Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: English Prestige in Indonesia in The Light of Diglossia

ENGLISH PRESTIGE IN INDONESIA IN THE LIGHT OF
DIGLOSSIA
Vincentius Stevian Yudhistira

Abstract
Recently the government made a policy that removes English from
primary school’s curriculum. The government said that the reason behind this
policy is because English has become more prestigious than Bahasa Indonesia.
The present study investigates English prestige in Indonesia using Ferguson’s
(1959) typical diglossic distribution table by distributing questionnaires to 5
universities in Java that represent all university students in Indonesia. The
result was compared to Ferguson’s (1959) typical diglossic distribution table.
The result indicates that English have not yet reached higher prestige than
Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia. The main reason is because after comparing the
gained data and Ferguson’s (1959) typical diglossic distribution table, most of
the participant chose that English is rarely used in the given domains. The
result can be used for consideration to the government’s policy in removing
English subject from elementary school.
Key words: Diglossia, Prestige, Prestige Shift