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158
ELT- Lectura, Vol.6, No. 2, August 2019
Javanese Language Shift, Gender and Modernity: A Case Study at IAIN Kudus
Sri Wahyuningsih1)
1Institut Agama Islam Negeri Kudus
email: wahyuningsih@iainkudus.ac.id
Abstract: This study aims at exploring the phenomenon of Javanese language shift among
lecturers and staffs at IAIN Kudus and their possible motives. This study used a descriptive
qualitative approach and the data were taken from the interview, observation and focus group
discussion. The results indicate that the use of Indonesian of male lecturers and male staffs is
less striking shift than female ones. Indeed, female lecturers and female staffs tend to have a
strong preference for using Indonesian rather than Javanese. This could be caused by the
effect of globalization, the increased use of other languages, social changes, mobility, and
modernity. The motives of language shift among the female lecturers and female staffs are the
language used in a formal education is Indonesian and the increase of technology particularly
in relation to social media use Indonesian as a medium to deliver information.
Keywords: Javanese Language Shift, Gender, Modernity
1. INTRODUCTION
It is widely known that Indonesia
consists of a number of cultures, ethnics,
and citizens in which each of them has
certain languages such as Javanese,
Sundanese, Madurese, and so on. In
accordance with the Javanese language, it
does not have the status of an official
language in Indonesia, but it is spoken by
most Javanese People representing a large
number of Indonesian people because of its
great population. It is in line with Weber
(1997) highlighting that Javanese is spoken
by about 90 million people, representing 40
% of the people of Indonesia, making it the
twelfth most widely spoken language in the
world. It is in conjunction with Quinn
(2011, p. 363) asserting that Javanese
language remains the normal language used
by the Javanese people in most rural areas
and district-level in their daily life.
Considering this, it could be assumed that
Javanese has the largest number of speaker
in Java Island. There are three main levels
of Javanese including krama, madya and
ngoko in which each of them consists of
high, middle and low. From these three
levels, ngoko and krama are often mostly
used by the Javanese people.
People coming from a high social status
usually used ngoko to those from the low
social status. Meanwhile, those from low
status mostly used krama when they are
speaking to people from high status.
Further, ngoko is usually used by people
having close relationship with others such
as friends and equals. In the last few years,
Javanese people in central Java particularly
in Demak, Kudus, Jepara and Pati mostly
used Javanese language in their
communication. In fact, as the times go,
some of them use another language such as
Indonesian to communicate with others.
This phenomenon indicates that there is a
shift away from formal styles of Javanese to
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ELT- Lectura, Vol. 6, No. 2, August 2019
the national language, Indonesian, by
considering the context of educational
background and culture opportunities
among Javanese youth. They used
Indonesian in official or formal situations,
for instance at school, hospital, university,
wedding party and governmental office, and
other public places. In accordance with it, it
seems that Indonesian is used as a lingua
franca by the Javanese people. Interestingly,
Javanese people have a tendency to use
more Indonesian than Javanese language.
This is strengthened by Rukiah (2010, p. 82)
advocating that Javanese is less favored that
Indonesian and is less prestigious. Further,
Rahayu & Listiyorini (2013, p.132) state
that Javanese language is considered to a
language used by people from low status in
the society.
A tremendous amount of research related
to language shift and maintenance has been
conducted by some researchers. The
acquisition of bilingualism gives benefits
not only to enhance the achievement in
academic at schools but also to keep the
vitality of the less languages which are
considered dominant (Nurhayani, I., 2016).
With regard to this, people treat language
choice, the shift and styles of linguistic
differences as a sociolinguistic variable
(Abtahian, M. R.; Salihu, H., 2014). Indeed,
there are a number of factors influencing the
use of language in society including social
class, home language use, age and others
(Williamson, R. C., et al., 2015; Li, et al.,
2016).
In relation to the use of Javanese,
Conners, T. J & Klok, J. V. (2016)
emphasize the importance of documenting
colloquial Javanese due to the various
dialects and the endangerment. Regarding
the gender phenomenon in sociolinguistic,
Matsumoto, K., & Britain, D. (2003)
investigate the gender paradox of
sociolinguistic in a multilingual community
of the Republic of Palau in which older
Japanese-Palauan women use more
Japanese representing adherence to their
heritage language. In addition, younger
Japanese-Palauan women tend to use
bilingual in Palauan and English indicating
that there is a change towards a language in
the economy as crucial for promoting
tourism and trade. It is in line with Dong, J.
