Language and Social Change in Java: Linguistic Reflexes of Modernization in a Traditional Royal Polity

J. Joseph Errington

ISBN 10: 0896801209 / ISBN 13: 9780896801202

Published by Ohio University Press, 1985

About this Item

Series: Ohio RIS Southeast Asia Series. Num Pages: 240 pages. BIC Classification: CFB. Category: (G) General (US: Trade); (UP) Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly. Dimension: 217 x 140 x 18. Weight in Grams: 313. . 1985. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780896801202

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Language and Social Change in Java: Linguistic Reflexes of Modernization in a Traditional Royal Polity
• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Publication Date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0896801209
• ISBN 13: 9780896801202
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

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.

Errington suggests that a reciprocal assimilation process changes the way members of Java’s traditional elite deal with each other in a modern urban milieu. The argument and the material on which it is based will be of interest to historians, linguists, anthropologists and other concerned with social and political change in southeast Asia.