Abstract

This study, conducted in Indonesia, aimed to explore the speech patterns employed by youths in their usage of local languages and Bahasa Indonesia as the official and national language of Indonesia, as well as to investigate their language attitudes within this multilingual environment. Real-time language usage data was collected through participative observation involving a total of 78 participants and 120 participants for the questionnaires. The participants comprised students from the eastern regions of Indonesia (Ambon, Mataram, and Kupang) and Javanese students from three universities: Merdeka University of Malang, Tribhuwana Tunggadewi University, and Kanjuruhan University of Malang. The students were in their second semester at the time of the study. The findings revealed the status of language shift when Javanese and students from the eastern part of Indonesia endeavored to communicate in their local languages, accommodate others’ languages, and utilize Bahasa Indonesia as the national language or official language. It was observed that a majority of Javanese students conversed predominantly in Javanese on a daily basis, especially the male students. On the other hand, female Javanese students exhibited a preference for speaking more in Bahasa Indonesia than in Javanese. Students from East Indonesia, such as those from Ambon, tended to follow a similar pattern. Adopting divergent, convergent, or hybrid language strategies became imperative to enhance the significance of both local and national languages.