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

A study of the effects of the spread of Indonesian on local ritual speech on Sumba island.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 analyses language change in relation to political marginality, revealing that political coercion or a cognitive process of 'style reduction' may offer a partial explanation, but that equally important is the role of linguistic ideologies.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 analyses language change in relation to political marginality, revealing that political coercion or a cognitive process of 'style reduction' may offer a partial explanation, but that equally important is the role of linguistic ideologies.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.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 olcî