Requests by Australian learners of Indonesian

Abstract

This study is an investigation of how Australian learners perform requests in Bahasa Indonesia in everyday situations. Bahasa Indonesia (henceforth BI, or Indonesian), is the national language of Indonesia, and is spoken by the majority of Indonesians (cf. Nababan 1991). For most speakers it is learned as a second language, either formally at school, or informally through the community. However, there is an increasing trend for Indonesians to speak BI as a first language (cf. Nababan 1991). While speakers of BI vary in proficiency, Indonesians who have finished high school are fully proficient in the language, and for most speakers it is “the language of ordinary, everyday communication” (Worsley 1993: 7) . The main objectives of this study are as follows: to provide a detailed preliminary description of the requesting behaviour of Australian learners and native speakers of BI in everyday situations, to offer explanations for the similarities and differences between the behaviour of the two groups, and to determine what the behaviour of these learners tells us about how learners perform requests, and speech acts more widely, in a second language (L2)