LANGUAGE ATTITUDE OF THE TOBA BATAKNESE
PARENTS TOWARDS TOBA BATAK LANGUAGE
IN STABAT
A Thesis
Submitted to the English Applied Linguistics Study Program in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Magister Humaniora
By:
DIANA APRILINA SINAMBELA Registration Number: 8136112008
ENGLISH APPLIED LINGUISTICS STUDY PROGRAM
POSTGRADUATED SCHOOL
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
MEDAN
ABSTRACT
Sinambela, Diana Aprilina. Registration Number: 8136112008. Language Attitude of the Toba Bataknese Parents towards Toba Batak Language in Stabat. English Applied Linguistics Study Program, Postgraduate School of the State University of Medan, 2015.
ABSTRAK
Sinambela, Diana Aprilina. Nomor Pendaftaran: 8136112008. Sikap Bahasa Orang Tua Suku Batak Toba terhadap Bahasa Batak Toba di Stabat. Program Pascasarjana Universitas Negeri Medan, 2015.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Above all thanks are deserved to be praised to the Almighty God, Jesus Christ, for the blessing, guidance, enlightenment, patience, and wisdom given to the writer throughout the whole life, the ease and difficulty of the writing of this thesis and for the completion of the study.
The writer would like to express her deep and sincere gratitude to her first adviser Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M.S., and her second advisor Prof. Dr. Sumarsih, M.Pd., for all the guidance, advice, knowledge, ideas, criticism, suggestion during the writing consultation. Massive lesson has been gained from the advisors, either academic achievement or personality development, which are completely needed to grow and explore the life path in the future.
Then, a very special debt of gratitude is directed to her beloved father G. Sinambela and her beloved mother O. Br. Mangunsong, for their prayers, motivation, and financially support. Then, to her beloved brothers and her sisters in low E. Sinambela & Pdt. E. Br. Mangunsong. S.Th., AKBP.R. Sinambela, SIK. M.H. & M. Manuain, S.Th., andD. Sinambela & T. Br. Pakpahan, then also to her sister and to her brother in low H. Br. Sinambela, Am.Keb. & R. Napitupulu, S.Pd., for their care and support to the writer. Special thanks faced to her beloved husband Fernando Togatorop, for his full love, support, care, and guidance from the beginning until the end.
Finally, a special debt of gratitude is addressed to Delnis Handayani Gule, S.Pd, M. Hum, who helped the writer in writing this thesis, then also to Julianti Siregar, S.S. and Eva Novelia Siregar, S.Pd., for helping the writer during the study, and all of her best friends in LTBI B2, for their close friendship and encouragement during the study.
The last but not the least, the writer realizes this thesis is still far from being perfect. Therefore, any criticism, suggestions, and comments will be highly appreciated.
Stabat, Juli 28th, 2015 The writer,
Diana Aprilina Sinambela
i
2.1.3 Function of Attitudes... 12
2.2 Attitudes toward Language ... 14
2.2.1 Language Attitude and Its Characteristics ... 16
2.2.2 Language Attitude in Domains of Language Use ... 18
2.3 Toba Batak Language ... 22
3.3 Instrument of Data Collection ... 30
ii
3.5 Trustworthiness of the Study ... 34
CHAPTER IV. DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS, AND DISCUSSIONS ... 36
4.1 Data Analysis ... 36
4.1.1 The Attitudes of the Toba Bataknese Parents towards Toba Batak Language ... 36
4.1.1.1 Positive Attitudes ... 39
4.1.1.2 Negative Attitudes ... 44
4.1.2 TheWays the Attitudes of the Toba Bataknese Parents Realized towards Toba Batak Language in Stabat ... 45
4.1.2.1 Use Toba Batak Language at Home... 45
4.1.2.2 Use Toba Batak Language with Close Friends ... 46
4.1.2.3 Use Toba Batak Language in the Religious Rituals... 47
4.1.2.4 Use Toba Batak Language at Work Places ... 48
4.1.3 The Reasons for the Attitudes of the Toba Bataknese Parents towards Toba Batak Language in Stabat ... 51
4.2 Findings ... 72
4.3 Discussions ... 73
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 76
5.1 Conclusions ... 76
5.2 Suggestions ... 76
REFERENCES ... 78
iii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1 The percentage of the Toba Bataknese parents’ attitudes
towards Toba Batak language ... 44 Table 4.2 The percentage of the Toba Bataknese parents’ attitudes
realized towards Toba Batak language in Stabat ... 50 Table 4.3 The reasons of the Toba Bataknese parents’ attitudes
iv
LIST OF FIGURES
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Indonesian country consists of many societies and there are multi-ethnic of
ethnics across many islands in Indonesia, for instances: Javanese, Toba Bataknese,
Acehnese, Padangnese, Sundanese, Balinese, Malaynese, etc. Besides having
many ethnics, Indonesia has 746 native languages (Pusat Bahasa, 2008). Every
ethnic has its own original place and they usually use their own native language
also, but because of the movement of one ethnic to the other ethnic‟s place, it
causes there are more than one ethnic live in one place, as what happen in Stabat.
