The Social Life of Definitions: Gender, Power, and Language Ideology in Indonesian Lexicography
Abstract
This article examines the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (the KBBI) as a site of linguistic, social, and ideological production, focusing on ways in which adjectival entries encode and reproduce social meanings. Drawing on qualitative analysis of definitional structures and illustrative examples, I move to explore how lexicographic practices construct evidentiary authority and index social relations in the Indonesian standard language, Bahasa Indonesia. Rather than framing dictionary entries as neutral representations, in the study, I conceptualize these entries as metapragmatic artifacts that purport to regulate legitimate meanings and usage.
The findings reveal two dominant patterns: (1) the systematic indexing of asymmetrical power relations through definitional framing and example selection, and (2) the reproduction of gender stereotypes through stigmatizing and unevenly distributed examples of use. These patterns indicate that the KBBI does in fact appear to participate in the broader circulation of language ideologies, naturalizing gender bias and social hierarchy in broader Indonesian society. Positioned within a framework of linguistic anthropology, this study argues that dictionaries are not merely descriptive tools but active agents in shaping social realities.
Keywords: Gender, power, stigma, KBBI, linguistic anthropology, dictionary, Indonesia