism in language. Perhapssecondlanguage speakers began using this construction merely to reduce morphological
processesor perhaps this construction shows an influence from Chinese languages that
do not use verbal morphology to form the causative verb.
The fifth syntactic construction characterizing Low Malay is the use of jang as a
conjunction as well as a relative pronoun:
pangeran-moebarangkalikira jang dia lebi senang. . .
prince-yourprobably think that he morehappy. . .

Yourprinceprobablythinksthatheis happier..
In High Malay and standard Indonesian jang is used only as a relative pronoun:
dia jang
duduk
he the one sit = He is the one sitting.
12 The information comes from unpublished

data gathered by Rafferty in 1981.
LANGUAGES
OF THE CHINESE
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OF JAVA
This construction shows the influence of Dutch, which also uses the relative pronoun
as a conjunction.
The sixth construction, boekancan be used as the negative particle before verbs
and adjectives in Low Malay:
boekan
dipaksa
not forced = was not forced
In High Malay and standard Indonesian on the other hand, boekanis used only to
negate nouns and complete sentences:
boekan
diajang main
not he who play = It is not he who is playing.
Much of the literature published in Java at the turn of the twentieth century may
be classified as Low Malay. Linguistically there is no distinction between the Low
Malay literature written by the Dutch/Eurasian writers and literature written by
Peranakan Chinese authors of that time. The excerpts below from Chinese and
Dutch/Eurasianauthors exemplify the Low Malay characteristicsdescribed above. The
choice of characteristicsfrom any one work does not imply that the other characteristics are not found in that work, merely that space is limited. All Low Malay
characteristicsare italicized.
The first five examples of Low Malay language come from Chinese Peranakan
sources.
From the story Siti Akbari by Peranakanauthor Lie Kim Hok (1884):
1. Plaboehannja
sebab bagoes
ada rame'.(p. 1)
harbor
because beautiful is busy
Becausethis is a good harbor,it is busy.
2. Itoesamoewa
adapetjah dan boekandjarang-djarang.
(p. 2)
that all
is brokenand not rarely
All of those things are frequentlybroken.
From the newspaper,Sin Po, published on July 1, 1914, in Batavia:
sampesekarangmasipegangterosia poenjadjabatan.
3. Itoe assistantwedono
that assistantofficeruntil now
still hold still he has office
That assistantdistrict chief is still in officenow.
From the newspaper,PewartaSoerbaia,published in Surabayaon August 1, 1914:
4. Herbertmembikin
senanghatinjakaupoenjanjonja.
Herbertmake happyheart you have wife
Herbertmakesyourwife happy.
5. Iatakoet. . . kaloeitoe toeannanti dapetliat bajanganhatinjajang
she afraid if
that man later can see image heart which
sesoenggoehsoenggoehnjaadagirangjang itoe toeandateng.
is happythat that man come
really
really
Shewasafraidthat that manwouldbe able to see herheart,whichwasreallyvery
happythat he had come.
The remaining Low Malay examples are taken from Dutch/Eurasian sources.
From the October 9, 1867, issue of Biang Lala, a Batavian newspaper:
atauitoe soeratkabardi batjakombalilagi
6. Sabanharljang itoe boekoe
every day that that book or
that newspaper read
again
260
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orangpoenjahati djadienak.
personhas heartis happy
Everydaythat that bookor newspaperis readagainanotherpersonis madehappy.
From "Tjerita Njai Dasima" by G. Francis (1982), written in 1896:
7. SajangsekaliNjai Dasimatiadakasi taoe toeannjadarihal boedjoekan
pity very Ms. Dasimanot give knowhusbandof matterdeceit
djahatitoe. (p. 226)
bad that
It is a pity that Ms. Dasimadid not tell her husbandaboutthat terribledeceit.
From the Low Malay story "Tjerita Nji Paina"by H. Kommer (1982), written in
1900:
harga.(p. 318)
8. Di itoetempo,goela adasoesah lakoedanada toeroen
at that time sugarwasdifficultsell and wasfall price
At that time sugarwas hardto sell and the price was falling.
From E Wigger's translation of Melati van Java's "Darn Boedak Sampe Djadi
Radja"(1982), written in 1898:
9. lanjaminta tempoboewatpikirinini hal. (p. 38)
think this matter
he requesttime for
He requestedtime to think this matterover.
Although Low Malay was the most commonly used language in publications by
the diverse ethnic groups on Java at the turn of the century, there were also some
publications written in High Malay.Instead of a sharp line distinguishing High from
Low Malay,one finds that there is a continuum along which the characteristicfeatures
