International Journal Of Education

Abstrak
In Indonesia, language endangerment is primarily related to language shift. Data show that
the most important symptoms of language shift and of the vitality of a language are number
and quality of the domains in which it is used and transmitted. The second crucial symptom
of language endangerment is the loss of transmission from one generation to the next. This is
what is now being seen in many communities across Indonesia where children are no longer
acquiring their parents’ language. There are two general endangerment scenarios that have
occurred in Indonesia. The first is the immigration scenario in which members of another
speech community from outside the area move in and due to economic and political advantage
essentially ‘take over’ a local speech community, imposing their own language. The second is
the emigration scenario in which members of a local speech community temporarily migrate
outside of the community for education or work, and on returning bring the dominant language
from outside into the community. Finally, we can now find in many parts of Indonesia that
social changes including economic, educational and political contexts, promote a shift from
local to dominant language.