Y. (2014) exploring the gender differences
in using language under the sociolinguistics
which indicates that the psychology of
culture and the orientation of social value of
language users are influenced by both social
and environmental pressure and culture in
family and experience. In addition, the
gender differences in language are
influenced by the educational background,
age, occupation, social status and so on.
Likewise, the phenomenon of language
shift occurs in Indonesia (Musgrave, 2003;
Goebel, 2005; Kurniasih, Y.K., 2006).
Similarly, the phenomenon of language
shift also occurs at IAIN Kudus in which
most of them are from Central Java such as
Kudus, Pati, Demak, Salatiga, and Jepara
which are considered as Javanese users in
the society. As a matter of fact, it seems
interesting that there is a Javanese language
shift among lecturers and staffs at IAIN
Kudus. Referring to this phenomenon, this
article describes the pattern of language
used by lecturers and staff at IAIN Kudus,
explains the possible motives of why the
lecturers and staff at IAIN Kudus shift the
Javanese language to other languages as the
way they do in their interaction and finds
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ELT- Lectura, Vol. 6, No. 2, August 2019
out the significant difference of lecturers
and staff in shifting Javanese language in
their interaction.
2. METHOD
This study belongs to a descriptive
qualitative research. Regarding a qualitative
research, Gay, Mills and Airisian (2011, p.
12) highlight that qualitative research seeks
to probe deeply into the research setting to
obtain in depth understanding about the
way things are, why they are that way, and
how the participants in the context perceive
them. From the definition, it can be inferred
that the problems commonly arose in
qualitative research are about the way
things are, why they are that way, and how
the participants in the context perceive
them. Data were gathered through the
interview to lecturers and staff at IAIN
Kudus. In addition, the observation was
conducted both to see and describe the
pattern of language used by the lecturers
and staffs at IAIN Kudus in their
interaction. Besides, Focus Group
Discussion (FGD) was done at the main
office at IAIN Kudus in line with the
wishes of the participants. Participants were
informed about the study design at the start
of the interview or FGD, and researchers
answered questions. In obtaining data, a
number of steps were conducted. Those
steps cover arranging the interview guide
related to Javanese language shift, gender
and ideologies of modernity among
lecturers and staffs at IAIN Kudus,
arranging the observation sheet, conducting
an observation of lecturers and staff in
using language at IAIN Kudus,
interviewing the lecturers and staffs related
to Javanese language shift, gender and
ideologies of modernity among lecturers
and staffs at IAIN Kudus and conducting a
focus group discussion to elicit deep data.
3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The Pattern of Language Used by
Lecturers and Staff at IAIN Kudus
The pattern of language used by
lecturers and staff both male and female at
IAIN Kudus may vary each other. In this
matter, Indonesian and Javanese are used in
different contexts and situations. Lecturers
mostly use Indonesian when they are at
campus or in formal situation. Similarly,
staffs use Indonesian when they conduct
public services to students, lecturers and
their counterpart at campus. Female
lecturers tend to prefer using Indonesian
when they interact with people at Campus.
Further, they prefer using Indonesian to
Javanese at home particularly when they
communicate with their children and
husband. On the contrary, male lecturers
tend to use Javanese when they are
interacting to their family members
including wife, children, and parents.
Furthermore, they are actively associated
with social and religious activities in the
Javanese society. Likewise, male staffs tend
to use Javanese when they are getting in
touch with their family and neighbors. On
the other hand, female staffs use Indonesian
and Javanese when they are communicating
with their neighbor depending on the
addressee, context and situation.
As had been proclaimed in the youth
pledge on October 28th, 1928, the position
of Indonesian is as a national language in
Indonesia. Therefore, people may tend to
use Indonesian in public places particularly
in formal context such as at school, campus,
hospital and so on. In this case, the majority
of female lecturers prefer using Indonesian
to Javanese in their communication
although they were born in Central Java.