of Low Malay disappear as the language moves toward the High Malay end of the
continuum. Below is an example of the High Malay published around the turn of the
twentieth century. Note both the use of the introductory particle maka and the
focusing particle -lah, which are prominent features in High Malay
From BoengaRampaiIaitoeBerbagai-bagaiTjeriteraby A. F. von Dewall (1890:4),
published in Batavia:
itoe diambilnjadoeaatau
10. Makadi dalamkain jang banjak-banjak
two or
cloth whichmany many that takehe
Then at in
tiga helai, makapergi-lahia kadalamhoetan,di-semboenjikannja.
he
forest hide
he into
threepiecesthen go
Then fromamongthe manyclothes, he took two or threearticlesand went into
the forestand hid them.
Diversificationof the PeranakanChineseCommunity
At the same time that Low Malay was becoming a literary language, the Chinese
community of Java was changing radically in several respects as a result of increased
numbers of immigrants, availability of education, and improved legal status. The net
result of these changes was increaseddiversity within an alreadyheterogeneousgroup.
Educational opportunities for the Chinese greatly increased after 1900. In 1900,
on Java only 5,000 foreign Orientals (mainly Chinese) were enrolled in Chinese
schools and 352 foreign Orientals received formal instruction in Dutch-out of a
total Chinese population of 277,000. By 1930, 24,807 foreign Orientals received
their primary-school education in Dutch and 2,012 received their secondary-school
LANGUAGES
OF THE CHINESE
OF JAVA
261
education in Dutch-out
of the total Chinese population on Java of 470,000
(Furnivall 1939:364-70). Opportunities to receive modern Chinese education also
expanded at this time. By 1930, the wealthy but predominantly illiterate Chinese
population of 1900 had been transformedinto a more literate population with greatly
improved legal status.
The number and composition of Chinese immigrants changed significantly after
1860, but most dramatically after 1900. The post-1860 immigration was different
from that of earlier times in several respects: 1) the numbers increased sharply; 2)
women began to emigrate from China; and 3) a diversity of language groups was
represented, including Hakka, Cantonese, and Hokcia, in contrast to the primarily
Hokkien speakersof earlier immigrations (Skinner 1958:3). Between 1860 and 1900
the Chinese population of Java and Madurarose from 150,000 to 277,000 (Williams
1960: 10). At the height of the immigration in the 1920s the number reached40,000
per year. These new immigrants were not assimilated into Peranakansociety; rather
they formed a group of "pure"or Totok Chinese who were able to maintain a strong
orientation toward Chinese language and culture through their sizable communities
and Chinese-language school system. Totokmeans pure-blooded, and in colonial times
the term was used to describe anyone born outside of the Indies. TodayTotok is most
frequently used to identify a Chinese individual who maintains a cultural orientation
toward China and speaks a Chinese language at home regardless of birth place.
Several factors encouraged some members of the Peranakancommunity to unite
with the new Totok group in search of an identity in Chinese culture. One primary
factor was the rising nationalist spirit in China and a growing pride among the
overseasChinese. Another factor was the growing rift between the Dutch and Chinese
towardthe end of the nineteenth century, a result of the tightening of legal (traveland
residential) and economic restrictions on the Chinese; the measures were designed to
lower Chinese income in the name of the humanitarianobjective of improvementin the
standard of living of the local population (Williams 1960:27-36). One instance of
this tightening was the abolition of the Chinese revenue farming system, which
devastated the economic position of many Chinese. The Chinese, consequently,
turned from the Dutch toward revolutionary China as a source for cultural identity
and values. At the same time, the term for Chinese in Malay literature changed from
Tjina, a Dutch borrowing, to Tionghoa, a Chinese borrowing, reflecting the new
derogatory connotation of the Dutch loan word (Suryadinata 1978b: 114-28).
In Java, the turning toward China created a pan-Chinese movement at the turn of
the century that attracted Totok and Peranakanallegiance. Parentsfrom both groups
sent their children to Chinese-language schools (Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan tTHHK})
that had been established by the Peranakancommunity in 1901, but which by the
