Language modernization needs collective effort

Language modernization needs collective effort

By A. Chaedar Alwasilah

BANDUNG (JP): People living in the modern world may claim that
they speak a modern language or, at least, consider it as
undergoing modernization.

Modernization entails an ongoing process with five
characteristics: Societies become increasingly urban, the size
and density of the population increases, the divisions of labor
become more specialized, the knowledge base becomes more
specialized and industry overshadows agriculture. Language
modernization is gauged by the extent the language facilitates or
reflects the above five characteristics.

Economically, the dramatic population increase in this country
has been anticipated on the one hand with concerns and anxiety.
On the other hand, this increase sociolinguistically implies an
increased number of Indonesian speakers, thus contributing to the
increased popularity and vitality of the language.

Urbanization has been a social phenomenon in this country.
Employment created by industries in cities, especially those in
Java, has attracted people from remote areas. Many unskilled
workers leave the agricultural sectors behind come to industrial
cities to find an even harder life.

As sociolinguists see it, the industrial workplace promotes
not only the use of common language but also the contact of
languages. Workers with different native languages are bound to
speak a common language, namely, Indonesian. By dint of industry
people become more active and competent bilingual speakers. In
the long run, however, they will prefer to use Indonesian as the
dominant language to the neglect of less dominant languages.

Theoretically, the more industrialized a country becomes, the
more likely it is to be linguistically homogeneous. This
hypothesis holds true when juxtaposing industrialized and
developing countries. By way of comparison, look at the group of
seven (G-7) industrialized and developed countries: the United
States, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Britain and Japan. They
all share a commonality -- relative homogeneity in terms of
national culture, religion and language.

Meanwhile, developing countries -- most Asian and African
countries -- demonstrate just the opposite -- relative
heterogeneity in terms of national culture, religion and
language. We often boast with emotional pride of Indonesia as a
multicultural, multireligious and multilingual archipelago, thus
affirming the homogeneity-heterogeneity hypothesis. Apparently,
there is a correlation between the degree of multilingualism and
that of modernization.

Language modernization presupposes the extensive use of
language among a population. Consequently, the more modernized
the country becomes, the more likely its population becomes
monolingual. The minor languages or vernaculars will
automatically be sidelined, allowing the national language to be
the common language of modern daily communication. Many do not
expect this to happen, but that is the price of modernization and
industrialization a country has to pay.

Language modernization implies a collective and elaborate
effort to make the language an appropriate medium of
communication for modern life. As indicated above, new topics and
specializations are characteristics of modernization discourse.
The modern language should be expressive enough to describe these
topics and specializations.

Consequently, varieties of the Indonesian language come into
existence, such as Indonesian for business, science, technology,
laws and commercial activities, all of which are subsumed under
the umbrella of Indonesian for specific purposes (ISP). ISP,
therefore, is worth an autonomous study and should be given
emphasis in the curriculum of College Indonesian, commonly called
Mata Kuliah Dasar Umum Bahasa Indonesia (general Indonesian
course).

The orientation of modern societies toward knowledge,
technology, production and specialization of labor as elaborated
above, stimulates linguistic elaboration. New knowledge and
technology demand new terms. Likewise, new professional
organizations demand new genres or forms of discourse. The
publication of standardized grammar books, general as well as
professional dictionaries (banking, accountancy, laws, education,
etc.), manuals and professional journals is inevitable in
modernizing a language.

Language elaboration is often exchangeable with language
cultivation. The latter suggests the idea of treating matters of
correctness, efficiency, register specialization and style,
especially in developed languages. Many language planners embrace
the idea of language modernization as elaboration and cultivation
of language. The role of pembinaan (cultivation) and pengembangan
(development) of national languages (Indonesian and vernaculars)
is officially delegated to the Center for Language Cultivation
and Development.

Discussing modernization will be incomplete without mentioning
the role played by English as the world's most important
language. English has played a significant role in modernizing
not only its own country, but also the world in general.
Nowadays, English is the major medium of scientific publications,
politics, economy and trade. It is apt to hypothesize that
modernizing the country implies a collective effort of the
population to acquire English. Many go even further to
hypothesize that mastering English is the only way to modernize
Indonesian language.

The hypothesis suggests that modern people have a modern
outlook of the world and outward-looking orientation, think and
behave critically and creatively, and -- basic to all the
characteristics -- use science and technology as a point of
departure in almost every aspect of life.

To be modern, one has to develop a reasonable degree of modern
literacy to function maximally in the industrialized society. To
meet all of these challenges, one has to virtually master
English.

From the discussions above, a set of principles of language
modernization and their educational implications follow.

* Modernization is the transition from traditional to modern
principles of economic, political and social organization.
Language modernization then implies the attempted creativity,
flexibility and appropriateness of the language as a medium of
modernization in the above aspects. Language, therefore,
undergoes changes and modifications so as to be commensurate with
new developments.

* Modernization is transitional, suggesting that a country
falls in the continuum between what is traditional and what is
modern. Likewise, a language falls in the same continuum between
the two extreme stages of modernization. Modernization is made
possible only through education. Modernization is, as a matter of
fact, the management of language education.

* Language reflects culture. Language modernization mirrors a
process of cultural change in three aspects -- attitude, speech
and behavior. Linguistic changes in language indicate superficial
aspects of modernization. To change the attitude is most
difficult of all. We may find people who are modern in speech but
traditional in attitude. Language modernization is essentially
educating people, namely to change their attitude toward all
attitudinal objects in their lifetime.

* Linguistically, all languages are neutral and universal in
character. They are capable of generating infinite sentences by
dint of a finite set of grammatical rules. The traditional-modern
dichotomy is irrelevant as applied to language. It is an
anthropological dichotomy to describe the society. It is true
that some cultures have new concepts in technology, such as
supersonic jets and computers, which have no immediate equivalent
in primitive cultures.

* Modernization is a collective effort by the whole
population. Modern and effective communication is dependent on a
high literacy rate among the population. Mass communication
through the mass media is a form of language modernization, which
is a matter of necessity for modernization.

Everybody agrees that we are already entering the third
millennium. To compete globally, we are now modernizing the
nation through education. The degree of modernization is
commensurate with how much we invest in education.

The writer is a senior lecturer at the graduate school of the
Teachers Training College (IKIP) in Bandung.