Their Indonesian language use is conducted
when they teach their students at campus,
have a meeting with other lecturers, and
interact with the staffs. Likewise, they use
Indonesian with their own children and
husband at home. One of their reasons of
using Indonesian is the easiness of speaking
Indonesian. This is in accordance with
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ELT- Lectura, Vol. 6, No. 2, August 2019
Paauw, S. (2009, p. 2), highlighting that
Malay, Indonesian, is regarded as easy to
learn compared to Javanese in which
Indonesian is facilitated by the diglossic
character of the language, that is a lack of
the morphology of the literary variety and a
simpler syntax and lexicon. Furthermore,
the complexity of Javanese speech levels
may become the reason that female
lecturers prefer using Indonesian to
Javanese. This proof is revealed by one of
the female lecturers at IAIN Kudus.
“I like using Indonesian in my
interactions. I use Indonesian when
teaching my students at IAIN Kudus and
any kind of activities in formal
situations. In addition, I use Indonesian
when I talk to my daughter and husband.
There are some levels of Javanese
including ngoko, madya and krama. This
may difficult for me to use Javanese
fluently. It is different from Indonesian
that is easy to use to all people.
Sometimes, I feel shy that I cannot speak
Javanese fluently although I come from
rural village, Pati, Central Java. In fact, I
live in Semarang now, the capital of
Central Java. Sometimes ago, I lived in
Jakarta for 6 years to study at UIN Syarif
Hidayatullah Jakarta. Thus, I feel more
comfortable to speak Indonesian than
Javanese” (FL1, July, 2018).
The description above indicates that the
first female lecturer tends to feel cozy and
confident when they speak Indonesian than
Javanese though in fact she comes from
Pati, Central Java. There have been a
number of reasons causing her to use
Indonesian regularly. One of them is the
culture and environment where they live.
The female lecturer above has studied in
Jakarta for more than five years. Jakarta is
the capital of Indonesia where most people
living there speak Indonesian. This
condition may influence her to use
Indonesian fluently when they speak to her
friends, neighbors and so forth. As a result,
when she comes back to her village and
works at IAIN Kudus, Indonesian is mostly
used by her during communication.
Furthermore, Javanese is rarely used by her
in the society regarding that now she lived
in Semarang where most people speak
Indonesian. Another female lecturer gives
her response related to the pattern of
language use.
“I was born in Brebes, Central Java.
However, I accustomed to speaking
Indonesian. I think it is because of the
culture and environment where I live. In
fact, the influence of Sundanese in
Brebes makes me never speak Javanese.
Further, some people in my village
speak Sundanese while others use
Javanese. Although I live in Rembang
now, Central Java where the majority of
people use Javanese than Indonesia.
Interestingly, my family and neighbors
in Rembang are able to realize and
accept my Indonesian language. I also
use Indonesian at home with my
husband and children. Surely, my
children also speak Indonesian more
fluently that Javanese. They feel
comfortable and easy to speak
Indonesian since its effectiveness in
using Indonesian at school”. (FL2, July
2018).
The statement of the second female
lecturer above indicates that she has a
strong preference for using Indonesian
rather than Javanese since she is
accustomed to speak Sundanese in her
childhood, Brebes, where the location is
near to West Java. Consequently, she
cannot speak Javanese fluently. In order to
get communication confidently and
comfortably, she decided to speak
Indonesian to all people. However, after
moving to Rembang, Central Java, she
starts learning Javanese to get closer with
her neighbors considering that Rembang is
mostly inhibited by Islamic People who
have a number of Islamic Boarding schools.
In line with the previous female lecturer,
this female lecturer also has a tendency to
use Indonesian than Javanese in their
linguistic repertoire. The descriptions of the
female lecturers above show that the
phenomenon of language shift occurs in
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ELT- Lectura, Vol. 6, No. 2, August 2019
which they changed their former language,
Javanese, to the new one, Indonesian
language. This is strengthened by Holmes
(2001) advocating that language shift is the
phenomenon that the former language is
changed to the new one by language users
because of the need of communication.
