Variation and contact-induced change in Javanese phonology among multilingual children in Indonesia

Abstract

As Indonesian becomes more dominant in Indonesia, regional heritage languages, such as Javanese, may be increasingly influenced by phonological transfer. The extent of these effects may depend upon a speaker’s region and social background, as well as age of acquisition and proficiency in various languages. This study investigates the impact of these factors on the Javanese production among multilingual children in East Java. Specifically, we analyze the distinction between dental and retroflex coronal stops (/t̪/ /d̪̥ /, /ʈ/, /ɖ̥/), which phonemically contrast in Javanese, but not in Indonesian. The data were elicited from 95 children in Malang, a large urban center, and Blitar, a smaller city. The findings indicate that Javanese is shifting to a two-way contrast comparable to that of Indonesian; female and Malang speakers lead in this change. These findings highlight the significance of social factors in children’s language acquisition, and illustrate ongoing changes in Javanese.