Language, Identity, and Marginality in Indonesia: The Changing Nature of Ritual Speech on the Island of Sumba

ISBN-13: 9780521624084 / Angielski / Twarda / 1998 / 204 str.

Joel Kuipers

Opis

The rapid spread of Indonesian as the national language of Indonesia has diminished the significance of local languages. On the island of Sumba, this shift has displaced a once vibrant tradition of ritual poetic speech, but has also given rise to new and hybrid forms of poetic expression. This book analyzes language change in relation to political marginality, revealing that political coercion or cognitive process of "style reduction" may offer a partial explanation, but equally important is the role of linguistic ideologies.

Recenzje

'Neatly orchestrating his analysis with admirable concision and lucidity, Kuipers has composed an insightful study that is thoroughly accessible to any reader interested in the shifting nexus between language and power.' Benjamin G. Zimmer, The Times Literary Supplement

Spis treści

Introduction; 1. Place, identity, and the shifting forms of cultivated speech: a geography of marginality; 2. Towering in rage and cowering in fear: emotion, self, and verbal expression in Sumba; 3. Changing forms of political expression: the role of ideologies of audience completeness; 4. Ideologies of personal naming and language shift; 5. From miracles to classrooms: changing forms of erasure in the learning of ritual speech; 6. Conclusions.