Different from the female lecturers
having a strong preference for using
Indonesian, male lecturers have no strong
preference for using Indonesian. Indeed,
they use Indonesian in certain contexts and
situations. It has been described by the male
lecturer that Indonesian is used by him
when he has a meeting in a formal agenda;
teach at Campus, and when he speaks to his
counterpart in the office. On the other hand,
he speaks Javanese to people in the home
environment. In addition, he speaks Krama
categorized as high Javanese to his family
members including parents, wife and
daughter. Further, he uses Krama to
neighbors from high social status or to older
people than him. Meanwhile, he somehow
speaks ngoko categorized as low Javanese
to his close friends to maintain his better
relationship. This is proved by the
following extracts:
“I try to use Indonesian and Javanese
proportionally based on the context of
situations. When I teach at campus, I use
Indonesian to my students. Moreover, I
use Indonesian to other lecturers and
staffs in the office. However, I prefer
using Krama when I speak to older
lecturers or officers since I feel more
comfortable and I would like to show my
respect and politeness to them. In the
home environment, I prefer using
Javanese Krama to my neighbours and
family members. Meanwhile, I use
ngoko when I interact with my close
friends to keep the closer relationship”
(ML1, July, 2018).
The statement above indicates that the
first male lecturer would not ignore the use
of Javanese. Indeed, he would like to
preserve and maintain the Javanese culture
that is achieved by speaking Javanese in
certain context of situation. Moreover, it is
done in the home environment by instilling
and reinforcing the use of Javanese
language to his children. Therefore, the
roles of parents and other family members
such as grandparents, aunts and uncles are
crucial to maintain Javanese. This is in line
with Kurniasih (2006, p. 15) explaining that
the input of family members is considerably
meaningful in maintaining Javanese. In
other words, the fluency of Javanese use on
children is dependent on the input of family
members particularly parents and the
environment.
Related to the pattern of language use,
another male lecturer at IAIN Kudus asserts
that he has no a strong preference for using
Indonesian. In this case, he speaks
Indonesian based on the context of situation
and the addressee. In line with the first male
lecturer, the next male lecturer reports that
he speaks Indonesian to academicians such
as lecturers, administrative staffs, and
students at campus. However, he mostly
uses three levels of Javanese speech
including ngoko, madya and krama to his
social networks. Ngoko is used when he
speaks to his close community or friends,
Madya is used when he speaks to unknown
or strange people and Krama is used when
he speaks to older people in his
neighborhood especially at a place of
worship (mosque). Moreover, he speaks
krama (high Javanese) to his parents, wife
and children. One of the reasons of using
krama to his family members is to instill
and maintain the use of Javanese to children
considering that most young generations in
a village nowadays cannot speak krama
(high Javanese). It has been described by
the following extracts:
“I use Indonesian and Javanese in my
interactions. It depends on the
participants and context of situation. In
formal places such as school and
University, I usually use Indonesian.
Meanwhile, I use Javanese including
ngoko, madya and krama in the social
networks. I use ngoko when I speak to
my close friends and community in
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ELT- Lectura, Vol. 6, No. 2, August 2019
casual conversation, I use Madya when I
meet someone at the first time, and I use
Krama when I speak to my family
including my parents, wife, and children.
Further, I use Krama when I speak to
older people in neighborhood” (ML2,
July 2018).
The description above shows that the
phenomenon of language shift may not
appear in male lecturers. They have
preferences for using both Indonesian and
Javanese in the context of situation. Indeed,
male lecturers have no tendency to ignore
the use of Javanese use in the society. In
fact, they have an initiative to maintain it as
a Javanese heritage.
The previous female lecturers report that
they have a tendency to use Indonesian.
This report is different from the female
staffs regarding the use of language pattern.
The female staffs have differences in the
use of Indonesian. The first female staff
reports that she uses Indonesian based on
the context of situation. In this case, she
speaks Indonesian to academicians such as
lecturers and students at campus.
Meanwhile, she speaks Javanese in the
home environment particularly to her
family. Further, she would like instill the
use of Javanese to her children since at an
early age considering that the young
generations mostly cannot speak krama
(high Javanese) fluently. However, she
sometimes uses Indonesian to her children
when she is talking about school activities.
