Some Notes on Language, Translation, and Orthography IN SUMATRA the language issue is exceptionally complex. In this book I distinguish wherever possible between bahasa Indonesia, the contempo­ rary national language of Indonesia, and the indigenous Malay language of the east coast of Sumatra, of which the national language is a (signifi­ cantly modified) dialect. A simplifiedversion of Malay was also the colo­ nial lingua franca of the Netherlands East Indies. Thus by "Malay" I mean either the indigenous Sumatran dialect or the colonial lingua franca; likewise by "Indonesian" I mean either the present-day formal language of education, the media, and public speeches, or the specifically nationalist terminology introduced into the language during the revolu­ tion (what Benedict Anderson has called "revolutionary Malay"). A fur­ ther difficulty is posed by local variations in dialect Indonesian, which I reference as "Malay/Indonesian." For example, in standard Indonesian the kin term kakak means "elder sibling (regardless of sex)." In North Sumatra, however, kakak refers specificallyto a female elder sibling. (Cu­ riously, the Karo cognate kaka means "elder sibling of either sex," as in standard Indonesian.) The Karo language is one of a group of related though more or less mutually unintelligible languages categorized as "Batak." Karo is closer to Malay than are the other Batak languages, but these two languages are mutually unintelligible as well. They do share a basic syntactic structure as well as a number of etymological cognates (which do not necessarily coincide semantically). In such cases, or when the linguistic context of a statement is otherwise unclear, parenthetical notations indicate the lan­ guage used, such as keramat (K.) or keramat (M./Arabic). In the Karo language, but not in Indonesian/Malay, I distinguish be­ tween the mid-central vowel "e" (as in unemphatic English "the") and the mid-front "e" (as in English "play"). Otherwise I follow the new Indone­ sian orthography (ejaan baru) in Karo as well as Indonesian/Malay. Ex­ cept in the case of proper names or in quoted material that follows the older orthographic conventions, I use the new orthography in all these languages. Thus, for example, I follow the original Dutch text in writing a Karo woman's name "Amei Kata Mehoeli" but elsewhere render that name as "Ame Kata Mehuli." Likewise, the provincial capital of the Karo highland district, spelled "Kabandjahe" according to the old orthogra- XVI NOTES ON LANGUAGE phy on the regional map (p. 46) is given elsewhere in the current spelling "Kabanjahe." Karo sometimes say that their language sounds like Italian; in any event, the trilled "r" is relatively more pronounced, and syllabic stress more marked, than in standard Indonesian or Sumatran Malay, which pronunciation it otherwise resembles. In these languages light stress is usually placed on a word's penultimate syllable, unless it contains the mid-central vowel "e", in which case emphasis shifts to the finalsyllable. "C" is pronounced "ch" as in English "church." Punctuation and division in transcribed speech are always approxi­ mate. Paragraphing in extended quotations is intended to increase the readability of the text's English translation, rather than to indicate any­ thing about the form of the original narrative. An exception to this may be noted in the long story told by the man I call "Selam Ginting" in chap­ ter 4. Here the speaker (as may be noted in my translation) in a sense made his own paragraph breaks by inserting appropriate audience re­ sponses of ue (K., "yes") into his narration-something like an encourag­ ing "uh-huh" in English. Karo etiquette prohibits one from speaking the personal name of one's elder, especially in the case of a kinsperson. Thus Karo use a system of teknonyms. After the birth of a couple's first child (whether male or fe­ male), the father and mother are known respectively as Bapa X and Nande (or Ame) X. After the birth of their firstgrandchild they would be referred to by that child's name as Nini (grandparent) Y. However, Karo are more properly addressed by the relevant kinship term. The reader should keep in mind that Karo kin terms are rather broadly applied, and politeness prohibits asking whether, for example, a particular "bapa" referred to is the speaker's actual father, a father's brother, or a distant clanmate. Kinship terms are given in the standard anthropological abbreviations, as follows: B = brother M = mother D = daughter S = son F = father W = wife H = husband Z = sister In combination, terms should be read sequentially; for example, MBD = mother's brother's daughter. Kin terms in the text are given in rough equivalent translation with the kinship designation(s) in parenthe­ ses. Thus: uncle (bapa nguda, younger FB); auntie (bibi, HM, FZ, or MZ). Where specificrelatives are intended I have indicated those. All translations are my own. A glossary of foreign terms and phrases follows the notes. .