mid- 1920s were controlled by the Totok (Suryadinata1978a:6-16). The union of the
Totok and Peranakangroups was short lived and fragile. By the mid- 1920s, it was
clear that many social, economic, and educational advantages would result from an
alliance with the Dutch, and the elite Peranakanagain turned to the Dutch in search
of prestige, education, and social security.
In response to the pan-Chinese movement and in keeping with the liberal spirit of
the Ethical Policy (a policy whose objective was the improvement of the welfare of
the local population), the Dutch established Dutch-language schools for the Chinese
in 1908 in an effort to maintain Peranakanallegiance (Williams 1960:187, 1969:63).
During the first quarter of this century the Chinese of Java were offered literacy in
three languages: Mandarin, Dutch, and Malay. The Totok group remained loyal to
Mandarin while the Peranakangroup was split three ways, with the elite seeking
262
ELLEN RAFFERTY
education in the Dutch language and the rest being divided between Mandarin- and
Malay-medium education. The Dutch-language schools for the Chinese were never
adequate to accommodate the demand for education within the Chinese population.
Entrance requirements for Dutch-language schools were rigorous and the fees were
high, forcing many Peranakan to accept their second choice, which was usually a
Chinese-language school. Poor students or those from acculturatedfamilies frequently
chose to attend Malay-languageschools, which were established for the Chinese by the
Dutch government in 1928 (Suryadinata 1978a: 17).
A more complex political and linguistic environment in Java resulted from the
influx of Totok Chinese in the early decades of this century. However, the Peranakan
(locally born and usually non-Chinese speakers)were still in the majority in Java in
1930 (Skinner 1958:3). Coppel's analysis of the 1920 census data shows that among
all Chinese of Java, Malay was the dominant language of daily use with 51 percent
using Malay, 30. 1 percent using a Chinese language, and 18.7 percent using a local
Indonesian language (Coppel 1973:153; see also Nio 1962:11). Considering only
the Peranakan(not Totok) Chinese of Java, the dominance of Malay becomes greater,
with 73 percent using Malay, 21 percent using Javanese, and 6 percent using
Sundanese or Madurese. Further, if one considers only the Peranakanof the Javanesespeaking areas(that is, excluding Bantam, Preanger,and Batavia), the Malay speakers
are still in the majority with 57 percent using Malay, 35 percent using Javanese, and
8 percent using Sundanese or Madurese.13 At the same time, Coppel found that only
2.5 percent of the indigenous population of Java used Malay as their daily language,
thus making Malay on Java almost exclusively the language of the Indies Dutch,
Eurasians, and Peranakan Chinese. Although not mentioned in the 1920 census,
Dutch was certainly used by some of the Dutch-educated Chinese, but it was
probably too early to see any significant effect of the Dutch school system on the
linguistic repertoire of the Chinese. Only 3.2 percent of all Chinese could write
Dutch in 1930, while 29 percent were literate in some language (Cator 1936:87). It
is clear from the literacy rates among the Chinese in 1930 that the Dutch language
never came close to threatening the dominant role of Malay in the Chinese
communities.
Before proceeding with the history of the language use of the Chinese of Java, let
me present what I believe to have been the linguistic situation of many Peranakanof
Central and EastJava during the late colonial period (1920-1942). The description is
broadly based on information gathered from members of Peranakancommunities in
Central and East Java, but it is specifically based on conversationswith an informant,
Om Ong, concerning the roles of various languages in his repertoire.14 Om Ong is an
elderly man of Yogyakarta, Central Java, who is representative of the middle-class
Peranakanof the late colonial period. Om Ong was born in Yogyakartain 1913 of
Peranakan parents. His father was from Yogyakarta and had attended Hokkienlanguage schools, where he learned to read and write Chinese. His mother was from
Solo, Central Java, where her father had managed a publishing house that printed
reading material in Javanese for the Peranakan community. Om Ong's mother
received no formal education, but she learned to speak Malay as an adult in order to
deal with Dutch customers in her husband's store, which sold Gramophones and
13
The figures are derived from data in Coppel
1973.
14
in December 1980; the name of the man has been