According to the result of population census in 2013, held by the Statistics
Bureau of Langkat shows that the number of Stabat district residents reached
83.273 people in 2013, with the density of population 765 people per km2 (Seksi
Neraca Wilayah dan Analisis Statistik, 2014). By this large population, Stabat as
the capital of Langkat regency inhabited by several ethnics who live together, one
of the ethnics is the Toba Bataknese people who come from their original place, ie
the Toba district area a long time ago. Although almost every ethnic has its own
native language, however,in reality not all of the Toba Bataknese people and the
other ethnics in Stabat are able to speak their native languages fluently.
Juliansyah (2013, p. 319) states “in almost all occasions children in Stabat
have spoken Bahasa Indonesia”. For instance is Malay language, as the original
2
Malaynese people in Stabat lead to a shift from Malay language to Bahasa
Indonesia. According to him the language shift happened as a result of: (1) the
pressure of the dominant language (Bahasa Indonesia), and (2) the loss of Malay
language speakers.
The same thing happens to the Toba Bataknese children in Stabat, most of
them tend to use Bahasa Indonesia to communicate with their friends and
relatives, even some of them hard to understand the language, or they might
understand but they cannot pronounce it fluently. Base on the reality happens in
Stabat, the researcher assumes that Toba Batak language should be lost (dead) in
Stabat because the Toba Bataknese children as the youth generation do not use the
language anymore to communicate, but it is not. What has happened to the Toba
Bataknese children in Stabat is totally different to the parents because most of
parents are able to speak Toba Batak language fluently and they speak the
language whenever they meet the Toba Bataknese people.
Interestingly, for some of the Toba Bataknese parents who speak Toba
Batak language did not use it in their childhood, but when they become a parent
they speak the language fluently. This phenomenon proves the statement
“different communities have different kinds of attitudes and aspirations in relation
to their language” (Crystal, 2000, p. 93) and also interesting to observe, because
what has happened to the Toba Bataknese parents‟ attitude is contrast to the
children‟s attitudestowards Toba Batak language.
Attitudes are mental phenomenon which cannot be examined and cannot
3
(Baker, 1992). People‟s attitude towards language can be seen from how they
think about the language, how they use the language, with whom, where and how
often they use it. Language attitude studies will determine that people‟s attitude
towards language might be positive or negative (Chalak & Kassaian, 2010)
Related to the positive or negative attitudes, Garvin & Mathiot (1968)
states that the language attitude contains at least three characteristics, namely: (1)
language loyalty, which motivates a society of language speakers maintain their
language, and if it is needed, they will protect their language from other
languages„ influences; (2) language pride, which motivates people to make their
language as their identity and the unity of society; and (3) awareness of the norms,
which motivates the speakers to use the language carefully and politely and this is
the biggest factor which contributes to the activity of using the language (cited in
Masruddin, 2014). Speakers with these three characteristics towards language are
categorized as people who have positive attitudes, but if they do not have or less
of these characteristics are categorized as people who have negative attitudes.
In a study by Fakhrurrazi (2013) about the attitude of indigenous Acehnese
people towards their vernacular maintenance in Langsa. He analyzed 20 of
Acehnese children by using language characteristics by Garvin & Mathiot (1968).
He found that 55% of the subjects have positive attitudes toward Acehnese
vernacular, while 45% of the subjects have negative attitudes. In his result, he
stated that children who have positive attitudes use Acehnese vernacular in their
daily interaction because their parents teach them and use the language at home,
while children who have negative attitudes do not use the language in their daily
4
Another way to know about people‟s attitude towards language is through
the choice they made towards a variety language in communication. Fishman
(1964) introduced one way of knowing the language choice by proposing the
concepts of domains. He classifies domains of language use into five domains,
they are: family, friendship, religion, education, and employment domains.
