This news tickles me (NOTE: I have just updated the link, thanks to Patrick Hall at Infundibulum -- here's Patrick's take . The Jakarta Post has moved the original article.). It's about some Indonesian "top linguists" complaining about the Indonesian government's deal with those of Malaysia and Brunei to use Malay as the official language in the countries.
What a nonsense from both sides. The governments, do they really think they can force the people to only use Malay language? The linguists, do they really think they can force Indonesians to stay with Indonesian language? Just because "Indonesian is much more developed than Malay"? Or because it is "studied in many countries"? Give me a break.
Call me a non-nationalist, but I don't buy all this crap about "national language". Look. I love Indonesian language (it's the simplest, no?) and I hate Malay ("perogolan", "berseronoklah" -- Man, I hate how they sound). But I will understand if Malaysians don't like Indonesian sound of "canggih", or the mental image of "rumah sakit".1
People communicate, regardless of what language they are using. As long as you understand what I mean and I understand what you mean, we're fine. Misunderstandings might arise, but that's how language develop in the first place.
That is to say, language is like market. It is supposed to be free. Non-imposed, non-enforced. It grows as people need it. Let people choose how they communicate. There were times when people thought they could impose some new words. And they failed. Umberto Eco told us a story about it. The Italian fascists tried to force people to say "mescita" instead of "bar". They failed.
Anyone still remember the words "sangkil" and "mangkus"? 2
1 "Perogolan": rape (the noun), "berseronoklah": have fun, "canggih":sophisticated, "rumah sakit": hospital.
2 "Sangkil": "efisien": efficient, "mangkus": "efektif": effective. Or, is it the other way around?
Language
it is always amazing how language works. I can't agree with you 100% as there are many cases where language works superbly in affecting the culture/(target-assimilated) culture. Just look at the colonial days, in Africa and South Asia and the likes.
ReplyDeleteThe french have similar law as well as many other country in Europe and to a large degree this works very well - the french to maintain a decisive line between them and the nasties across the channel, etc.
as for Indonesian, frankly, i don't think the language is sufficient enough to block against the foreign aggression.
now i should go and read the referred article before i sound totally absolutely stupid.
PS: surprisingly quick to change the subject :D
did you know that Malay only have 8 original words and the rest are adaptation from other lingua -most are from Sanskrit, btw-? i only remember 2, which are BABI and AMUK. bless our soul if we are to only use them for the rest of our lives.
ReplyDeletethis should be a good topics to brought up inline with so-called cultural hegemony. i had previous post-sake discussion with some antropologist over how we can conquer the Malays via culture, talking about evil scientist here. i'd say we'll agree with those terms if Malaysians stop listening to Dewa, Sheila on 7 and Peter Pan; and we start listening to Mawi and Siti Sarah (bad name branding, by the way. and fugly too!).
btw, nice to see current flow of writings. these are concretely more enjoyable than that award.
did you guys win?
Good comment, T/S. But aggression? :-D
ReplyDeleteDetta, what award? :-D
Aco, is the language value-free? Ben Anderson wrote that the role of vernacular language standardization is pivotal in the making of a nation as imagined communities, along with capitalism and the widespread of print media. I guess he made a very good point here.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you may want to go further left by reading Voloshinov who argued the meaning of verbal signs, language, is in the context of class struggle.
p/s: disclaimer: I am no linguist :-)
i concur with rizal. also stand by my careful choice of word: aggression. it's the imperial invasion man, can't you see??
ReplyDeletecommunication disruption can only mean one thing... invasion!!
i just realize that quote probably doesn't sound quite right written, but if you allow me to impersonate the tone, it is actually rather funny.
ReplyDeletePS: thought you guys done away with the word moderation??
that's really stupid. you have of course.
ReplyDeletescroll down ace... scroll down.
i am sorry. it's very flattering to see my ramblings featured here immediately. Ha! Verbal Abuse!
aggreeeesssiooon!!!