Language Contestation on The Virtual Linguistic Landscape of The Government Website of Bali, Indonesia

Abstract

National, local, and international language contestation in Bali has been the government’s concern. The national language policy places Indonesian in the most prominent position, and the local regulation allegedly focuses on the Balinese salience. While most linguistic landscape (LL) research in Bali is conducted on physical LL, few have been conducted on the virtual linguistic landscape (VLL) setting. This study shows the language contestation of Indonesian, Balinese, and foreign languages on the official website of the government of Bali province. Furthermore, the analysis was based on the language contestation point of view and Bakhtinian’s centripetal and centrifugal forces. The results showed that the Indonesian language is the most dominant. Additionally, the Balinese language functions to convey Bali’s identity, and foreign languages play an important role in informational functions for viewers. The Indonesian language represents the centripetal force of centralization, and the existence of Balinese and foreign languages shows the centrifugal force indexes the decentralization efforts.