Where are you, Indonesian linguists?

If you bother to google this phrase “Indonesian Linguistics”, I bet you wouldn’t be able to get as much info as you had expected. Surprising, right? Why? There are some probable explanations.

One is that Indonesian linguists have done close to nothing to publish what they’ve done and are doing. I believe they’ve gotten a lot to share. But they simply don’t want to or don’t know how to or don’t even care why should. It’s so pathetic if the latter is regrettably true. I hope not.

Why do I care? It’s because as an Indonesian, I feel ashamed of the fact that I can't keep myself posted with what my fellow Indonesian linguists have been doing so far. Google is the evidence. Nothing will barely show up when you type in “Indonesian linguistics” in the Google search bar. Or, if you have access to international journal websites of any sort, try to look for “Indonesian linguistics” or the like, I bet you'll get nothing.

The second explanation could be that Indonesian linguists indeed have done nothing in linguistics so they have nothing to publish. Though it sounds rather skeptical, it might be true. My reasoning is if they did something and they think that was important, then they’ll find ways to promote it; otherwise what they did will be unheard and thus wind up being useless. Why bother to do something like research if you keep what you’ve gotten with yourself? How do people get to know you? Plausible, right? Third possibility is that they don’t know the global language, i.e. English, so that their work is written in Indonesian or local languages. It’s probably true. Other than in Bali, it’s kind of hard to find an area in which English is used massively. Moreover, in some rural areas, it’s likely that you can hardly find a person speaking any other languages but their native language. So, Indonesian linguists might somehow have willingness to ‘market’ their work, yet the language barriers deter them from doing so. Another possibility is that they are blind to internet so that they have no idea how to publish their work online. There’s no hassle in doing this, actually. All you need to know is some basic stuff of the internet: things like blogging, social networking sites, etc. That way, you can plug yourself into the global world. People will then know that you exist and that you’ve been doing something that contributes to the advancement of (Indonesian) linguistics. You’ll become acknowledged and eventually get to be productive since you secure some support from the community you’re engaged in. There may be handfuls of other possibilities out there, which could explain why Indonesian linguistics seems non-existent globally. Regardless of any possibilities, though, if you’re one of those linguists or you have some care about Indonesian linguistics, one thing you can do is learn English and get your linguistic work published in English so that people will know that there is such a thing as Indonesian linguistics (by Indonesian linguists). WARNING: There may be no truth in everything I said above since you find no stated facts or supporting evidence for all the claims. So, don't take this piece of writing seriously. Tulisan menarik lainnya: Resolusi Literasi Pipis di Negerinya Obama I am a villager (read: wong ndeso) Ke Amrik Bermodalkan Mimpi? Bisa Dong!