The linguistic landscape of Indonesia is rich and dynamic. Home to about 700 languages, roughly ten percent of the languages of the world, it offers a wonderful case study for language documentation, multilingualism, emerging new varieties, and, sadly, concerns about language endangerment. Remarkably, in a span of less than 100 years, Indonesian has emerged as a major world language spoken as a first or second language by some 260 million people. Standard Indonesian has been instantiated and developed as a national language, resulting in an increasing number of Indonesians reporting use of Indonesian as a primary language. Along the way, Indonesian has been in contact with hundreds of other languages of Indonesia (both Austronesian and non-Austronesian), colonial languages, as well as a range of other Malay and Malay-based varieties spoken as lingua francas throughout the archipelago. The outcomes of language contact across Indonesia are varied. In some instances, increased knowledge and use of Indonesian is implicated in a shift toward monolingualism and growing endangerment of the local languages of Indonesia, many of which are under-described and under-documented. At the same time, some language varieties are maintained, and yet new varieties (colloquial spoken varieties, regional koines, creoles, and pidgins) are emerging, shifting the multilingual landscape and the socio- indexical features of different language varieties.
The study of linguistics in the Indonesian context is thus largely centered on the focal areas that emerge from the above: language documentation and description, language use in multilingual contexts, language endangerment and vitality, and emerging varieties of spoken Indonesian. Studying the languages of Indonesia in a multifaceted way provides not only critical insight into this rich linguistic landscape, it also offers an opportunity to inform the field of linguistics relevant to the understanding of language ecologies and broader trends in language change and use. We will use these four areas as focal points for the conference as we aim to understand the current state of the field and look to its future, exploring questions such as:
Language documentation and description • What is the state of language documentation and description of the languages of Indonesia, including new varieties? • How does documentation contribute to language description and linguistic typology and vice versa? • What are the best practices for documenting and describing the languages of Indonesia?
Language endangerment and vitality • How should we think about language endangerment and shift in the context of Indonesia? • What are the factors that support the maintenance of local languages and what factors accelerate language shift? • How can we characterize language endangerment scenarios in Indonesia? • What models of language maintenance or revitalization do we have in Indonesia?
Emerging varieties of spoken Indonesian • How can we provide much needed documentation of emerging spoken varieties? Are there shared features of emerging varieties that are unexpected cross-linguistically? • Are emerging varieties of spoken Indonesian stable? And what is the interaction between regional/emerging Indonesian varieties and established Malay, Malayic, and Malay-based varieties? • What is the role of a suprastratal language that has few to no native speakers? What role do new regional koines play in local language ecologies?
Therefore, we are hosting Indonesian Languages and Linguistics: State of the Field conference.
In addition to the conference, we will host Professional Development Event prior to the conference. The event targets graduate students and junior scholars and will be in the forms of roundtable discussions and individual consultation.
The roundtables discussion will cover the following topics: • Submitting abstracts to conferences • Writing a research proposal • Applying for a PhD program abroad • The research article publishing process • Online persona and presences
Date and Venue InLaLi: February 16-18, 2020 at Yustinus Building 15th Fl, Semanggi Campus, Atma Jaya Cathoilc University.
Professional Development Event: February 16, 2020 at Yustinus Building 14th Fl, Semanggi Campus, Atma Jaya Cathoilc University.
Speakers:
Speakers include invited speakers and speakers by abstracts.
They are among others:
Jermy I. Balukh (STIBA Cakrawala Nusantara Kupang); Thomas Conners (University of Maryland) ; Dwi Noverini Djenar (The University of Sydney) ; J.Joseph Errington (Yale University) ; Michael Ewing (The University of Melbourne) ; David Gil (Max Planck Institute) ; Marian Klamer (Leiden University) ; Eri Kurniawan (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia) ; Allan F Lauder (University Indonesia) ; Multamia RMT Lauder (University Indonesia) ; Bradley McDonnell (University of Hawai’i at Mãnoa) ; Nicholas Palreyman (University of Central Lancashire) ; Bambang Kaswanti Purwo (UNIKA Atma Jaya) ; Sonja Riesberg (University of Cologne, Germany) ; Asako Shiohara (ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Study) ; Antonia Soriente (University of Naples 'L'Orientale) ; Kristian Tamtomo (Atma Jaya University, Yogyakarta) ; Yanti (UNIKA Atma Jaya)
We expect to have a total of 60 presenters and participants for InLaLi and 25 participants for professional development event.
Organizing committee: Abigail C. Cohn (Cornell University) ; Yanti (UNIKA Atma Jaya) ; Thomas Conners (University of Maryland) ; J. Joseph Errington (Yale University) ; Maya Ravindranath Abtahian (University of Rochester) ; Asako Shiohara (ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies).