In this matter, she tries to adjust to the
language used at her children‟s school. This
proof is revealed by her as follows:
“I like speaking both Indonesian and
Javanese. I use Indonesian when I
speak to academicians at campus
particularly when I give public services
to students and lecturers. On the other
hand, I use Javanese when I speak to
my family members such as parents,
grandparents, husband and children. I
would like to reinforce Javanese
language especially krama to my
children since it can show the
respectness and politeness to others. In
fact, many teenagers now only use
ngoko which is considered as low
Javanese and it does not show respect
to older people. In certain context, for
example when my children are
learning something related to school
activities, I use Indonesian since the
language used at school is Indonesian”
(FS1, July 2018).
Different from the previous female staff
using Indonesian and Javanese in her
interaction, another female staff asserts that
she has a strong preference for using
Indonesian to Javanese. She speaks
Indonesian when giving public services to
academicians such as lecturers and students
at campus. Indeed, the social networks and
his community mostly use Indonesian in
communication. Further, she reports that
she lived in Semarang for three years when
achieving her undergraduate program (S1)
where the majority of her friends using
Indonesian in interactions. Although she
works in Kudus, Central Java, she keeps
using Indonesian in communication
regarding that she is in the process of
studying in graduate program (S2) at
Diponegoro University, Semarang. It is
interesting to note that she somehow speaks
English to her classmates in Semarang
considering that English is used by her
lecturers at class. In this case, she rarely
uses Javanese in her interaction. It has been
delivered by her as follows:
“I feel more comfortable to speak
Indonesian than Javanese. My friends
mostly speak Indonesian to me. They are
from different areas. That‟s why
Indonesian is considerably comfortable
since it is understandable for us. In fact, I
can speak Javanese especially ngoko but
I‟m not comfortable using it. When I
come back to my village, Pati, Central
Java, I never get associated with my
neighbors that mostly use Javanese. I
also learn English during my study at
graduate program (s2) at Diponegoro
University, Semarang. The social
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ELT- Lectura, Vol. 6, No. 2, August 2019
networks may influence my language use
in interaction” (FS2, July 2018).
The male lecturers have reported that
they have no a strong preference for using
Indonesian. Likewise, the male
administrative staffs have a tendency to
maintain Javanese use particularly in their
neighborhood. The first male administrative
staff argues that he only uses Indonesian
when he speaks to academicians like
students and lecturers especially when he
gives services at campus. Further, he uses
Javanese „ngoko‟ to other staffs in the
office that are considerably equals and
intimate to him. Ngoko is used by him to
establish a close and intimate relationship.
On the other hand, he used krama when he
speaks to older administrative staffs. This
proof is delivered below:
“Actually I feel more comfortable using
Javanese. Considering that I work at
campus, so I use Indonesian when giving
public services to students and lecturers
since it is in formal situation. In my
neighborhood, I use Javanese in
interaction especially krama (high
Javanese). In the home environment, I
use krama to my parents and older
people. Further, I use Madya to my
brothers and sisters. My parents have
instilled Javanese (krama) to their
children since at an early age. So, I can
speak Javanese fluently” (MS1, July
2018).
Similarly, another male staff also has a
preference for using Javanese in interaction.
Further, Indonesian is also used in a certain
context and situation especially in a formal
situation. The pattern of Javanese use in his
neighborhood is mostly ngoko (low
Javanese) and Madya (Medium Javanese).
Ngoko is used when he interacts with his
close friends. Meanwhile, madya is used
when he interacts with others having higher
social status. It has been described below:
“I was born in Kudus, Central Java. My
parents only use Javanese especially
ngoko (low Javanese) in the home
environment. Further, they use ngoko,
madya and krama in the neighborhood
depending on the participants they talk
to. This persuades me to use only
Javanese in the society. I use ngoko
when I speak to my friends and I use
madya when I speak to new people
having higher social status. In Javanese
use, I rarely use krama in the
interaction. However, Indonesian is
used when I give public services to
academicians such as lecturers and
students at campus” (MS2, July 2018).
