Synopses & Reviews
Until recently, Indonesian, the national language of a vast, plural nation state, was spoken by very few of the Javanese who live in south-central Java. But the national language is now being learned, along with a national identity, and is the key vehicle for modernity and progress in these communities. Errington has written a fascinating account of the role of language in radical social transformation.
Review
"This book is a major contribution that shows how such work can be done. It succeeds as a fully realized study of socially, culturally, and politically grounded language phenomena. This rich accomplishment is itself the very best argument for Errington's analytic position." Language in Society"This book is a major contribution that shows how such work can be done. It succeeds as a fully realized study of socially, culturally, and politically grounded language phenomena. This rich accomplishment is itself the very best argument for Errington's analytic position." Language in Society
Table of Contents
1. Introduction; 2. A city, two hamlets, and the stage; 3. Speech styles, hierarchies and communities; 4. National development, national language; 5. Public language and authority; 6. Interactional and referential identities; 7. Language contact and language salad; 8. Speech modelling; 9. Shifting styles and the modelling of internal states; 10. Javanese-Indonesian code-switching; 11. Shifting perspectives.