The System of Balinese Language Inheritance at International Tourism Destinations in Bali
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IRCS UNUD Journals, Vol. 1 No. 1, February 2017
63
The System of Balinese Language Inheritance at International Tourism Destinations in Bali
Ni Luh NyomanSeri Malini 1), Luh Putu Laksminy2), I Ketut Ngurah Sulibra3)
English Literature Study Program, Balinese Language Study Program, Faculty of Arts, Udayana University
Jalan Pulau Nias 13 Denpasar, tel. + 62 361-224121 seri.malini@unud.ac.id/kmserimalini@yahoo.com
Abstract This study aims at finding out and analyzing the Balinese language preservation model by Balinese people, especially the young generation in tourism destinations, namely Sanur, Kuta, Ubud, Tanah Lot and Lovina. The research focuses on the following: 1) the patterns of usage of the language, 2) attitude of the younger generation towards Balinese language and 3) system of inheritance of mother tongue on those study sites. Data was obtained through observation and distribution of questionnaires, along with interview and note-taking techniques. Research samples are children and adolescents born in Bali and speak Balinese as their first language, and quota technique is applied to set the number of members for each group, i.e. 25 people. The data was analyzed using the theory of language choice and the theory of language change. The results show that the younger generation have positive attitude towards their native language, i.e. Balinese, and they still use it in all domains, especially within families and neighborhoods. The system of Balinese language inheritance occurred in both formal and informal ways. The formal way is through a medium to reinforce Balinese language as an obligatory lesson taught from elementary to high schools/vocational schools, publishing Regional Legislation implemented in a Decree and reflected in the curriculum. The informal way is through Balinese language revitalization: Balinese language succession to the next generation, Balinese language development by means of conducting research, seminars & congress. The development is aligned with the progress of science and technology, the utilization of Balinese language by using it as an inter-ethnic communication medium in everyday life and cultural activities, as well as the utilization of Balinese language on print media, i.e. Bali Post in columns named Orti Bali and Mediaswari.
Keywords:Balinese language, young generation, cultural diversity, international destination.
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i. Introduction11
Balinese language is one of the languages spoken by Balinese people as their mother tongue and also as one of the elements in Balinese culture. Balinese language is categorized as a safe language because it is spoken by more than two million people, holds strong written tradition as well as role in supporting regional culture (Alwi, 2001). Recently in globalization era, various international tourism destinations grow in Bali, local people around the destinations are expected to be able to speak foreign languages, particularly English. These people, especially the younger generation, tend to grow as bilingual and even multilingual. A question of how the young generation can preserve their mother tongue arise in regards with this situation. Therefore, a study about maintenace level of Balinese language as a mother tongue needs to be conducted in order to
identify a maintenance model that can align Balinese language development with the existing language policies. In order to perform appropriate cultivation and development, an understanding of current condition of this language in Bali must be gained, including the changes that take place particularly in the international tourism destinations. Considering the aforementioned background, this study aims at analyzing the following: 1) language use patterns, 2) young generation attitude towards Balinese language, and 3) first language inheritance system at the study sites.
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II. Research Methodology
This study uses verbal data and objects reviewed as primary data in the form of words, sentences, or discourses uttered among Balinese young generation within families, neighborhoods, educational and religious domains. Verbal data obtained from the respondents contains social life elements of the Balinese young generation, which are then transcribed
into texts to be analyzed. The secondary data of this study is listed as the following: a) sociolinguistic survey results and b) information regarding language, culture, and tradition of Balinese people. Places that are often visited by tourists were selected for conducting this study and heterogeneous demography was taken into account, such as Kuta and Sanur, as well as homogenous location like Ubud. The respondents are 75 Balinese youth. That number represents 58% students, 30% university students, and 12% tourism workers. The data was collected using participation observation method and in-depth interview with guidance and questionnaire. The data was then quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed.
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III. Results and Discussion
3.1. Results
Diagram 1. Language Choice in various domains
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3.2. Discussion
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1) Language Choice of Young Generation at
Tourism Destinations in Bali
The results from the first-year study show that the young generation in Kuta, Sanur, and Ubud uses BI (Bahasa Indonesia)-BB (Bahasa Bali), and they stated that they acquired BI at home. They can also speak BI-BB and use it in daily communication with their families, as well as in religious and neighborhood contexts.
