Transcript Language and Development in the Postnationalist Era William A

Language and Development in the
Postnationalist Era
William A Foley
University of Sydney
‘utterances are not only signs to be
understood …; they are also signs of
wealth… and signs of authority’
-Pierre Bourdieu (1991)
Herder’s Equation Localized
‘one land, one people, one language’
-Indonesian Youth Pledge (1928)
1 ... manaku
bertumpah darah yang satu, tanah
acknowledge shed
blood that one ground
air
Indonesia
water Indonesia
‘acknowledge one motherland, the soil and water of
Indonesia
2 … manaku
berbangsa yang satu, Indonesia
acknowledge nationality that one Indonesia
‘acknowledge belonging to one nation, Indonesia’
3. … menjunjung bahasa persatuan, bahasa Indonesia
respect
language association language Indonesia
‘respect the language of association, Indonesian’
Important Meaning Difference
Youth Pledge uses:
persatuan – ‘association, club’, built on
satu ‘one’
NOT:
penyatuan – ‘unification, joining’, also built
on satu ‘one’
The two words give a very different perspective on the
process of nation building and development: there are
different paths to becoming ‘one’.
Per capita GDP 2014
90,000
80,000
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
Singapore
Philippines
Thai translations for ‘fair’ (Diller, p.c.)
tham ‘law, cosmic order’ < Pali dhamma,
Sanskrit dharma This is much closer to
English ‘just’ than ‘fair’: pen tham be law ‘just’, yutti
tham resolve law ‘justice, just’ (law and court
word)
thuuk1 ‘correct, right’ (used for answers to
questions or solutions to problems)
koong ‘cheat’ or ao priap1 ‘taking advantage’
(used in games or weighted scales or inflated prices)
Indonesian translations for ‘fair’ (Arka,
p.c.)
adil ‘just, unbiased, equal’ within given norms of
deals between people of punishment or reward
to treat equally: ayah berlaku adil kepada
anaknya ‘father applies fair to his children’
*perjanjian/upah/harga adil ‘fair deal/wage/
price’
perjanjian/upah/harga pantas ’ ‘fair deal/wage/
price’ (pantas means ‘proper, suitable,
adequate, fit’)
Indonesian translations for ‘fair’ (Arka,
p.c.)
Was it really fair to him when we told him to do
all the work himself?
Apakan sesungguhnya pantas/adil kita suruh dia
melakukan semua pekerjaan itu sendiri?
pantas: if we question the acceptability of such a
request relative to the expectation
adil: if we question the acceptability of such a
request judged in terms of the distribution of
workload and the same levels of wages paid to
other employees, who were at the same time
not working as hard as John