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May 2010

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Subject:
From:
Waruno Mahdi <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Indonesian language list <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 12 May 2010 16:40:46 +0200
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Sorry to be so slow to respond, I was (still am) buried under a load
of other work. But I guess I smay not keep quiet on this misunderstanding:

>  Are you using the white colonial nickname for Indonesian and Malay
>  when you ask about "infant language acquisition of bahasa"? If not,
>  one must ask which bahasa you are talking about.

Tim, I think you're being a bit too strict towards our new member.
But before I go on, Hi Svenja, welcome to Bahasa-List.

The term "Bahasa" as reference to Standard Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia)
was not a "white colonial nickname", but quite on the contrary. It was
a term that first appeared in so-called "Indisch Nederlandsch", the
language of Dutch people who were either born or spent a lot of time
in Indonesia. After the 1950-s, they formed a "semi-ethnic" minority
in the Netherlands, keeping very sympathetic feelings towards Indonesia
as a country, regardless of often enough quite adverse attitudes towards
the Indonesian state in general, or the then president Sukarno in particular.

One characteristic point was a generally respectful opinion of the standard
Indonesian language. Most of these "Indische Nederlanders" remembered lots
of (Indonesian) Malay words with more or less "neerlandified" phonetics.
Whenever they tried to speak the language, it was a rather vernacular
"Passer-Maleisch" (Bazaar Malay), and they were quite aware of its not
exactly "literary" quality. Whenever they then saw texts or books in
standard Indonesian, or heard it spoken, they would refer to it as something
"high-class". It was this picture of standard Indonesian, that they would
refer to simply as "Bahasa". So, when they said that the one or other could
actually speak "proper Bahasa", this was meant as a compliment.

Meanwhile, the term has gradually become "neutral style". In the present
instance, I presume that Svenja Völkert from Marburg (not Maburg!!) is
using it the way it is among many German Indonesia-specialists and other
persons with some relation to Indonesia (jouralists, diplomats, NGO-
members, etc.). In their usage, it is not the least derogatory either.

Aloha to all,
Waruno

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