changed to preserve anonymity.
The information was collected in Yogyakarta
LANGUAGES
OF THE CHINESE
OF JAVA
263
records. As Om Ong recounts, the Dutch and other foreignerslearned Malay and used
it when dealing with the local population. The Dutch used Dutch only among
themselves and with the Dutch-educated elite. Ong's father did not know any Dutch,
but he loved Western music and wanted his son to study the Dutch language and
Western art forms. Ong completed the Dutch-language high school for Chinese,
where he studied numerous languages, including French, Latin, and English as well
as Dutch, but never Malay. Om Ong became an accomplished violinist, music
teacher, and violinist at the National Radio Station in Yogyakarta.
Om Ong never studied Malay, but he picked it up from those around him, and he
spoke it with his mother and father even though they spoke Hokkien between
themselves. Om Ong spoke Dutch with his siblings, who were also Dutch educated.
He described Malay as the language of the church and the government but primarily
the language of interethnic communication and of writing. He reported that the
Peranakanhomes used Malay, although they also used some Javanese. In describing
the languagesof his own family, he did not mention the role of Javanesealthough when
questioned he reported that all the family members could speak Javanese. Although
there must have been considerablevariationin linguistic abilities within the Peranakan
community at this time, I presume that Dutch and Malay were considered more
prestigious than Javanese and were therefore given preference. Ong's father wanted
him to have a good education and chose to send him to the Dutch-language school
and he chose to speak Malay to him at home. Dutch and Malay were regardedas more
powerful than Javanese and therefore were important home languages in the upperand middle-class Peranakanhomes in the late colonial period.
Malay and the Nationalist Movement
Low Malay, which had been adopted by the Peranakan as their literary and
colloquial language and by the Dutch as the most efficient means of administration,
was only later and more reluctantly embraced by the Indonesians. It was used first by
politicians and later by the intelligentsia. As the Low Malaypress flourished under the
direction of the Peranakancommunity during the first quarter of this century, the
Javaneseeagerly sought Dutch-language education. J. H. Abendanon sought to have
Dutch included in the grammar school curriculum in 1900, and in 1908 the Budi
Utomo organization requested the establishment of Dutch-language education so that
Indonesianscould continue their education in that medium. This request was granted
in 1914 with the establishment of a seven-yearschool program in which Dutch was
the medium of instruction. Dutch educators, such as G. J. Nieuwenhuis, believed
that competence in the Dutch language was necessaryfor the cultural and economic
progress of the Indies.
Although most national organizations used Dutch in the first quarter of this
century, SarekatIslam (Islamic Union, a labor union and later a political party) used
Malay from the time of its establishment in 1912. For Sarekat Islam, the Dutch
language was inappropriate because it was associated with the foreign infidels.
Graduallyother political groups followed the example of SarekatIslam, finding Malay
to be the most effective language to reach a large and diverse audience. The next
milestone in the development of Malay/Indonesiancame in 1921 with the publication
of Azab dan Sengsaraby Merari Siregar.This was the first novel written in Malay by an
Indonesian and published by the Dutch publishing house Balai Pustaka. Especially in
its early years, Balai Pustaka was more interested in publishing literary works in the
264
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local languages than in Malay. The next symbolic step in the development of
Indonesian came in 1928, when the Youth Congress declared Indonesian to be the
national language (Teeuw 1979:21). The Dutch never enthusiastically promoted
Malay because, as Teeuw remarks, "its [Malay's} adoption by the nationalist movement as the national language of Indonesia certainly did not strengthen the [Dutch]
government's love for Malay" (1972:115).
Despite these advances, many Indonesian intellectuals continued to espouse and
use the Dutch language. For example, in 1938 H. Thamrin announced that Malay
would be the language of the Indonesian faction of the People's Council, yet many
disregarded his suggestion and continued to use Dutch. Not until 1942, when the
Japanese invadedJava, did Malay become the official language of the government, and
only then was the process of modernizing the language taken seriously. At the time of
independence in 1949, Alisjahbana could still write that "hitherto the language of
the modern intellectual life in Indonesia has been in Dutch" (1949:391). It is thus
not surprising that many Indonesian writers preferredwriting in Dutch or in their
native languages prior to 1942. Indonesian writers who were writing in Malay in the
1930s were primarily from West Sumatra, where the native language, Minangkabau,
is similar to Malay.
The Japanese invasion and the defeat and departureof the Dutch in 1942 radically
changed the linguistic landscapefor the Chinese, especially for the PeranakanChinese.
The pro-Dutch Peranakanno longer had the Dutch political, social, and economic
structure to support their cultural identity. Many Peranakan who had sent their
