Preserving the Slowly Dying Javanese Language in the Digital Era
B. Participants
As it has been stated before, the questionnaires were distributed through two Whatsup Application groups and one Facebook group. There were 27 responses gathered. The participants were ranged from 15 years old to above 55 years old.
They are from West, Central and East Java. Most of the participants are part of a Facebook namely “Ayo Sinau Basa Jawa” or “Let‟s Speak Javanese” which attempts to preserve Javanese and also help people to know more about Javanese language and culture.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. Survey results
1. Participants’ language use
There are two main conclusions that can be drawn from the data above. First, it shows that Javanese is still participants‟ language of communication in the family.
It is worth noted that most of the participants are above 25 years old. There are only two participants who are under 25 years old. The result can be significantly different if younger participants answered the questionnaires. Second, in more formal settings such as office, organization, legal community and group, the number of participants who are using Bahasa Indonesia is slightly higher than the number of participants who are using Javanese.
Suryantani, A. Y. D., Preserving the Slowly Dying Javanese Language in the 125 Digital Era
Table 1:
Participants’ Language Use in Different Circumstances Language
Situation
Bahasa Indonesia
English Javanese Mixed of B.I and Javanese
Others
Communicating orally with family
14.8% 0 74.1% 0 11.1%
Communicating orally with people
in the
neighborhood
33.3% 0 33.3% 22.2% 11.2%
Communicating with peers or people in the community/group
51.9% 0 40.7% 3.7% 3.7%
Meanwhile, participants who answer others as their language of communication mentioned that they use a mix of Bahasa Indonesia, local languages other than Javanese, and English. Twelve of the participants live in the area where Javanese is not the native language. As a result, they have to adapt themselves with their surroundings.
2. Participants’ Javanese language proficiency
It is interesting to see that most of the participants admitted that Bahasa Indonesia is the language that they master the most. More than 70% of the participants stated that they are most proficient in Bahasa Indonesia. Only 18.5%
mentioned that Javanese is the language that they master the most. Other participants claimed that they are fluent in both Javanese and Bahasa Indonesia;
Javanese, Bahasa Indonesia, and English; and Javanese, Bahasa Indonesia, English, and Spanish.
Further investigation is needed to explore the reason why the participants think that they are not fluent enough in Javanese while they speak Javanese with their family. It might be caused by participants‟ understanding of what it means to be fluent in Javanese as Zentz‟s (2014) found, Javanese speakers considered themselves not being able to speak Javanese because they do not use the higher register of Javanese.
Furthermore, when the participants were asked about what kind of Javanese they use when they communicate with their family members, their answers varied.
From twenty-two participants who mentioned that they use Javanese in communication, there were eleven participants who mentioned that they use both
126 The 5th Celt International Conference Proceeding: Contextualizing the Trajectory of Language, Arts and Culture in Contemporary Society, 9-11th September 2017, pp. 120-129
the refined (Krama) and common (Ngoko) Javanese. Ten other participants stated that they use mostly Ngoko to communicate. One participant mentioned the use of Semarangan dialect in communication. It is suggested that further observation and interview are conducted to obtain more accurate data related to participants‟
language proficiency. It might also be necessary to conduct proper language proficiency tests to see more objectively how proficient the participants really are.
3. Javanese language use in social media
Meanwhile, in social media communication, thirteen participants mentioned that they often use Javanese in social media communication. Five participants mentioned that they frequently use Javanese in social media. Eight participants mentioned that they rarely use Javanese in social media. While one participant mentioned that he/she never uses Javanese in social media. This suggests that there is still quite significant number of people who would like to use Javanese in social media.
4. Participants’ views on Javanese language status and preservation efforts Seventeen participants agreed that Javanese language is endangered. One participant even stated that it is in the brink of death. Six participants said that it is not endangered. One participant said that Javanese is shifted. It is no longer like the old Javanese during the Mataram era. Another one mentioned that Javanese is no longer spoken by people younger than 35 years old because the exposure to Javanese is way less than before. This participant further explained that younger generation is not taught to speak Javanese at home or at school. Refined Javanese speakers are not many anymore and getting even lesser as they die due to old age. This participant expressed his concern on how young generation thinks that Javanese is not a cool language to speak. This finding suggests that people who are older than 35 years old are aware of Javanese language endangerment.
Furthermore, all of the participants agreed that it is necessary to preserve Javanese language because of three main reasons. First, Javanese language is closely related to the Javanese culture. Participants realize that the extinction of Javanese language will influence Javanese culture significantly. Second, Javanese language is part of Javanese people‟s identity. Losing the language can mean losing identity as Javanese. When an individual is losing his or her identity, he or she can be easily influenced by foreign cultures which might endanger national unity in the long run.
Third, Javanese language is closely related to the nation‟s long history. There are still significant numbers of manuscripts written in Javanese that people know nothing of.
These manuscripts tell about events that happened long time ago that are necessary to be told to the younger generation.
When they were asked about the efforts done so far in preserving the language, twenty of the participants stated that those efforts are not effective. While the rest of them said that those efforts are effective enough. Furthermore, participants mentioned what they have done so far to help preserving the Javanese language.
Suryantani, A. Y. D., Preserving the Slowly Dying Javanese Language in the 127 Digital Era
Other than using the language as often as possible and communicating with the younger generation using Javanese, the participants also mentioned about writing in Javanese in Wikipedia, creating interface and application in Javanese, being part of Javanese language learning group, creating Javanese learning group in social media, as well as making film which contains Javanese language use. These ideas are worth noting. People who play roles in preserving the language need to hear these ideas and explore them more before at the end implement those ideas especially those which involve the use of digital media in a bigger scale. The use of digital media in preserving Javanese Language is important as the young generation is more attracted to digital media.