Shifting Patterns of Language Use in Borneo: Papers from the Second Bi-Ennial International Conference, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, July, 1992. Proceedings Series Volume No. Three Borneo has stimulated much interest in the media in recent years. Issues such as logging and the effects of shifting cultivation on the environment, and the plight of some indigenous groups have received a great deal of coverage in the international press. A wide range of peoples, including scholars and politicians, have aired their views about the large-scale social, cultural, political and economic changes that have taken place and are continuing to take place on the island of Borneo. One subject, though, which has received little attention to date, is the effect of these large-scale changes on the linguistic make-up of the island. Not only do we have a very rudimentary knowledge of the languages of Borneo, but little has been written about the patterns of communication on the island. Our lack of knowledge of the linguistic situation in Borneo (see, for example, Cense & Uhlenbeck, 1958; Rousseau, 1990:49) is especially unfortunate in view of the drastic changes that are occurring on the island. There has been an increase in mobility and a rapid movement of peoples away from the rural areas to the urban centers on the coast. In a relatively short space of time, after years of relative isolation, the communities of the interior are coming into close contact with the coastal population. In other words, the human ecology of Borneo has changed dramatically and the process appears to be proceeding unabated. At the same time, the linguistic ecology of Borneo has been altered. Contact between different language communities has increased, and new social networks have been set up. Within this ecological framework, some languages have not survived, others have changed and new patterns of communication have emerged. This volume attempts to describe some of these new patterns of language use.

Shifting Patterns of Language Use in Borneo

Reference

Martin, Peter W.

Words, Language & Grammar

Borneo Research Council

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Books by Martin, Peter W.

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Shifting Patterns of Language Use in Borneo