Referring to above elaborations, it seems
that the two male administrative staffs have
a preference for using Javanese. However,
the tendency of Javanese style use is
different from each other. The former tends
to use krama (high Javanese) in the
interaction whereas the latter has a tendency
to use ngoko (low Javanese) in his
interaction. This is probably influenced by
the input of Javanese from the family
members, community and social networks
in different levels of society.
The Javanese Language Shift
Phenomenon among Lecturers and Staff
at IAIN Kudus
Based on the interview and focus group
discussion undertaken by the writer, it
seems that the phenomenon of language
shift from Javanese to Indonesian occurs
mostly in female lecturers and female
staffs. This condition is surely influenced
by various reasons and factors. One them is
educational background and culture.
Female lecturers have higher social status in
education than female administrative staffs.
Indeed, they graduated from a graduate
program (S2) whereas the majority of
educational background of female staffs is
from the undergraduate program (S1) and
senior high schools. Nonetheless, some
administrative staffs are in the process of
studying in the graduate program (S2).
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ELT- Lectura, Vol. 6, No. 2, August 2019
This finding indicates that the female
administrative staffs whose educational
backgrounds are from senior high schools
and undergraduate program (S1) associate
the use of Indonesian with educational
settings especially when giving public
services at campus. Moreover, they use
Javanese when they speak to their
neighborhood and family members. On the
contrary, those whose educational program
is S2 tend to prefer using Indonesian to
Javanese. In this matter, they are expected
to use Indonesian as the medium of
instruction.
Similarly, the majority of female
lecturers whose educational background is
from S2 and S3 program have a tendency to
use Indonesian both at campus and at home.
In addition, they reinforce their children to
use Indonesian since it is used as the
medium of instruction at school. Moreover,
they hopefully are able to get associated
with others outside easily regarding
Indonesian is considered as a national
language. Nonetheless, only a few female
lecturers use Javanese in the neighborhood.
Indeed, they admit that their competence in
using krama (high Javanese) is decreased
since the increased use of Indonesian in
their social networks. This is strengthened
by Cohn, A. C & Ravindranath, M. ( 2014,
p. 140) proposing that the competence in
using the polite form of the Javanese
language is falling rapidly influenced by the
effects of increased use of Indonesian result
in confusion between Krama levels,
reduced vocabularies and substitutions from
Indonesian.
Both male lecturers and male
administrative staffs have a tendency to use
Javanese in their interaction. The male
lecturers mostly use Javanese in the social
interaction of neighborhood. Additionally,
they keep reinforcing the Javanese
particularly krama to their family members
such as parents, wife, and children. Krama,
for instance, is used to her children to teach
them the meaning of respectful values to
parents and older people. Likewise, the
male lecturers enhance their wives to speak
krama (high Javanese) to them as the role
model for their children and to show the
politeness to a husband. The reinforcement
of instilling krama (high Javanese) to
children generally can be initiated from the
simple vocabularies such as siram (take a
bath), pinarak (have a seat), dahar (eat) and
so forth. This effort is conducted by the
male lecturers as a way to preserve
Javanese culture through the use of
Javanese. This proof is described below:
“I like speaking Javanese especially
krama. I mostly use it to my family
members and other people no matter
young or old. Indeed, I am not
comfortable when using ngoko in
intreraction. For me, madya (medium
Javanese) and krama (high Javanese)
are more graceful than ngoko. Madya is
used when I talk to my friends. In the
work environment especially in the
office, I use krama when I talk to older
lecturers. This is to show a graceful
behaviour and my respect to them”
(ML1, July 2018).
Different from the previous male
lecturers reporting that he rarely speaks
ngoko in his interaction, another male
lecturer argues that he mostly uses ngoko
and krama in his social interaction. He likes
using krama when he speaks to his family
members and older people in his
surroundings. On the other hand, he mostly
speaks ngoko to his community or friends
to get closer relationship. This has been
clearly reported by him below:
“Ngoko and krama are the Javanese
levels that mostly I use in my
interactions. I like using ngoko when I
talk to my friends or social networks to
get closer relationship and comfortness.
Besides, it shows that there is no
distance between us. Krama is used
when I talk to my family and older
people in neighborhood. I realize that
many teenagers nowadays are not able to
speak krama fluently to older people.