children to Dutch-language schools now had to send them to Chinese-language
schools, and in doing so they became united with the Totok in a revitalized,
pan-Chinese movement (Skinner 1963:109-110). Mandarin-medium schools managed by the Totok flourished in the absence of Dutch-language schools, and many
Peranakanchildren were Sinified over the next fifteen years (1942-1957) until these
schools were closed to Indonesian citizens (including many of the Peranakan).It is
estimated that in 1950 there were 250,000 Chinese students in Chinese-language
schools as opposed to 50,000 Chinese students in Indonesian-language schools
(Suryadinata 1978:22).
Both the Japanese occupation and the nationalist movement popularized and gave
impetus to the standardization of Malay as the national language of Indonesia. The
emergence of standard Indonesian was greatly promoted by the departure of the
Dutch, who had used Malay as a colloquial language, and the arrivalof the Japanese,
who used Malay/Indonesian as the official language of the government. In 1942 the
Japanese established a language commission with the objective of modernizing and
standardizing the Indonesian language. Varieties of Low Malay used in the early part
of the twentieth century were slowly replacedby the more formal standardIndonesian.
The transition from Low Malay to standard Indonesian is difficult to identify, but
1945 is an appropriate break since it marks the declaration of independence. After
1945 the appearanceof written Low Malay was rare, and by the 1950s nonstandard
Low Malay on Java was associated primarily with the Chinese. Nio states that after
independence the language of the Chinese ceased to be a Chinese-Malay dialect and
became an Indonesian dialect inasmuch as Indonesian was the national language (Nio
1955, 1961). The transition was not as clear as Nio states but the publication of
Chinese-Malay dialect material gradually declined as Chinese authors mastered standard Indonesian. Use of Chinese-Malaywas rapidly declining in the late 1950s, when
both Skinner and Alisjahbana predicted that standard Indonesian would replace
Chinese-Malay because the Peranakan youth were attending Indonesian-language
LANGUAGES
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OF JAVA
schools (Alisjahbana 1959:59; Skinner 1958:4). 15 The Peranakan, who had shifted
from Dutch- to Mandarin-medium schools in 1942, entered Indonesian-language
schools in 1957 in accordance with government regulations.
Postindependence
LinguisticSituation
The period immediately after independence was characterizedby the enthusiastic
adoption of Malay/Indonesian as the symbol of national unity. However, shortly
thereafter, due to the dominant role of the Javanese ethnic group in government,
much informal oral communication in government offices was transacted in Javanese.
Even today at the local level in Javanese speaking areas the oral communication in
governmentoffices and communication between representativesof the national government and villagers is usually in Javanese. Indonesian is reservedfor written communication and for public addresses in large communities. From the 1950s to the present,
Javanese has played a significant role in the development of Indonesian syntax,
morphology, and lexicon. 16 The influence of Javanese is not -limited to Indonesian as
spoken by the Javanese ethnic group, but it extends throughout Indonesia to other
ethnic groups including the Chinese, and is most prominent among those residing in
urban areas.
During the postindependence period, Low Malay and Dutch were rapidly disappearing from the linguistic repertoiresof all Indonesians, and Chinese languages were
being discouraged by the government. The Peranakan, who had been banned from
Chinese-language schools in 1957, were joined by their Totok neighbors in 1965
when all Chinese-language schools were closed (after an attempted coup and the
downfall of the Sukarnogovernment). This action united the Totok and Peranakanin
their search for education, language, and identity. Today, the distinction between
Totok and Peranakanis muted by several factors. Perhaps the primary factor is the
government classification that distinguishes between indigenous and nonindigenous
(primarily ethnic Chinese), disregarding citizenship status. Although many Chinese
are citizens of Indonesia, they are denied economic and legal privileges that are
available to the indigenous population, such as priority in obtaining loans, licenses,
and entry into schools. Other factors that encourage solidarity among the Chinese are
the absence of Chinese-language schools, the dearth of Chinese immigrants since
1930, and the impossibility of returning to China. In fact, most Chinese do not want
to return to China because of their relatively good standard of living in Indonesia.
One indication of the growing similarity between Peranakanand Totok Chinese of
the Javanese-speaking areas is the use of the hybrid language, IndonesianizedJavanese, by Peranakan and a growing number of Totok youth. IndonesianizedJavanese is radically different from the Low Malay that had been used by the
Peranakanfor centuries. This nonstandardized home language of the Peranakanof
Javanese-speakingareascombines Javaneseand Indonesian at the lexical and morphemic level. Most of the syntactic constructions and morphology come from Javanese
while the majority of the lexical items comes from Indonesian (Dreyfuss and Oka
1979; Rafferty 1982).
15 Today there are still some Chinese of Java

