Shifting Languages: Interaction and Identity in Javanese Indonesia (Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language, No. 19)

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.

"This book is a major contribution that shows how such work can be done. It succeeds as a fully realized study of socially, culturally, and politically grounded language phenomena. This rich accomplishment is itself the very best argument for Errington's analytic position." Language in Society