POLITE LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE AMONG MEMBERS OF SASAK NOBLE FAMILIES IN MATARAM

Abstract

This thesis is entitled Polite Language Maintenance among Members of Sasak Noble Families in Mataram. It attempted to investigate (1) what speech level is used in noble Sasak families who live in Mataram, (2) the linguistic features of Polite language maintenance among members of noble Sasak families in Mataram, (3) the influential factors that affect the use of Polite language form in the communication among members of noble Sasak family, and (4) the strategy used by the noble Sasak family in Mataram to maintain the Polite language. The data were taken from interview and observation with members of Sasak noble families and from daily conversations of some Sasak noble families members who live in Mataram. After analyzing the data, the researcher found that Sasak noble community found in Mataram mostly consists of Perwangse. Perwangse families used base Sasak madie as speech level in their daily communication (i.e .polite language). However, the percentage is only 33.33%. Meanwhile, the use of common language is more dominant with the percentage 50% and the use of Bahasa Indonesia is 16.67%. Linguistic features found in the data of the conversation above are mostly the use of pronominal clitics, subject clitics, demonstrative, directive, personal pronoun and question. The use of language is mainly influenced by the position of family member in the family and also the language that is passed down by the older. In addition, the strategies used by the Menak family in maintaining polite language among their family members, namely: (a) Parents teach their children to use refined language since they were children; (b) Parents teach the vocabulary of Sasak polite language correctly;(c) Parents correct the words directly if the children make mistake; and (d) Parents always give an example of how to speak by using polite language properly.

Key words: Polite, Language Maintenance Sasak Noble Families.