As soon as one has to decide on a system of transliteration for the languages spoken in Minangkabau and Negri Sembilan, one is faced by peculiar difficulties. In the first place, one has the choice between adopting the Dutch system, the Indonesian (which is derived from it), the British or a scientifically satisfactory one. Then, should one spell the Minangkabau words according to their pronunciation, or in their Malaicised form, as the Minangkahau themselves do, at least when writing in Arabic characters? Further there is the difficulty that we do not really know what the language of Negri...

This collective volume contains papers and comments on these papers from an international symposium on "Indonesia as a Field of Anthropological Study" held in Leiden, 22-26 November 1982. The following contributions are listed: P.E. de Josselin de Jong, "A field of anthropological study in transformation" (with comments by G.B. Milner) / Robert Blust, "Indonesia as a 'Field of Linguistic Study'" / A. Teeuw, "Indonesia as a 'Field of Literary Study'. A case study: genealogical narrative texts as an Indonesian literary genre" (with comments by Els Postel) / Sandra...