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ELT- Lectura, Vol. 6, No. 2, August 2019
Unfortunately, they use ngoko to older
people since their parents do not teach
them krama when they were kids.
Therefore, I try to use krama to my
children and parents as a role model for
them” (ML2, July 2018)
The above elaboration indicates that the
male lecturers have some strong efforts to
maintain Javanese language compared to
female lecturers. In other word, the
phenomenon of Javanese language shift has
mostly found in female lecturers. This
finding is also in accordance with
Broadridge (2003) proposing that women
have played more important role than male
in the language shift in Yogyakarta.
Further, women have a strong belief that
they should behave carefully and use a
more refined speech. Similar as the male
lecturers, the male administrative staffs
have a tendency for using Javanese. The
former mostly speaks krama to his family
and people in the social interaction. It is
influenced by the culture instilled by his
parents using krama when speaking to
children. The latter male administrative
staff reports that he likes using ngoko and
madya in his interaction to his family and
neighbors. Unlike the previous one, this
male administrative staff prefers using
ngoko in his interaction to avoid the
distance between his friends and create a
closer relationship. Further, his parents tend
to use ngoko to the children in the home
environment. In other words, he has no
more exposure in krama (high Javanese) in
the home environment. Therefore, the
ability to use krama is less fluent for him.
Additionally, this male administrative staff
likes using more vulgar terms when he
interacts to his community or social
networks to create a comfortable
atmosphere. The proofs are described
below:
“My parents are enhancing their children
to use krama (high Javanese). It is done
to instill the values of respect and
politeness to older people considering
that we are from Kudus, central Java.
Therefore, I can speak krama fluently. I
rarely use ngoko in interaction.
Sometimes, I use Madya to younger
people. In this matter, I fell no
comfortable when I use ngoko in social
interaction” (MS1, July 2018).
Another male administrative staff reports
that he prefers using ngoko (low Javanese)
when communicating with the social
community in his environment. It has been
described below:
“I like using ngoko when I interact with
my friends to create a close relationship.
I cannot speak krama fluently since my
parents do not use krama when
speaking to their children and family
members. In this case, I sometimes use
Madya and krama to my parents.
Further, I use ngoko to my younger
brother and sister” (MS2, July 2018).
Different from the female lecturers
which propose some reasons of doing
Javanese language shift; male lecturers
have less motives in shifting Javanese
language to Indonesian. Indeed, the first
male lecturer admits that the language shift
occurs from krama inggil to ngoko. In
contrast, another male lecturer seems fluent
when using various styles of Javanese
including ngoko, krama madya and krama
inggil. It is because his background of
joining organization of Javanese Presenter
and Javanese culture when he was a
student. In this case, they basically have
efforts to preserve the Javanese language by
using in their neighborhood and family
interaction. Further, they use Indonesian in
academic area and community for the sake
of formal matters.
There have been various reasons and
factors why female lecturers have Javanese
language shift in their interaction. First, the
language used in a formal education is
Indonesian. Therefore, the female lecturers
have a tendency to use Indonesian with
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children at home in order that their children
are able communicate fluently with their
teachers and friends using Indonesian.
Furthermore, children will easily get the
materials and understand the subjects
delivered by teachers at school. In other
word, the factor of government policy
declaring Indonesian as a standardized
national language becomes one of the
reasons for female lecturers to shift
Javanese into Indonesian. This is in
accordance with Musgrave, S. (2003, p. 8)
proposing that the statistical data just
presented give some insight into processes
of language shift resulting from the impact
of the national language in Indonesia.
Second, the modernity of social media and
technology. The development of technology
is rampantly accessed by people including
children. In fact, the language used in social
media is Indonesian. Thus, this condition
pursues the parents to use Indonesian in
order that their children easily access the
information and news through social media
based on the increased technology. This is
proved by the following elaborations:
“I usually communicate with my
children using Indonesian considering
that the language used at school is
Indonesian. Further, social media such as
TV, radio, internet and so on use
Indonesian as a media to deliver
messages, news and information.
Besides, I live in Semarang where the
majority of people use Indonesian when
they communicate with other people.
That is why my daughter merely
accustomed to use Indonesian in her
interaction” (FL1, July 2018).
