LANGUAGE SHIFT IN TAMIL ETHNICS IN LUBUK PAKAM

This research deals with language shift in Tamil ethnics in Lubuk Pakam. The
objectives of the study were (1) to describe the process of language shift occurs
among the Tamil Ethnics in Lubuk Pakam, (2) to explain the reason of the shift
occurs the way it does. This research conducted qualitative research. The data
were taken from the Tamils ethnics in Lubuk Pakam. The data of the study was 72
Tamil speakers were divided into intra marriages and inter marriages. The
instruments used for this study were observations, open questionnaires, and
interviews. the data collected were analyzed by applying interactive model of
Miles and Huberman. The findings of the research were Tamil language shifts
into Bahasa Indonesia in three domains, namely in education domain, religion
domain and employment domain. Only in two domains, Tamil is maintained,
namely in family and friendship domain. There were four factors that cause Tamil
language shift into Bahasa Indonesia, namely attitudes and value, demographic
factors, economic factors and social factors.