Discursive valuing practices at the periphery: Javanese use on Indonesian youth radio in multilingual Solo

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand how languages are discursively identified and valued within a youth radio station in Solo, Indonesia. This study seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge on the dynamic relationship between the national language, Bahasa Indonesia, and the local language, Javanese, by utilizing a social value and centre-periphery lens to approach continuity and change in present-day Central Java. Valuing practices are observed by examining the situated use of linguistic features and norms of their use within specific social practice (radio programming). From June 2020 to July 2020, a total of 120 h of radio content was recorded for analysis. Analysis showed that valuing practices emerged in response to the use of linguistic features within different radio segments of the program. The formation of participatory frameworks in the periphery and the evaluative commentaries accompanying them contributed to the construction of norms for using these linguistic features. Our analysis shows how paying attention to evaluative practices can highlight how the value of sets of linguistic features emerge, circulate, and are transformed within the media practices in the periphery.