The Revival of Balinese Language
Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 by Sidarta WijayaBalinese language, nowadays, is experiencing a rapid revival from a hibernating condition before the establishment of regional autonomy. Before the regional autonomy is established, it was used to be taboo to use Balinese in schools or governmental offices and Balinese language did not appear in any media of mass communication. But after the regional autonomy have been established, Balinese language begins to be used widely in television, radio and newspaper (a supplement in Balinese language now appears in Bali Post), and there is a growing interest in studying Balinese language, in 2001, only 7 Balinese applied in Balinese Language Department of Udayana University, in 2006, more than 30 Balinese applied to this department.
An interesting phenomenon occurs in the revival of Balinese language. There are attempts to invent Balinese terms for things that could only be expressed in Indonesian, such as inventing expressions of “good morning/afternoon/night” in Balinese (rahajeng semeng / sore / wengi), in phrasings copied from Indonesian models. Some Balinese find these newly introduced expressions are very amusing, because these are high language forms heard mostly in media; they still sound forced to many Balinese.
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