When the High language wins – and when it doesn’t: How diglossia and the timing of translation affect vernacular scripture use

The non-use of completed local language (LL) Scripture translations is a persistent and costly problem for the Bible translation movement. This article opens a broader Vernacular Scripture Use research program with a pilot study conducted across eighteen language communities in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Drawing on the sociolinguistic principle of diglossia and on Fishman’s lesser-known notion of media variance, the study advances a “timing of translation” hypothesis: a local language translation is unlikely to become the normative text for public worship if a national or regional language (NL) translation has already assumed that role, whereas a local translation established before the arrival of national Scripture stands a greater chance of continued normative use.

Evidence was gathered through an intentionally evidence-based methodology combining historical research, observation, eighty-five interviews, recordings of worship services, and a Scripture photography tool, with findings triangulated across sources. Across the region, local language Scripture was read in public worship on average four Sundays per year, while national language Scripture was used weekly in every community surveyed. Reformed churches, guided by synod policy, accounted for most of the local language use observed. The Sulawesi data support the hypothesis and identify church policy as the one operative “ecology of resistance,” with implications for translation strategy and for the studies that will follow.

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