Siahaan (2002), who studied language attitude of the Toba Bataknese
people in Medan by using domains of language use by Fishman (1972). In his
study he specified two domains (family and friendship domains) by reasons that
these domains provide opportunities toward the intra-group activities of the Toba
Bataknese people. He analyzed 20 of the Toba Bataknese parents and children and
he found that the highest use of Bahasa Indonesia in the family domain is used by
children (47%), the mixing of Bahasa Indonesia and Toba Batak language
(28.80%) is used by parents, and the use of Toba Batak language (18.2%) is used
by parents, while in the friendship domain the highest use of Bahasa Indonesia is
used by children (47%), the mixing of Bahasa Indonesia and Toba Batak language
(25.60%) is used by parents, and the use of Toba Batak language (21.40%) is used
by parents. From the result showed that children more often to use Bahasa
Indonesia, while parents more often to use the mixing of Bahasa Indonesia and
Toba Batak language in all domains. It means that children tend to have negative
attitudes than parents towards Toba Batak language.
Therefore, as the researcher described previously that most of the Toba
Bataknese parents in Stabat are able to speak Toba Batak language although some
of them did not use it in their childhood. For parents who did not use Toba Batak
5
parents did not teach them and did not speak Toba Batak language with them at
home, so they did not familiar with the language. However, even they did not use
it in their childhood, but now after they become a parent they speak Toba Batak
language. Base on this reality, the researcher assumes that there must be
something influences the attitude of the Toba Bataknese parents towards Toba
Batak language.
In line with all descriptions above, i.e. the bilingualism happens in Stabat,
the different attitude of the Toba Bataknese parents and children towards Batak
language, and the unusual phenomenon of some of the Toba Bataknese parents in
Stabat, where they speak Toba Batak language although they did not use it in their
childhood, the researcher would like to know how the attitudes of these Toba
Bataknese parents toward Toba Batak language.
1.2 Problems of the Study
Based on the background of the study above, the problems are formulated
as the following.
1. What are the attitudes of the Toba Bataknese parents towards Toba
Batak language?
2. How are the attitudes of the Toba Bataknese parents towards Toba
Batak language realized?
3. Why do the Toba Bataknese parents hold their attitudes like the way
6
1.3 Objectives of the Study
In relation to the problems of the study, the objectives of this research are
formulated as the following.
1. To describe the attitudes of the Toba Bataknese parents towards Toba
Batak language.
2. To analyze the attitudes of the Toba Bataknese parents towards Toba
Batak language realized.
3. To elaborate the reasons for the attitudes of the Toba Bataknese
parents towards Toba Batak language.
1.4 Scope of the Study
This study focused on the attitudes of the Toba Bataknese parents in Stabat
who speak Toba Batak language although they did not use it in their childhood.
The analysis of the Toba Bataknese parents‟ attitudes based on Garvin &
Mathiot‟s theory about language characteristics, and the attitudes of the Toba
Bataknese parents realized based on Fishman‟s theory about domains of language
use. The investigation focused on the Toba Bataknese parents‟ opinions towards
Toba Batak language.
1.5 Significances of the Study
The findings of the study offer theoretical and practical significances.
Theoretically, it is expected that the findings of the study can give much
contribution and insight to applied linguistics particularly in the language attitude
7
object in the future. Specifically, the findings can add up more horizons to
linguistics theories.
Practically, it is expected that the findings will give information about the
language attitude of the Toba Bataknese parents in Stabat towards Toba Batak
language and it is also expected to make the Toba Bataknese people who live in
multi-ethnic societies will aware towards Toba Batak language as their identity. In
addition, the findings might help to encourage and improve the attitudes of the
76 CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Conclusions
The study concerned on the attitudes of the Toba Bataknese parents
towards Toba Batak language in Stabat. The objectives of this study are to
describe the attitudes of the Toba Bataknese parents, to analyze the attitudes of the
Toba Bataknese parents realized, and to elaborate the reasons for their attitudes.
Having analyzed the data, the conclusions are stated as follows:
1. The Toba Bataknese parents in Stabat have positive attitudes towards Toba
Batak language.
2. The attitudes of the Toba Bataknese parents towards Toba Batak language
in Stabat realized in three ways, such as: they use Toba Batak language at
home, they use Toba Batak language with close friends, and they use Toba
Batak language in the religious rituals.
3. The attitudes of the Toba Bataknese parents towards Toba Batak language
in Stabat occurred because of some reasons, such as: they are loyal and
maintain the language viability, they are proud and make the language as
their identiy, and they have awareness of language norms.
5.2 Suggestions
Related to the conclusion of this study, the following suggestions are
77
1. It is suggested that the Toba Bataknese parents in Stabat should follow
the ethnic’s gathering where they can meet with the Toba Bataknese
people, and if they are not able to speak Toba Batak language, they can
learn there to increase their ability in speaking the language.
2. It is suggested that the Toba Bataknese parents should use Toba Batak
language at home, so their children will be able to speak Toba Batak
language easily.
3. It is suggested for the next young generation of the Toba Bataknese
people to increase their language attitude towards Toba Batak language
to keep maintaining the existence of Toba Batak language in the
78
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