Talking north: the journey of Australia’s first Asian language

Abstract

ences in the examples provided. The target readership of this dictionary is primarily native speakers of Indonesian. This is not a foreign language dictionary and there are no English translations. Apart from the preface, it is purely in Indonesian language. Neither are there definitions of lexical items, as in a conventional dictionary. While the formatting of an alphabetically listed array of lexical items resembles a traditional dictionary, closer examination of the content reveals the demonstration of each word in complete sentences. The focus is clearly on the use of prepositional phrases and the applicability of everyday prepositions. In this sense, content resembles a repository of sentence constructions, yet one framed in the alphabetical formatting of a dictionary. The preface suggests the intended audience includes linguists, researchers, language learners and teachers, writers and Natural Language Processing (NLP) developers of artificial intelligence software. I can also see this book being a useful reference for the growing number of foreign academics who have a strong interest in developing Indonesian language skills and other high-level users of Indonesian language such as translators. A potentially larger audience would lie in the burgeoning number of Indonesian university students who seek to develop academic writing skills and the significant number of editors and translators in Indonesia, particularly those engaged in translating other languages into Indonesian. While there is no explicit claim to aiding translating, this dictionary provides an array of modelling of contemporary Indonesian language. It is likely to serve as a valuable repository and useful reference for matters of syntax, grammar and vocabulary choice to do with Indonesian prepositional constructions. While its coverage of different registers is of interest, it is likely to be most beneficial in aiding writers when dealing with formal, standard varieties of Indonesian language. As it is freely available online, this resource is likely to be widely used.