In general, the young generation in tourism destinations like Kuta, Sanur, and Ubud use BB within their families, religious and neighborhoods domains. The percentage of BB use is 73.8% (the highest), while Indonesian language (BI) is 20.7%, and 5.5% for the use of BB and BI. The similar cases happen in their family domains. The percentage of BB use is 70.8%, BI is 23.1%, BB and BI is 6.1%. Meanwhile, the use of BB within neighborhoods is 60.5%, BI is 27.2%, and BB and BI is 12.3%. In religious domain, the use of BB is 82.7%, BI is 14.2%, and BB and BI is 3.1% (Diagram 1).
The attitude of young generation towards Balinese language is related to their cognitive, affective, and conative aspects. They were given 10 questions in order to get their responses on the three aspects mentioned above.
Triandis (Suhardi, 1996:23) states that cognitive component as a general idea is generally in the form of specific categories used by humans to think. These categories are obtained as a result of the conclusion of consistency in response to various stimuli. Mann (in Azwar, 2008: 24) explains that the cognitive component contains perceptions, beliefs, and stereotypes of the individual about something. The results show that the percentage of respondents who strongly agree and agree is dominant in response to the statement that BB is a beautiful and melodious language. 95% of the respondents states that they agree with the statement that Balinese language is a cultural bearer. This high percentage can be interpreted as their recognition of the Balinese language as not only a medium of cultural development, the path for culture successor and an inventory of cultural features, but also as an important factor in shaping cultural identity and social identity, including ethnic identity of the public members. Based on this, young people using BB in everyday communication – which is also based on the awareness of language norms that encourages people to use their language carefully and politely – is a factor that largely influences the actions, i.e. the activities of using the language (language use) (Garvin and Mathiot (1968). The consciousness that they bear is the positive attitude of the Balinese young generation to preserve the Balinese language.
In regards with the results related to the affective component, 90% of the respondents answered that they are proud of their abilities to speak Balinese language and stated that they were delighted when people speak in Balinese to them. This indicates a positive attitude of the younger generation against BB. This condition is supported by a statement from those who can speak Balinese and are still able to use it to communicate. The phenomenon of the use of BB by the younger generation can be viewed as something prospective for preserving the Balinese language in tourism destinations. According to Azwar (2008: 26),
it is languages pride that encourages people to develop the language and use it as a symbol of identity and unity. Balinese language is a marker of ethnic identity and culture bearers of the highly valuable Balinese culture, which then enables the shaping of positive affective attitude.
The results of the analysis of the related conative aspects show a tendency for the young generation to agree and strongly agree on the efforts to construct and develop the Balinese language. There is only approximately 1.2% of the respondents that disagreed with the statement that Balinese language needs to be constantly developed (e.g. adding new words). In their opinion, it is not necessary to put special efforts in this case; just keep the Balinese language as what it is currently. Most of the younger generation agree on the importance of teaching BB in schools. A small proportion (3.7%) of the young people stated that it is not necessary to teach BB in schools. It can be understood because of the high level of difficulty in BB lessons. However, the younger generation generally responds positively to the efforts in preserving and developing Balinese language in the tourism destinations. In general, it was shown that Balinese youth has positive attitude towards the enhancement and development efforts of language Balinese language in terms of behavior levels study, considering that the percentage of their positive answers is quite high.
Language is the perspective and mindset of its speakers. Abolishing a language is like erasing human's mindset. Therefore, Koentjaraningrat (1985) classifies language as one of the main aspects of culture. We can study the knowledge of environment management, survival, medication, astronomy, and other branches of science merely by studying the language spoken by a nation. Knowledge is passed down to generations in the form of writings and speech. In regards with inheritance of language, the role of parents is very central. Parents are the links for regional language "inheritance" to their children. If their children do not use their regional language, then most likely their offspring will not speak that language. The beginning of a language extinction is when that certain language is being used less each day and the number of its speakers constantly diminishes.
