Language shift among Javanese youth and their perception of local and national identities

It is not uncommon for language to play an important role in identity issues in multilingual countries. Declaring one of the important community languages as the official language in such a country can pose a threat to the survival of the other languages. Bahasa Indonesia is an example of this ph...

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Main Author: Erna Andriyanti
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2019
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14092/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14092/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14092/1/30990-108022-1-PB.pdf
id ukm-14092
recordtype eprints
spelling ukm-140922020-01-31T22:48:21Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14092/ Language shift among Javanese youth and their perception of local and national identities Erna Andriyanti, It is not uncommon for language to play an important role in identity issues in multilingual countries. Declaring one of the important community languages as the official language in such a country can pose a threat to the survival of the other languages. Bahasa Indonesia is an example of this phenomenon. Its successful establishment as the national language has altered the local language situation throughout the country. Relevant to this study, it has had an important effect on young people’s use of Javanese, the dominant local language of Yogyakarta. This study analyses the extent of language shift among the young multilinguals in the city and investigates the youth’s search for authentic local and national identities. A questionnaire was used to elicit the youth’s mother tongue as well as their attitudes and perceptions towards Javanese and Bahasa Indonesia and local and national identities. Their real use of languages was obtained through non-participative observations. A sample group of 1,039 students from 10 junior and senior high schools was surveyed. The findings reveal the current status of Javanese and Bahasa Indonesia as mother tongues and the identitylanguage choice links. Most young people with Javanese parents claimed that Bahasa Indonesia is their first language. This signals a weakened intergenerational transmission of Javanese. With regard to identity, the youth’s sense of national identity is stronger than their sense of local identity. To elevate the vitality of Javanese and strengthen the local identity, intergenerational transmission and intensive use of Javanese at school is imperative. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2019-08 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14092/1/30990-108022-1-PB.pdf Erna Andriyanti, (2019) Language shift among Javanese youth and their perception of local and national identities. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 19 (3). pp. 109-125. ISSN 1675-8021 http://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1212
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description It is not uncommon for language to play an important role in identity issues in multilingual countries. Declaring one of the important community languages as the official language in such a country can pose a threat to the survival of the other languages. Bahasa Indonesia is an example of this phenomenon. Its successful establishment as the national language has altered the local language situation throughout the country. Relevant to this study, it has had an important effect on young people’s use of Javanese, the dominant local language of Yogyakarta. This study analyses the extent of language shift among the young multilinguals in the city and investigates the youth’s search for authentic local and national identities. A questionnaire was used to elicit the youth’s mother tongue as well as their attitudes and perceptions towards Javanese and Bahasa Indonesia and local and national identities. Their real use of languages was obtained through non-participative observations. A sample group of 1,039 students from 10 junior and senior high schools was surveyed. The findings reveal the current status of Javanese and Bahasa Indonesia as mother tongues and the identitylanguage choice links. Most young people with Javanese parents claimed that Bahasa Indonesia is their first language. This signals a weakened intergenerational transmission of Javanese. With regard to identity, the youth’s sense of national identity is stronger than their sense of local identity. To elevate the vitality of Javanese and strengthen the local identity, intergenerational transmission and intensive use of Javanese at school is imperative.
format Article
author Erna Andriyanti,
spellingShingle Erna Andriyanti,
Language shift among Javanese youth and their perception of local and national identities
author_facet Erna Andriyanti,
author_sort Erna Andriyanti,
title Language shift among Javanese youth and their perception of local and national identities
title_short Language shift among Javanese youth and their perception of local and national identities
title_full Language shift among Javanese youth and their perception of local and national identities
title_fullStr Language shift among Javanese youth and their perception of local and national identities
title_full_unstemmed Language shift among Javanese youth and their perception of local and national identities
title_sort language shift among javanese youth and their perception of local and national identities
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate 2019
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14092/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14092/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14092/1/30990-108022-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T20:06:19Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T20:06:19Z
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