Diglossia : a case in Papuan Malay and Bahasa Indonesia?

When finishing the chapter 1 of Mesthrie’s “Introducing Sociolinguistics”, there is a big question in my mind about diglossia. This question comes into mind when I think about my dialect in my home country, Indonesia. I was brought up in a town in Bird’s head peninsula in West Papua, Indonesia, and when I was a child, I thought that I spoke Indonesian language. However, in fact, the language that I have spoken that merely a dialect called ‘Papuan Malay’; this term coined several years ago when there were some linguistic researches about the language spoken in my area. For your information, in West Papua area, I study the national language known as Bahasa Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia, to some extent, is known as the modern modified Malay with abundantly loanwords from Sanskrit, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Arabic, English, and other tribal languages. I have studied and learned Bahasa Indonesia since I was in primary school, while when I was at home, my family and I as well as the community around me spoke the dialect known as Papuan Malay; it has served as the lingua franca of trading in the area to communicate with tribes in West Papua since circa 17^th centuries or before the integration to Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia, otherwise, is the language used at school, government, and any formal situation especially concerning to academic writing.

Mesthrie’s explanation about Ferguson’s Diglossia and ‘Fishman’s extension’ (Mesthrie, 2009: 39 – 40), to some extent, makes me think about my dialect and national language ‘Bahasa Indonesia’, whether Papuan Malay is simply a dialect in terms of ‘standard versus dialect’ arrangement or the  situation when the diglossia occurs? I also wonder about the possibility that one dialect, at first is just a dialect in such non-diglossic society but when there is a change in society, let’s say because of political circumstance leading to diglossia occurrence, or vice versa. Is that possible?

Regarding to the hints in the textbook, the two distinctions proposed by Ferguson about diglossia can be used to describe the situation of the dialect used in my area especially the second hint that mentions “the relationship between standard and dialect is typically a close one, and it is not always easy to draw the line between the two. Again, in contrast the H and L forms of diglossia have distinct grammars which are almost like those of different language.” (Mesthrie, 1999: 39). It is because, in the case of Papuan Malay comparing to Bahasa Indonesia, it is so easy to distinguish between the standard and dialect, for example in terms of its morpho-syntactical structure. It is really clear, let’say, when addressing question to another person as well in addressing the possession of someone.

To illustrate my questions, I would like to give two simple sentences and its literal gloss written in my dialect and in Bahasa Indonesia (both formal and informal) about the case of interrogative form and possessive pronoun. In my dialect, we cannot form any question without using double-pronoun.

Example #1.
Papuan Malay
(…*) – ko – mo – pi – kemana?       Or   (…*) ko – pi – mana?
 (…*)  – you – want – go – where?              ( …) you – go – where?

Bahasa Indonesia (formal form)
Ke mana – kau – akan/hendak – pergi?
Where – you – will – go?

Or

(…**) ke mana – kau – akan/ hendak – pergi? (…**)
(…**) Where – you – will – go

Bahasa Indonesia (informal form)
Mau – ke mana, – (kamu**)?
Want – where – (you)?

Or

Kamu – mau – (pergi***) ke mana?
You – want – where?

English
Where do you go?/ Where are you going?

Notes:
*: In my dialect, the (*) refers to any name of the addressee or socially accepted term we can use to address i.e. uncle, sister and so forth

** In this example refers to the addressee (name or socially accepted addressee term). It can be put in the initial position or in the final position.

*** In this example the words ke mana ‘where’ embedded the meaning of go.


Example #2
The possessive pronoun in use

a. Singular form

Papuan Malay
Ini – sa – pu – buku.
 This/ it – I – have – book

Bahasa Indonesia (formal form)
Ini – bukuku.
This /it – book.poss.1Sg

Or

Ini – buku – saya/ aku (informal form)
It is – book – 1^st sing.

b. Plural form

Papuan Malay
Ini – dorang/ dong – pu – buku.
 This/ it – they – have – book

Bahasa Indonesia (formal and informal)
Ini – buku – mereka.
This /it – book.poss.3^rd plural

http://ling6002.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/diglossia-a-case-in-papuan-malay-and-bahasa-indonesia/