A study on the use Javanese among some young speakers in Surabaya

This study was qualitative in nature. It described the way the youngsters in Surabaya use Javanese either to talk to their respected elders or to communicate with others. The data of this study was collected by using a tape recorder, a note book , and questionnaires. During the research, the writer obtained the data in the form of recorded dialogues between the subjects and their older family members, the codes that the subjects use at schools and work, the answered questionaries, and the attitude of the older generation toward the youngsters’ code choice. The data were analyzed based on the Javanese principle of respecting others, besides the theory of language shift and language use to interpret the findings. Based on the data analysis, it was found that the subjects use Javanese Ngoko and Indonesian to talk to their respected elders. They never use the suggested code, Krama, for they are incapable of using it. Besides that, they feel more confident in using the codes because they can have a casual conversation with the addresses. Some of the subjects use Krama words to replace Ngoko words which are meant to the addressee. Madya, the Javanese middle level, was not identified at all in the youth’s speech. From the overall findings, it can be concluded that the subjects’ elders have been going through the change of the cultural value. The norms that rquires people to respect elders to the way they speak is not considered to be the important principle anymore to rule the communication. Furthermore, the subjects do not have the ability of using the formal level of Javanese. They prefer to shift to Indonesin or to use Ngoko whenever they talk to their older family members. This condition can be avoided by developing the children’s habit of using Krama to talk to older people. Teaching children to choose the right code to converse with different class of people will be the great effort to preserve the Javanese culture. Based on the result, the writer was sure that this study was just the surface source of language use case. There are many other aspects that have not been observed yet in order to explain the youth’s incapability of using Krama. It is suggested that future studies with the related problems can give further discussion of the observed phenomenon by applying the more accurate procedure of analyzing the data