Recent research in the area of family language policy (FLP) has provided a fresh “bottom-up” perspective that contrasts with the long-standing “top-down” view of language policy (Spolsky, 2012). Previous work in this area has focused on transnational and immigrant families rather than on multilingual societies (e.g. Schwartz et al., 2010; King, 2016). Focusing on the setting of Indonesia, where multilingualism is the norm, the present study investigates FLP stemming from parents’ language attitudes and child-parent communication patterns using Spolsky’s (2004) three aspects of language policy: ideology, management, and practice.
This analysis draws from a survey of 100 multilingual families in East Java, Indonesia. Among these respondents, 50% speak Javanese, 25% Madurese, and 25% Sundanese as their heritage language (HL). These families also speak Indonesian, the national language, and many also have knowledge of English, often used in academic and written domains. The survey investigates parents’ attitudes to these languages in relation to their language practices at home.
Considerable discrepancies are found between parents’ ideologies and practices. Most notably, parents’ positive attitudes towards HLs contrast with their actual use during parent-child communication. While 81% of respondents grew up using HLs, and participants generally attribute positive qualities to HLs and report that they would like their children to learn them, only 27% of respondents report actually speaking in the HLs with their children; 73% have shifted to using Indonesian at home.
These findings are in line with previous work suggesting that, in spite of having millions of speakers, Javanese and other HLs are rapidly becoming endangered as Indonesians overwhelmingly shift to speaking Indonesian with the next generation (Ravindranath & Cohn, 2014). More generally, the survey supports claims that language ideologies and practices are often inconsistent (Choi, 2003; Kopeliovich, 2010); positive attitudes towards a language do not necessarily translate into increased use.
References
Choi, J.K. (2003). Language attitudes and the future of bilingualism: The case of Paraguay, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 6(2), 81-94.
Spolsky, B. (2004). Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spolsky, B. (2012). Family language policy – the critical domain, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 33(1), 3-11.