Language is a tool to develop culture, a path to inherit culture, and an inventory of cultural traits. Therefore, language is also an important factor in
shaping the cultural identity and social identity, so ethnic identity and members of the public are included in it. There are two important factors to determine the cultural value of a bilingual, i.e. the resulting value of cultural contact and specific social environment and family environment that shape the type of bilingual experience. There are several cases that can possibly happen in terms of language and culture. These cases are as follows, 1) one will use their language at home, and use another language outside the home or in the community; 2) one will use two languages at home and one of them is used in the community; 3) one will use two languages at home and both are also used outside/in the community; and 4) one will use two languages at home, but both are not used outside/in the community.
Balinese language is one of the regional languages in Indonesia, which is spoken by most of the population of Bali (Balinese ethnic) as the language for daily conversation (communication devices) in households, customs meetings, in the events of marriages, deaths, and other daily activities. Balinese language is used along with the growth and development of the culture of Bali. In addition, the Balinese language is also recognized by the government as the main language in classroom instruction and taught formally in schools at the beginning of lessons in earlier grades. This is reflected in the teaching of Balinese language at schools as local content subject at elementary, junior high, and senior high schools/vocational schools in Bali. This is an objective circumstance showing that Balinese language holds an important role as a tool for communication in Bali, and it needs to be preserved and its existence maintained today and in the future. Balinese language has to be preserved as a part of a mutual will to reinforce "Ajeg Bali", to assume a role in character building and character values in Balinese traditional songs, Balinese folklores, Balinese proverbs, and Balinese language levels being taught at schools.
Based on the results of the research on the Balinese language inheritance system, it was found that the Balinese language has been inherited naturally to the younger generation of Bali, both formally and non-formally.
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a) Formal Preservation
The Government has conducted a variety of measures, such as requiring Balinese language teaching at every level of education, i.e. elementary and high schools, by incorporating it into the local content curriculum. This establishment stated in Decree No. 22/I 19C/KEP/I 94 by the Head of the Bali
Province Regional Office of the Ministry of National Education. The decree confirms that it is obligatory to teach Balinese language in elementary and high schools. It is an implementation of Regional Regulation Level 1 Bali No. 3 Year 1992 regarding the Balinese language, alphabet, and literature. This decree is a real effort of the government in preserving Balinese culture through education. Education is one of the most appropriate ways to preserve and develop the Balinese language, alphabet, and literature as well as other formal and informal institutions. The younger generation will receive education and instructions provided by competent educators at schools. By providing intensive exercises, students can improve their abilities to understand, speak, and write the Balinese language in accordance with the prevailing rules.
The realization of the government's decision about Balinese language teaching is reflected clearly in the local content curriculum. Balinese language is listed as one of the subjects in the local content curriculum. Balinese language lessons are very important and hold a strategic role in the preservation of Balinese culture and language, and in the preservation of national culture. Therefore, the quality of Balinese language teaching will tremendously affect Balinese language learning outcomes. This is drawn from the opinion (Sumardi, 2000:1) that the quality of Indonesian language teaching strongly influences the quality of national education and the nation's unity. Additionally, the quality of Indonesian language teaching is strongly influenced by the quality of lessons found in the current Indonesian language learning books. Hence, this aligns with the statement that the quality of Balinese language teaching is influenced by the quality of lessons found in the current Balinese language learning books.
In Bali, the regional legislation has been ratified and Balinese language program development activities have also been running. The details are as follows:
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(1) Regional Government of Bali Level 1 has issued Regional Regulation No. 3 Year 1992 on Balinese Language, Alphabet and Literature (Regional Gazette of the Bali Province Level 1 Year 1992 No. 385 Serial D No. 3799).
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(2) The Governor has also formed a Development Agency for Balinese Language, Alphabet and Literature supported by Decree Number 179 Year 1995 to accommodate activities related to the Balinese language, the alphabet and literature.
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(3) Coaching activities throughout regencies and municipalities in Bali have been conducted as a follow-up development program.
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(4) As for the preservation of Balinese alphabet, the Governor of Bali has issued a circular letter No. 01/1995 to invite the entire community of Bali and urge all parties to have the Balinese alphabet written under the Latin writings on the signboards of government and private institutions. Moreover, it is encouraged to have names of hotels, restaurants, street names, bale banjar (village gathering hall), temples, tourism objects, and other important places all over Bali written in Balinese and Latin.
