After reading this book by Kuipers I felt it deserved a review that would make at least honest attempt to give proper credit for the wonderful insights that the author makes in this book. This past semester I have been obligated to read books on linguistics and culture, and this is the extent of my knowledge in linguistics, nothing more. Prior to reading this book by Kuipers, the previous books that I have read in linguistics have been somewhat hard to follow for me personally, however, with Kuipers book I felt as though it was making one point after another which with a much easier flow, making it easier to follow. I will now try to give you a brief summary of this book as I see it.
Kuipers brings together years of fieldwork and research, he specifically looks at culture and language in Indonesia. The Weyewa is an ethnic group that lives on the island of Sumba and that have brought poetic speech as a form of expression. Kuipers explains the rise of the Indonesian language as a dominant language and we see the changes that effect the Weyewa culture, especially their traditional form of speech which results in outrage and frustration by the smaller communities who do not want to adopt the Indonesian language in place of their developed speech pattern. .
In chapter 3, the paragraph begins with "Scholarly literature on language "shift" and language "death" often makes these changes appear to be impersonal, structural processes. But this book shows of course, speakers are occasionally depicted as sad and angry or dismayed -retrospectively- about the loss of their language." (Pg. 42) Mostly powerful individuals in the Sumbanese community expressed this form of anger through public ritual ceremonies.
This book analyzes the process of language change within a culture and allows us to understand the change of identity that follows. This book should not be read if you are looking for a action packed roller coaster of events, but should be considered if one is looking for linguistic insights and explanations for self identity in a culture, as well as a historic overview of the Sumbanese culture.
