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. (view table of contents)

Product Description: Errington explores linguistic evidence of social change among the traditional priyayi elite of Surakarta in south-central Java. Employing data from texts, interviews, observed speech, and questionnaires, he shows a progressive leveling in the language used to denote traditional status differences, and he demonstrates how perceptions of speech styles reflect etiquette and the views of the users...read more