THE LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE OF BALINESE IN LANGKAT

This study deals with the language maintenance of Balinese in Langkat. It uses qualitative research design. It is conducted descriptively. This study aims to examine the factors affecting the Balinese language maintenance in Langkat, find out the ways in maintaining the Balinese language in Langkat and find out the reasons why the speakers of Balinese people maintain their language in Langkat. The subjects were 20 persons (males and females) of Balinese. The use of instruments in this study were observation, interview and documentation. The observation were used to examine the factors affecting Balinese language maintenance and the language use in six domains in order to describe the ways of Balinese language maintenance. The interview was used to gain the reasons of Balinese language maintainance in Langkat. The theories of Fasold, Fishman and Holmes are used in this study. The data were analyzed by Spradley analysis (1979). There are seven factors affecting Balinese language maintenance in the first and the second generation of Balinese in Langkat namely; ethno lingustic vitality, using language in family domain, using language in neighborhood domain, using language in religion domain, using language in workplace domain, practice of traditional ceremony and an additional factor that found by researcher as a new insight in this research is interaction with older people. There are four ways to maintain Balinese language in Langkat namely; acquisition of the language by adults, number of people habitually using the language, all age groups encourage in the language and to teach the language to next generation and speak Balinese language in daily communication. There are five reasons why they maintain their language namely; to express their identity as Balinese people, to achieve self pride as Balinese people, to help their community to perserve their language, to prepare to go home to Bali and to respect the older people. Analysis of data clearly indicates that Balinese language maintenance were done in Langkat.