who speak a Low Malay variety of Indonesian. To
my knowledge most often these are Totok Chinese
living in non-Javaneseenvironments such asJakarta.
16 For a discussion of the influence of Javanese

on Indonesian, see Poedjosoedarmo (1970). See
Anderson (1966:89-116) for a discussion of the use
of Ngoko in political discussions.
266
ELLEN RAFFERTY
This hybrid language of the Peranakan is set in an environment in which

approximately 90 percent of the inhabitants are ethnic Javanese, who speak both
High and Low (Ngoko) Javanese in almost every social situation except for formal
educational settings and interethnic communication, where Indonesian is used.
Javanesespeakersoccasionally insert Indonesian words or phrases in Javanesediscourse
when the word or phrase refersto the modern sector or is not to be found in Javanese.
Conversely,Javanese words or phrases are frequently found in Indonesian discourse if
an item is not to be found in Indonesian. The numerous sociolinguistic variables
related to this code-switching among the Javanese are discussed in Wolff and
Poedjosoedarmo (1982) and Kartomihardjo (1979). An example of this type of
code-switching follows: (Javanese words are italicized, a few of these words are also
found in Indonesian. The glottal stop is represented by the letter q, the schwa by the
unaccented e, the relative pronoun by rel., and the definite marker by def.)
11. PorobapaqIan poroibu
sedhoyo,
ad&q-adq
parapemudadan parapemudiyang
all fatherand all motherall
sibling all boys and all girls rel.
sayahormati. . .
I respect. . .
All of you, mothers,fathers,young boys and girls, whom I honor . . .
In the above example, the older people in the audience are addressed in Javanese and
the younger ones in Indonesian. This is not uncommon for many of the older people
would not have had the opportunity to learn Indonesian in school and thus are more
comfortable listening to Javanese.
The distinctive language mixing of the Peranakancommunity, combining words
at the morphemic level, is very different from the above. Typically the morpheme is
from Javanese and the lexical item is from Indonesian. Some examples are given:
12. Seq barubangunadatamu ya, duduq-o.
still Just arise is guest yes sit-imperative
I just get up and a guest arrives,pleasesit down.
jam piro nggaqtau, konci-netaq-suruhbawaq.
13. Sampeqpulang
Until returnhome hourwhat not know key-def.I ordercarry
I do not know when he arrivedhome; I told him to take the keys.
14. Ini uaakeh.Ini Iho
gini
liaq-en.
this much this surpriselike this look
There is so much. Lookat all of this.
The Indonesianized-Javaneseof the Peranakancommunity is an oral language that
exhibits both regional and stylistic variations. In general, the dialect of CentralJava is
more strongly influenced by Javanese, and the dialect of East Java by Indonesian. In a
study conducted in East Java, it was noted that in relaxed situations where all of the
interlocutors were Peranakanthe Javanesegrammatical affixes varied from 56 percent
to 85 percent while the Indonesian lexical items varied from 75 percent to 89 percent
(Rafferty 1981). The more formal the situation the greater the influence of Indonesian
throughout the language, and, conversely,the more informal the situation the greater
the influence of Javanese. In most cases, the introduction of a Javanese speaker into
the conversation caused the influence of Javanese to increase in all parts of the
language. Introducing sociocultural variables-such as formality of the situation,
level of education, place of residence (rural versus urban), and ethnicity of the
interlocutor-causes the variation in Javanese grammatical affixes to range from 13
LANGUAGES
OF THE CHINESE
OF JAVA
267
percent to 92 percent and Indonesian lexical items to range from 6 percent to 98

percent. Because of this wide-ranging variation, Indonesianized-Javanese is best
regarded as a continuum along which many Peranakancan slide, producing speech
from Ngoko (Low Javanese) to speech that is Indonesian. There are, of course, many
Peranakanspeakerswho do not command the full range of the continuum; for example,
in rural areas competence in the Indonesian end of the continuum is less complete
than that found in the city.
It is difficult to identify the beginnings of this mixed, oral language since no
mention of it occurs in the literature prior to 1978 (Rafferty). At first glance, the
reasons why a group that had used Malay for centuries should suddenly shift to a
Javanese-basedmixed language as its home medium of communication are unclear.
Answers to this puzzle may be found on two levels of abstraction, one linguistic and
the other social.
On the linguistic level, a mixed language generally derives its syntax and
morphology from the group's home language while the lexical items are borrowed
from an outside language. In the Peranakancase, however, the linguistic mixing
process is very different because the PeranakanChinese have been bilingual in Ngoko
and Malay for centuries. This bilingualism has allowed them to shift towardJavanese
by mixing codes already in their repertoire and to allocate new social functions to
these languages. They combined the morphology and syntax of Ngoko with Indonesian words to create their own dialect. Today Peranakanare reluctant to admit that
they speakJavanese because they do not command the complete language (they do not
speak High Javanese); frequently they say that they speak a mixed language, bad
Indonesian or bad Javanese. The shift toward a Javanese-basedlanguage has resulted
in a distinctive dialect for the Peranakanof Central and East Java. Because sociolinguistic literature is replete with descriptions of communities where linguistic features
coincide with socially significant boundaries-(Labov1970, 1973), especially when the
language under study is an oral nonstandardizedvariety, I believe that the Peranakan
dialect is socially significant and an important symbol of identity for-the Peranakan
community.
On the sociopolitical level many factors.were instrumental in the Peranakanshift
from a Malay-basedto a Javanese-basedlanguage. The decrease in role and prestige of
Malay after the departure of the Dutch in 1942 and the increase in importance of
Javaneseas the informal language of government officials were two significant factors
in the shift. The desire of the Chinese to use Indonesian (a Malay language) may have
lessened due to the association of standard Indonesian with a government that is
frequently perceived as being anti-Chinese. The sociopolitical forces mentioned above
enhanced the usefulness and appropriatenessof Javanese as a base language for the
PeranakanChinese. Since the Peranakan-arenot assimilated to Javanese culture and
they have their own social and cultural identity, their linguistic solution to this most
recent sociopolitical power shift was not to adopt Javanese but to create the mixed
language, Indonesianized-Javanese.
Anthropological Linguistic Perspective

