Cover not available

Article published In: Journal of Asian Pacific Communication
Vol. 24:1 (2014) ► pp.21–38

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Scripting radio language amidst language shift in Indonesia

 | Monash University
Published online: 18 April 2014
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.24.1.02man
There is a shift underway in many areas of Indonesia from local, ethnic languages like Javanese, to the national language, Indonesian. Few studies have explored the complexities faced by radio stations targeting the audiences undergoing this shift. This article explores the attitudes influencing the design of radio language at three local radio stations in East Java. Semi-structured interviews, based on extracts of radio language, are conducted with program directors and announcers at these stations. These data are used to outline how radio stations approach the design of radio talk amidst language shift. This paper explains this shift using two overlapping frames of media and language: audience design and mental scripts. Analysis shows both frames to be useful for understanding the design of radio language in East Java. A concluding discussion shows how a multi-dimensional understanding of radio language can provide important information on speech communities in-flux.
References (42)
Alip, F. (1993). Social norms and variation in language choice: The case of English-speaking students in Java . Unpublished doctoral dissertation. State University of New York, Stony Brook.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Asiawaves. (2008). Radio Stations in Malang, East Java . Retrieved December 7, 2009, from [URL]
Bell, A. (1982). Radio: The style of news language. Journal of Communication , 32(1), 150–164. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1984). Language style as audience design. Language in Society , 131, 145–204. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1990). Audience and referee design in New Zealand media language. In A. Bell & J. Holmes (Eds.), New Zealand ways of speaking English (pp. 165–194). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1991). The language of news media . Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2001). Back in style: Reworking audience design. In P. Eckert & J. Rickford (Eds.), Style and sociolinguistic variation (pp. 139–160). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coupland, N. (2001a). Language, situation, and the relational self: Theorizing dialect-style in sociolinguistics. In P. Eckert & J. Rickford (Eds.), Style and sociolinguistic variation (pp. 185–210). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2001b). Dialect stylization in radio language. Language in Society , 30(3), 345–375. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2007). Style: Language variation and identity . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Custillas-Espinosa, J., & Hernandez-Campoy, J. (2006). Nonresponsive reporting in radio broadcasting: A case study. Language Variation and Change , 181, 317–330.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Economist Intelligence Unit. (2008). Indonesia: Population. EIU Views Wire. Retrieved January 14, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database.
Effendi, A. (2007). On diminishing local expressions in Javanese. Paper presented at the First International Symposium on the Languages of Java , Semarang, Indonesia.
Errington, J. (1998). Shifting languages: Interaction and identity in Javanese Indonesia . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis . London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. (1959). Diglossia. Word , 151, 325–340. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Florey, M. (2001). Language shift and the demise of indigenous knowledge. In T. Ammerlaan, M. Hulsen, H. Strating, & K. Yagmur (Eds.), Sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic perspectives in maintenance and loss of minority languages (pp. 109–125). Münster: Waxmann.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goffman, E. (1981). Forms of talk . Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ibrihim, I. (2007). Budaya Populer Sebagai Komunikasi: Dinamika Popscape dan Mediascape di Indonesia Kontemporer . Yogyakarta: Jalasutra.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kakiailatu, T. (2007). Media in Indonesia: Forum for political change and critical assessment. Asia Pacific Viewpoint , 48(1), 60–71. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kurniasih, Y. (2006). Gender, class and language preferences: A case study in Yogyakarta. In K. Allan (Ed.), Selected Papers from the 2005 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society . Clayton, Australia: Monash University Press. Retrieved October 14, 2007, from [URL]
Labov, W. (2001). Principles of linguistic change: Social factors . Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lindsay, J. (1997). Radio and local identities in Indonesia. Indonesia , 641, 105–123. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Manns, H. (2011). Style, stance and identity in Java . Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McDaniel, D. (1994). Broadcasting in the Malay world . Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nugroho, I. (2005). Local television stations develop at faster rate in greater Malang area. The Jakarta Post , August, 29, 2005.
Oetomo, D. (1990). The Bahasa Indonesia of the middle class. Prisma , 501, 68–79.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rafferty, E. (1982). Discourse structures of the Chinese Indonesian of Malang . Jakarta: NUSA-Studies in Indonesian and Languages in Indonesia, Atma Jaya University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rogers, A., Jones, B., Partida, V., & Muhidin, S. (2007). Inferring migration flows from the migration propensities of infants: Mexico and Indonesia. Annual Register of Science , 411, 443–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sabarini, P. (2007). Linguists in Bali urge mass media to use good Indonesian. JakartaPost . Retrieved October 6, 2008, from [URL]
Sen, K. (2003). Radio days: Media-politics in Indonesia. The Pacific Review , 16(4), 573–589. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sen, K., & Hill, D. (2000). Media, culture and politics in Indonesia . Jakarta: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith-Hefner, N. (2007). Youth language, gaul sociability and the new Indonesian middle class. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology , 17(2), 184–203. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2009). Language shift, gender, and ideologies of modernity in Central Java, Indonesia. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology , 19(1), 57–77. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sneddon, J. (2003a). The Indonesian language . Sydney: The University of New South Wales.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2003b). Diglossia in Indonesian. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde , 1591, 519–549. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2006). Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian . Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stuart-Smith, J. (2006). The influence of media on language. In C. Llamas, P. Stockwell, & L. Mullany (Eds.), The Routledge companion to sociolinguistics (pp. 140–148). London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Suryadi. (2005). Media and the margins: Radio in Pekanbaru, Riau (Indonesia). Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , 36(1), 131–151. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tempo. (2005). Television: Regional Euphoria. Tempo . Retrieved January 14, 2009, from ProQuest Asian Business and Reference database.
Trudgill, P. (1986). Dialects in contact . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolff, J., & Poedjosoedarmo, S. (1982). Communicative codes in central Java (Vol. 81). Cornell, New York: Southeast Asia Program, Dept. of Asian Studies, Cornell University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Bashori, Muzakki
2025. Lost in leisure? The decline of Javanese language use in Indonesia. International Journal of Multilingualism ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Dewi, Udiana Puspa & Zane Goebel
2023. Discursive valuing practices at the periphery: Javanese use on Indonesian youth radio in multilingual Solo. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2023:283 ► pp. 113 ff. DOI logo
Brown, Michael, Askhat Yerkimbay & Karlyga Myssayeva
2017. Radio and the Development of Kazakh as a National Language. Journal of Radio & Audio Media 24:1 ► pp. 161 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue