Identifying with Indonesian

Abstract

AbstractResidents of the town of Pontianak speak Indonesian across politically sensitive lines of ethnic difference. Many Chinese speak only “standard” varieties of the language, whereas Malays commonly adopt “biaccentual” fashions of speaking that incorporate elements of Indonesian and their native language. Young Dayaks also incorporate elements of Malay provenance into distinctly urban styles of speech. In this way, biaccentual usage can serve to interactionally efface, but not erase, linguistic marks of ethnic difference. Shifting classifications and uses of these other ways of speaking Indonesian reflect the language’s multiple forms and values as a mediator of interpersonal relations in what are sometimes fraught urban contexts.