The history of the shifting language loyalties of the Chinese of Java is instructive
from a linguistic and an anthropological point of view. The two phenomena discussed
in this article of particular interest to the social scientist are the development of a
literate language, the Low Malay of 1900, from a low variety in a diglossic situation
268
ELLEN RAFFERTY
and the recent development of an unwritten dialect, Indonesianized-Javanese,as a

home language in the postindependence period. These phenomena are of interest
because they do not reflect an unquestioning acceptance of the languages available in
the linguistic environments of 1880 and 1940 but, rather, they are creative events
that have shaped linguistic environments.
Until the spread of education in the late nineteenth century the situation of High
and Low Malay exemplified the classic definition of diglossia where one variety of the
language is specialized for literate functions and the other for local, oral communication (Ferguson 1959:325-40). Typically, the high language is used in religion,
government, and education while the low, nonstandardized form finds usage in the
family, among friends, and in most informal situations. These criteria for a high
language fit the case of High Malay,which was used for literary and courtly functions,
as well as the case of Low Malay, which was used primarily for oral communication
and varied from region to region.
This type of language specialization frequently disappears with improved
communication, rising literacy rates, and increased social mobility. In the Malay
situation, the shift away from a diglossic situation began when Low Malay newspapers
published by the Dutch/Eurasian community appearedin 1856. There was a growing
desire for literacy in the Malay-speaking population of the Indies, which included
many Dutch, Eurasians, and Chinese as well as local peoples. The Chinese authors
and translatorsshifted from Javanese to Malay as their literary language in the 1880s,
joining the Dutch and Eurasians, who were already publishing popular literature in
Malay. This ethnically mixed group of literati, not satisfied with the available
linguistic repertoire, endeavored to create a new literary language from a language
that up until the mid-nineteenth century had existed only in a sociolinguistically low
form.
This reshaping of the linguistic environment increased the linguistic homogeneity of the early twentieth century, and it is informative of social alliances of that
period. The appearance(or disappearance)of a linguistic code within a community is
a sociologically significant event because the use of a common language indicates
social-structural ties within a multilingual community. In the case examined here,
the uniformity of the newly developing written Malay (1880-1910) indicates that the
literati (Chinese, Dutch, and Eurasian) shaping this language formed a social unit.
That a unitary language was created implies a degree of assimilation of the literate
Chinese to the Dutch/Eurasian community, a point that is often lost in the literature
concerning the history of the Chinese of Java. Social alliances among these diverse
ethnic groups did not last long, however, as the Dutch, many Eurasians, and some
Chinese rapidly espoused Dutch as the proper language of literature between
1910-1920. The great majority of Chinese, however,unable to gain access to Dutch,
maintained Low Malay as their literary language.
The second interesting phenomenon in the linguistic history of the Chinese of
Java is the emergence of the mixed language, Indonesianized-Javanese,alongside the
national language, standard Indonesian. Frequently the rise to prominence of a
national language is associated with the submission of local ethnic loyalities to more
encompassing ones. Despite this tendency for local and social dialects to yield to more
elaborateliterate and standardizedlanguages, Indonesianized-Javaneseemerged around
the time of independence, concurrent with the rise in popularity of the national
language among many Indonesians. The social functions of ethnic oral languages are
different from those of national written languages, and thereforeit cannot be assumed
that distinctive oral languages will not also appear with the rise of a standardized
LANGUAGES
OF THE CHINESE
OF JAVA
269
language. What is significant in this case is that the Chinese, who had been
linguistically assimilating to one group or another throughout their history, broke
with this tradition. They refused to accept the linguistic choices of their surroundings
as fixed. While acquiring competence in standard Indonesian, the Peranakanhave
expanded their linguistic repertoireto include a distinctive dialect of their own that is
readily adaptable to local social and linguistic constraints. Perhaps the existence of
unwritten languages in a predominantly literate populace characterizessegments of
plural societies in which assimilation is thwarted by sociocultural barriers. In any
case, the development of a mixed language in the already bilingual Peranakan
environment demonstrates the power of language as a symbol of identity and of the
inherent value of unwritten forms of language. The emergence of IndonesianizedJavanese in contemporary Indonesia also indicates that linguistically the Peranakan
are more unique now than they were in 1900, when, in cooperation with the Dutch
and Eurasians, they created a literate Low Malay language. It should also be pointed
out that the recent trend toward a common language (i.e., Indonesianized-Javanese)
between the Peranakan and some Totok youth reflects growing cultural affinities
between these two groups that have been distinct earlier in this century.
Conclusion
The linguistic history of the PeranakanChinese of Java is that of a community in
flux-accepting, rejecting, and reworking various sets of cultural and linguistic
symbols. As political lines shifted and the Chinese were included and subsequently
excluded from social units, their languages both high and low also shifted. The
greatest linguistic change in the Chinese community occurredat the beginning of the
twentieth century with the rise in literacy rates and the change in Low Malay from an
oral to a literate language. Despite the existence of other literary languages, the
Peranakancommunity maintained Low Malay as its primary literary language until
the independence period when standard Indonesian took its place in formal and
interethnic communication. The emergence of Indonesianized-Javanesemarks the
second most significant event in their linguistic history. It symbolizes the end of a
series of efforts to assimilate to various social groups by adopting the languages of
those groups. This time the Peranakan,no longer imitators but innovators, borrowed
elements of local languages and created their own system. They have created anew in
an effort to accommodate to the contemporarysociopolitical situation. As with other
types of culture change, this linguistic process followed a path of nonradical, gradual
shiftings of emphasis as sets of symbols were reworked.
Discussions of culture change often focus on the transitions from local to national
loyalties or from preliterate to literate languages, but as is shown in the case of the
PeranakanChinese of Java, the focus should not alwaysbe on a linear progression. The
focus is more appropriately placed on the interaction between the two realms, the
local (often oral) and the national (literate) symbol systems. Shifts in sociopolitical
power are likely to have ramificationsin the linguistic repertoiresof groups within the
community. As power shifts, the social space over which local and national language
symbols reign is readjusted. In the case of the Peranakanof Java, their latest solutions
is a unique process of "creativeaccommodation," of playing with familiar symbols to
create new 'arrangements.
Culture change is not only "forward"toward a more encompassing, more literate,
and more "rational" social unit; it is also "backward"toward the local, nonliterate
community of the home and of friends, which does not need literacy because it has a
270
ELLEN RAFFERTY
shared set of presuppositions, values, and roles as well as frequent face-to-face