In line with the previous one, the other
female lecturer coming from Rembang
highlights that she used Indonesian when
communicating with her children
considering that Indonesian is easy to use.
Furthermore, it is used by teachers at
Indonesian schools to deliver materials. In
addition, the increase of technology
particularly in relation to social media such
as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and so
on use Indonesian as a medium to deliver
information. In order to enhance it, she
highly recommends her children to use
Indonesian in their interaction. In this
matter, the language shift occurs from
Javanese to Indonesian language.
Motives of Javanese Language Shift by
Male Staffs
The major reasons of male
administrative staffs use Indonesian is to
give services to students and lecturers at
formal Institution. Apart from that, they use
Javanese in their interaction with the
neighborhood and family. In this matter, the
Javanese language shift appears in the
context of the use of ngoko and krama
Inggil. The first male administrative staff
seems fluently to use styles of Javanese
including ngoko, krama madya, krama
inggil in his interaction. Meanwhile,
another one seems difficult to use Krama
Inggil in his interaction. Indeed, he
accustoms to use ngoko Javanese.
Motives of Javanese language shift by
female staffs
There are two types of language shift
done by female administrative staffs. First,
the language shift from Javanese to
Indonesian. Second, the language shift from
krama Inggil to ngoko. This may be caused
by effects of globalization and increased
use of other languages. It has been
described by the following proofs:
“I tend to use Indonesian at campus to
give administrative services for students
and lecturers. Further, I use Indonesian
when having a lecture at class realizing
that I am studying in S2 program.
Moreover, I use English with my
friends to shape my ability to use
English. The effect of globalizations
and the use of other languages in
references such as English in the
classroom enhance me to use English
somehow” (FS2, July 2018).
The above elaboration indicates that the
language shift from Javanese to Indonesian
and English done by the female
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ELT- Lectura, Vol. 6, No. 2, August 2019
administrative staff. It is caused by the
effect of globalization and increased use of
Indonesian and English in her community
particularly when she has a lecture in the
class. Unlike the previous female
administrative staff, the next one highlights
that she somehow uses Javanese. However,
she seems influent to use Javanese levels of
speech including ngoko, krama madya and
krama Inggil. This may be caused by the
less community of Javanese language use
particularly krama inggil. In this matter, the
language shift occurs from krama Inggil to
krama madya and ngoko. It has been
elaborated by the following proofs:
“I use ngoko with my friends. I try to use
krama inggil to my children. Indeed, I
should have some efforts to acquire
krama Inggil. I merely use between
ngoko and krama in my interaction. I
use Indonesian only at campus when I
give services related to academic areas
to students and lecturers at IAIN Kudus.
One of the causes of why I‟m not fluent
in using krama Inggil is because the less
community of krama inggil users and
increased use of Indonesian”. (FS1, July
2018).
4. CONCLUSION
The pattern of language used by
lecturers and staff both male and female at
IAIN Kudus may vary each other. With
regard to this, Indonesian and Javanese are
used in different contexts and situations.
Lecturers mostly use Indonesian when they
are at campus or in formal situation.
Likewise, staffs use Indonesian when they
serve public services to students, lecturers
and their counterpart at campus. Female
lecturers tend to prefer using Indonesian
when they interact with people at Campus.
Further, they prefer using Indonesian to
Javanese at home particularly when they
communicate with their children and
husband. On the contrary, male lecturers
and male staffs tend to use Javanese when
they are interacting to their family members
including wife, children, and parents. In this
case, male lecturers are reluctant to shift the
Javanese language. In fact, female lecturers
and female staffs tend to have a strong
preference for using Indonesian rather than
Javanese In order to get communication
confidently and comfortably. The motives
of language shifting include the language
used in a formal education is Indonesian,
the increase of technology, and the
increased use of other languages, social
changes, mobility, and modernity. The
study offers some implications for gender
and language in society. One of the
implications relates to the language use in
society such as sociolinguistic and
pragmatic. It is highly recommended that
future researchers conduct studies of the
language shift in a wider and deeper
analysis. By conducting such research, we
would possibly obtain wider insights on
how language is used by society from a
gender perspective.
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