THE CHINESE OF PASURUAN: A STUDY OF LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY IN A MINORITY COMMUNITY IN TRANSITION (SOCIOLINGUISTICS, ETHNICITY, INDONESIA).

摘要

This study examines the interrelation between language behavior and attitudes on the one hand and ethnic, sub-ethnic and class identities on the other, in a Chinese community in Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia.;It was found that although the Chinese share two major codes with the other inhabitants of Pasuruan, Javanese and Malay/Indonesian, there are sociolinguistic differences that reflect their ethnic, sub-ethnic and class identities.;To begin with, only lower-class Peranakan (the more locally acculturated) Chinese and Totok (the less locally acculturated) Chinese use Javanese as a major code in the family and among intimates. However, they only use Ngoko (low) Javanese, and the variety they speak is slightly different structurally and lexically from that spoken by ethnic Javanese, as well as marked by Malayisms and Indonesianisms.;Upper-class Peranakan do not use Javanese in the family and among intimates. Instead, they use informal neutral East Java Malay. In fact, this variety and polite East Java Malay are the common codes of the Chinese community.;Indonesian is also used, mostly in public and by indonesian-educated Chinese, especially when speaking to non-Chinese.;Another important characteristic marking the Chinese as ethnically different is the use of Chinese dialects. First-generation immigrants and some of their children speak their Chinese dialect: Hokkien, Hakka, Cantonese, Hokchiu, Hokchia or Hinghwa. In addition, Hokkien loanwords are used by almost all Chinese when speaking Javanese or Malay/Indonesian. Younger Totok, who have been educated in Mandarin, speak Mandarin with one another or use Mandarin loanwords in Javanese or Malay/Indonesian.;Upper-class Peranakan who have had Dutch-medium education speak Dutch with each other, or use Dutch loanwords in Javanese or Malay/Indonesian. Their descendants also tend to know or use these loanwords.;To conclude, the Chinese of Pasuruan, through language behavior and attitudes, signify their identity as a partially assimilated minority. Different subgroups in the community signify different sub-ethnic and class identities in the same way.