THE MAINTENANCE OF SILADANG LANGUAGE

This study observed Siladang language maintenance in Desa Sipapaga. The objectives of the study are (1) to examine the factors affecting language maintenance (2) to find out the strategies in maintaining the Siladang language in Desa Sipapaga and (3) to find out the reasons of the Siladang people in maintaining their language in Desa Sipapaga. The method of this study was descriptive qualitative research. The participants were 20 Siladang people who live in Desa Sipapaga were taken by purposive random sampling. The data were taken from questionnaire and interview as instruments. The questionnaire used to answer the factors affecting Siladang language maintenance and the strategies in maintaining Siladang language. Then, the interview used to answer the reasons of the Siladang people maintained Siladang language. The data were analyzed by using steps provided by Gay, L.R and Peter, A. (1996). This study found the following results (1) There are seven factors affecting Siladang language maintenance in Desa Sipapaga such as, Ethno linguistic vitality, living together and see each other frequently, use of language in family domain (intra and inter marriage family, use of language in neighbor domain, use of language in religion domain, use of language in workplace domain, and practice traditional ceremony, (2) In maintaining the Siladang language, the Siladang people in Desa Sipapaga conducted some strategies like; family language policy, using Siladang language in their daily life frequently, the using of Siladang language in cultural activity like in wedding ceremony. (3) The reasons of the Siladang people maintain their language are; they were proud being Siladang people and speak Siladang language, and speak Siladang language shows their identity as Siladang people.