interaction. Since language is a reflection of a social and cultural reality that is
continually changing, languages gradually and continually shift and rearrangetheir
elements to create new constellations marked by continuities with the past and signs
of the future.
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Languages of the Chinese of Java--An Historical Review

Author(s): Ellen Rafferty

VOL. XLIII, No.

JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES

Languagesof the Chinese of Java

Chinese in Indonesia (see Mabbett 1972). The 2

twelfth century) to the time of Indonesian independence in 1945, when Indonesian

Ngoko, not High Javanese. For further discussion

Use in the Netherlands Indies and Indonesia

Some Javanese Low Malay

Local/Regional Low Malay

1975:80-96; Drewes 1929:153). At the time of Pigafetta'svisit to Southeast Asia in

Arabic, was followed by an explanatorydictionary of Arabic terms, published in 1743

The second example of a Low Malay syntactic construction is possessor+ punya +

he is becomenephew Ali = He is Ali's nephew.

to causeto fall, to drop

drop something = to drop something

prince-yourprobably think that he morehappy. . .

he the one sit = He is the one sitting.

12 The information comes from unpublished

that newspaper read

The figures are derived from data in Coppel

in December 1980; the name of the man has been

The information was collected in Yogyakarta

15 Today there are still some Chinese of Java

16 For a discussion of the influence of Javanese

This hybrid language of the Peranakan is set in an environment in which

percent to 92 percent and Indonesian lexical items to range from 6 percent to 98

Anthropological Linguistic Perspective

and the recent development of an unwritten dialect, Indonesianized-Javanese,as a

shared set of presuppositions, values, and roles as well as frequent face-to-face

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