Indonesian Terms of Address in a Situation of Rapid Social Change

Abstract

Terms of address reflect, perhaps more than other parts of speech, the ideological basis of a society's status structure. Therefore, if that society has undergone, or is undergoing, rapid social changes, it is to be expected that linguistic changes will become evident in many areas but specifically in that of social relations. It is vitally important to know the right terms of approach to one's equals, one's superiors, and one's inferiors. This study traces the social and political changes that took place in Indonesia during the past century up to the present, and examines some of the linguistic changes that accompanied them. It was found that, whereas prewar terms of address reflected regional diversity and the status categories of feudal and colonial times, the modern terminology shows a tendency toward unification and greater equality. If language is an integral part of social structure, reflecting as well as influencing that structure's basic categories and values, we may expect very noticeable changes in linguistic usage in periods of rapid social change. This does not necessarily mean that such linguistic/semantic changes will emerge at exactly the same time that significant changes are arising in the political, economic or other aspects of society. They may precede such changes or lag behind. It would, however, be highly unlikely if rapid changes in the social structure would not be accompanied by any changes in linguistic usage.