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b) Informal Preservation
Informal preservation is also a conventional preservation, i.e. a preservation performed by Balinese language speech community in order to maintain and preserve the language. As for the conventional preservation, it can be done by way of protection, development and utilization of Balinese language.
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(a) Protecting Balinese Language
Balinese language preservation includes saving or revitalizing BB by passing it down to the next generation, from parents in families to other parties in religious community and neighborhood. This is shown by the parents of the younger generation in three study sites, in which the parents use Balinese with their children, and the high use of Balinese language in every life domain.
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(b) Balinese Language Development
Preservation includes the development of Balinese language and is carried out through planned research, linguistics seminars and regional language congresses. Adaptation is also included within the development of Balinese language, i.e., the use and development of Balinese language in alignment with the advancement of technology. For example, an application named Tamiang has been created. The word Tamiang or Tameng means a device to repulse weapons and a means of self-protection. In the context of Balinese language preservation through adaptation, the tamiang application has been made to "deflect" the progress of time and technological advances that might "eliminate" the Balinese language and alphabet as well as protect the Balinese alphabet from "extinction" as a result of technological advances.
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(c) Preservation by Utilizing Balinese Language
Preservation through utilization is done by using Balinese language in accordance with its function as a cultural element. Speakers of Balinese Language use it as an inter-ethnical communication tool. Balinese language is specifically used in certain domains, such as families, relatives, and arts. Balinese language speakers also have their own, separate domains which automatically has improved the function of the language. It can be seen from the emergence of informal organizations in "sekaha" (groups) such as sekaha gong (traditional music groups), sekaha igel(traditional dance groups), sekaha tajen (cockfighting groups), and sekaha mancing (fishing groups). Members of the sekahas are Balinese language speakers who share common interest and ethnical identity sense. They use Balinese language in their daily interaction. The Balinese language speakers unconsciously have developed the functional status of the Balinese language as an element of culture and its utilization in cultural activities. Aside from the development, improving the quality of language use remains a task for all Balinese language speakers (Malini: 2011).
Other efforts by scientists to ensure the existence of Balinese language is the utilization of Balinese language in print media in Bali, i.e. the Bali Post with its column named Bali Orti and Bali Pos with its column Mediaswari. Balinese language utilization in the print media columns in Balinese is an attempt to preserve Balinese language in the midst of globalization, which decreases the cultural values of Balinese people.
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IV. Conclusion
Balinese language maintenace is shown as the results of this study, in which it is used mostly within families, religious communities, and neighborhoods in heterogeneous (Kuta and Sanur) and homogenous areas (Ubud). Balinese language use in every form of communication on language pride and awareness of language norms basis. BI-BB is a symbol of identity and unity of Balinese ethnic community. In regards with the cognitive, affective and conative language attitudes, the younger generation seems to be showing positive trend. It is indicated by their understanding that the Balinese language is a marker for ethnic identity and the bearer of monumental Balinese culture. This positive attitude is the underlying principle that must be held in language preservation efforts. Balinese language maintenance model occurs through formal and informal ways. The formal way is a media to strengthen Balinese language as a
mandatory lesson in elementary and high schools/vocational schools, which is supported by formulation of Regional Regulation and its implementation in a decree, and further realized in the curriculum. The informal way is through Balinese language revitalization: Balinese language succession to the next generation, development of Balinese language by means of conducting research, seminars, congress, development which is adjusted with the progress of science and technology, the utilization of Balinese language by using it as an inter-ethnic communication medium in everyday life and cultural activities, as well as the utilization of Balinese language on print media, i.e. Bali Post in its columns named Orti Bali and Mediaswari.
Acknowledgment
Gratitude is extended to the English Literature students of Udayana University and Ganesha University of Education , magister students of linguistics program for their role as field research assistance, the Directorate of Research and Community Service of the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education through the Institute for Research and Community Service of Udayana University for funding this research as stated in the Letter of Assignment in Research Implementation on National Decentralization and Competitive in the Fiscal Year of 2016 Number: 486.84/UN 14.2/PNL.01.03.00/2016
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