Diglossia : a case in Papuan Malay and Bahasa Indonesia?
Autor: Thaís Vidal | Publicado: 2011-10-24T16:31:00-07:00

When finishing the chapter 1 of Mesthrie’s “Introducing  Sociolinguistics”, there is a big question in my mind about diglossia.  This question comes into mind when I think about my dialect in my home  country, Indonesia. I was brought up in a town in Bird’s head peninsula  in West Papua, Indonesia, and when I was a child, I thought that I spoke  Indonesian language. However, in fact, the language that I have spoken  that merely a dialect called ‘Papuan Malay’; this term coined  several years ago when there were some linguistic researches about the  language spoken in my area. For your information, in West Papua area, I  study the national language known as Bahasa Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia,  to some extent, is known as the modern modified Malay with abundantly  loanwords from Sanskrit, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Arabic,  English, and other tribal languages. I have studied and learned Bahasa Indonesia  since I was in primary school, while when I was at home, my family and I  as well as the community around me spoke the dialect known as Papuan Malay; it has served as the lingua franca of trading in the area to communicate with tribes in West Papua since circa 17th centuries or before the integration to Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia, otherwise, is the language used at school, government, and any formal situation especially concerning to academic writing.

Mesthrie’s explanation about Ferguson’s Diglossia and ‘Fishman’s  extension’ (Mesthrie, 2009: 39 – 40), to some extent, makes me think  about my dialect and national language ‘Bahasa Indonesia’, whether Papuan Malay  is simply a dialect in terms of ‘standard versus dialect’ arrangement  or the &nbsp;situation when the diglossia occurs? I also wonder about the  possibility that one dialect, at first is just a dialect in such  non-diglossic society but when there is a change in society, let’s say  because of political circumstance leading to diglossia occurrence, or  vice versa. Is that possible?

Regarding to the hints in the textbook, the two distinctions proposed  by Ferguson about diglossia can be used to describe the situation of  the dialect used in my area especially the second hint that mentions  “the relationship between standard and dialect is typically a close one,  and it is not always easy to draw the line between the two. Again, in  contrast the H and L forms of diglossia have distinct grammars which are  almost like those of different language.” (Mesthrie, 1999: 39). It is  because, in the case of Papuan Malay comparing to Bahasa Indonesia,  it is so easy to distinguish between the standard and dialect, for  example in terms of its morpho-syntactical structure. It is really  clear, let’say, when addressing question to another person as well in  addressing the possession of someone.

To illustrate my questions, I would like to give two simple sentences and its literal gloss written in my dialect and in Bahasa Indonesia  (both formal and informal) about the case of interrogative form and  possessive pronoun. In my dialect, we cannot form any question without  using double-pronoun.

Example #1.
Papuan Malay
(…*) – ko – mo – pi – kemana?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Or&nbsp;&nbsp; (…*) ko – pi – mana?
&nbsp;(…*)&nbsp; – you – want – go – where?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ( …) you – go – where?

Bahasa Indonesia (formal form)
Ke mana – kau – akan/hendak – pergi?
Where – you – will – go?

Or

(…**) ke mana – kau – akan/ hendak – pergi? (…**)
(…**) Where – you – will – go

Bahasa Indonesia (informal form)
Mau – ke mana, – (kamu**)?
Want – where – (you)?

Or

Kamu – mau – (pergi***) ke mana?
You – want – where?

English
Where do you go?/ Where are you going?

Notes:
*: In my dialect, the (*) refers to any name of the addressee or  socially accepted term we can use to address i.e. uncle, sister and so  forth

** In this example refers to the addressee (name or socially accepted  addressee term). It can be put in the initial position or in the final  position.

*** In this example the words ke mana ‘where’ embedded the meaning of go.


Example #2
The possessive pronoun in use

a. Singular form

Papuan Malay
Ini – sa – pu – buku.
&nbsp;This/ it – I – have – book

Bahasa Indonesia (formal form)
Ini – bukuku.
This /it – book.poss.1Sg

Or

Ini – buku – saya/ aku (informal form)
It is – book – 1st sing.

b. Plural form

Papuan Malay
Ini – dorang/ dong – pu – buku.
&nbsp;This/ it – they – have – book

Bahasa Indonesia (formal and informal)
Ini – buku – mereka.
This /it – book.poss.3rd plural

http://ling6002.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/diglossia-a-case-in-papuan-malay-and-bahasa-indonesia/