LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE IN INTER-ETHNIC COUPLES

The aim of this study is to describe about language maintenance in inter-ethnic couples, especially Javanese (husband) - Batak (wife) and Batak (husband) - Javanese (wife) couples in Medan. The subjects of this study consist of eight couples; four couples for Javanese (husband) - Batak (wife) and four couples for Batak (husband) - Javanese (wife). The subjects are chosen specially because they must fulfill the criteria that must have children and can speak vernacular language fluently. The data are resulted by interview and observation. The subjects are observed first then interviewed. The interview is done in order to get the deep information about their reasons in doing language maintenance. In the data analysis it is found that: 1) Attitude and identity is the most dominant factor from four factors which influence the language maintenance in inter-ethnic couples. 2) Language maintenance can be done through four ways, they are: informal education, participating in social fields, joining ethnic church services, and visiting homeland. 3) The reason in choosing those ways is to prevent the clumsiness.