[tex-hyphen] should bahasa be a synonym for Indonesian?

[Jonathan Kew]

On 27/11/13 19:21, Scott Kostyshak wrote:

> Finally, on the question about discrimination, I understand that
> assuming "bahasa" to mean "Indonesian" could be discriminatory,

I wouldn't use the term "discriminatory" about this; rather, I'd just 
say it might be potentially ambiguous.

> but
> couldn't assuming "Indonesian" to mean "Bahasa Indonesia" be
> discriminatory as well? There appear to be 742 languages of Indonesia
> [1]. Are those languages not "Indonesian"?

While there are many hundreds of other languages spoken in Indonesia 
(see also http://www.ethnologue.com/country/ID/languages), which thus 
may be referred to as "Indonesian languages", they are not actually 
named "Indonesian"; they each have their own name(s).

"Indonesian" itself is a recognized English name for the lingua franca 
and official language of the country, also known (especially among 
Indonesian or Malay speakers) as "Bahasa Indonesia" or sometimes simply 
(but perhaps ambiguously, depending on context) "Bahasa", a form of Malay.

JK