Sociolinguistics in Southeast Asia

Abstract

A discussion of eight articles published in The Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science (1985, 13, 1). In "Bilingualism in Indonesia," P. W. J. Nababan reports on findings of a 1980 survey of bilingualism & shows evidence of a shift from vernacular use to use of the national lang (Bahasa Indonesia). Asmah Haji Omar, in "Patterns of Language Communication in Malaysia," examines the promotion of Bahasa Malaysia in Malaysia as the national lang & notes some resultant communication difficulties. In "The Language Standardization Problems of Malaysia Set in Context," Robert B. Le Page compares the modern linguistic situation in Malaysia with that of England in the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries, based on questions of lang standardization. In "Reflections, Assertions and Speculations on the Growth of Pilipino," Bonifacio P. Sibayan describes the role of Pilipino & other langs in various areas of Filipino society. Andrew Gonzalez, in "Sociolinguistics in the Philippines," examines the development of sociolinguistics as a subdiscipline of linguistics. John Platt, in "Social Class, Ethnicity and Language Choice," reports on a study of lang use in four major shopping centers in Singapore. Richard B. Noss, in "The Evaluation of Language Planning in Education," provides an evaluation of this issue on the basis of regional data for Southeast Asia as a whole. Prapart Brudhiprabha, in a research note, discusses lang barriers to Ru development. B. Annesser Murray.