Representing the Rector of UNS, the UNS Vice-Rector for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. Ir. Ahmad Yunus, M.S., welcomed the participants of this international seminar and performance. “This event will be our joint effort in internationalizing Bahasa Indonesia’s existence to be one of the ASEAN official languages. Thank you to the invited speakers and participants who attended today’s morning seminar. This is an excellent event because aside from the seminars, there will be cultural performances to promote Indonesian culture globally,” explained Prof. Yunus.

Following Prof. Yunus’ remarks, the Dean of FKIP UNS, Dr. Mardiyana, M.Si, who at the same time opened this international seminar and cultural performance states that, “I hope this event can be an annual event as our effort to internationalize Bahasa Indonesia. For instance, establishing cooperation with various countries that share similar concerns about Bahasa Indonesia.

The Chair for the 46th UNS Anniversary, Prof. Dr. Reviono, dr., Sp.P(K), also expressed great appreciation for the organization of this event because it shows tangible evidence of UNS internationalization. He also hopes all participants can participate until the end of the event and receive abundant benefits from the knowledge gained through this seminar. After Prof. Reviono’s speech, the Chairman of the BIPA UNS Teaching and Research Committee, Dr. Kundharu Saddhono, SS, M.Hum., delivers a welcome speech.

Dr. Kundharu said that to support the internationalization of Bahasa Indonesia, the Indonesian Language and Literature Education Study Program (PBSI) FKIP has also hosted BIPA teaching practices abroad. “One of the current participants is a UNS student who was delegated to Yale University for a BIPA teaching internship program. Moreover, this event is part of UNS Key Performance Indicators (IKU) implementation through the BIPA program, hence, it will become UNS’ icon as a driver of BIPA in Indonesia,” said Dr. Kundharu.

Another welcome speech was delivered by the Head of Balai Bahasa Provinsi Jawa Tengah, Dr. Ganjar Harimansyah, who expressed his joy for this event’s implementation. He also hopes that he will be able to make Bahasa Indonesia even more successful after this event.

The event was also enlivened by the Cultural Stage delivered by BIPA Program Alumni from Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela. The event presented four invited speakers, namely, the Indonesian Language Teacher in Yale University, America, who also serves as BIPA Coordinator for Americas and Canada, Indriyo K. Sukmono; a Malay-Indonesian Language Expert from Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Tokyo, Japan, Prof. Yo Nonaka; a Senior Lecturer in Department of Philology of South-East Asia Countries, St. Petersburg State University, Russia, Banit Svetlana Viktorovna; and Function Implementer Staff for Social and Cultural Information (Pensosbud) Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) Rabat, Morocco, Mahmudin. Humas UNS

Reporter: Lina Khoirun Nisa
Editor: Dwi Hastuti

The post FKIP UNS Hosted International Seminar and Indonesia Cultural Performance appeared first on Universitas Sebelas Maret.

Four speakers were invited to the two-session seminar that received high enthusiasm from FIB students and faculty members, with a total of 90 participants from undergraduate to doctoral programs attending the international seminar.

As reported by fib.uns.ac.id, two Linguistics experts shared their expertise in the first session of the seminar. They were Prof. Wayan Arka from Australian National University and Dr. FX. Sawardi, M. Hum from FIB UNS. Prof. Wayan discussed the linguistic complexity of Bahasa Indonesia affected by time dimension, marked with the use of word ‘mau’ (want/will).

“The word “mau” in Bahasa Indonesia is complex from functional to structure,” Prof. Wayan stated in his Categorial Gradience, Grammaticalisation and Prototype Theory in Linguistic: Evidence from Indonesia Languages presentation.

The next speaker, the head of Master Program in Linguistics FIB, Dr. FX. Sawardi discussed the Language Richness and Linguistics Development in Indonesia. Dr. FX. Sawardi stated that Bahasa Indonesia has 718 languages, according to a study conducted by Badan Bahasa (Language Board) in 2019.

The second day of the seminar was spent with two speakers from foreign universities—Prof. Frank Dhont from the National Cheng Kung University and Prof. Norhayati Ab. Rahman, from Akademi Pengkajian Melayu (APM), University of Malaya (UM). Prof. Frank Dhont discussed the power to maintain and protect culture and gave an example of Semar’s character that does not exist in the original story. “But in Indonesia, Semar becomes a character that is close to the Javanese culture that brings beauty and power of a culture,” he added.

The closing discussion from Prof. Norhayati Ab. Rahman focused on the collaboration in language and literature among Southeast Asian countries and a discussion on several notable Indonesian writers, such as Rendra, Sapardi Djoko Damono, and Ajib Rosidi.

The seminar meets the expectation of Prof. Warto, the Dean of FIB UNS, who hoped that the seminar could run excitingly. Participants took turns to discuss with the invited speakers.

“I hope this international seminar could bring a warm discussion, sharing of experiences on linguistics, and improve the knowledge continuously,” Prof. Warto stated. Humas UNS

Reporter: Alinda Hardiantoro
Editor: Dwi Hastuti

The post FIB UNS International Seminar with Language and Linguistics Experts appeared first on Universitas Sebelas Maret.