The Decrease In Javanese Language Teaching And Its Influence To Children’S Moral And Attitude

Abstract

This article is made to express writer’s personal concern about the existence of Javanese language which is starting to fade recently, especially in young generation, teenagers and ages below it. Javanese is a language which has strong philosophy in it. It can describe in detail many things, human particular action, or even sounds which is may be unimagined. Those features cannot be found in Bahasa and English, as it found in Javanese. It makes Javanese is philosophical, beautiful, and in other hand, is hard to learn. Many people considered learning Javanese is just like learning three languages at once. It is because the politeness rules in Javanese, which will be explained further in the article. Javanese, which is passed by generation to generation, seems hard to find new young speakers. It can be caused by the lack of good Javanese speakers who can pass their ability to the next generation. This article will reveal more about Javanese, the decrease in its teaching and learning, and why it is important in building children’s character.

Keywords: Javanese, learning, teaching, decrease, building

Introduction

Javanese, according to Oxford Dictionary is Indonesian language of Central Java. It is true, but Javanese is used not only in Central Java. Wikipedia stated that Javanese is spoken in Yogyakarta, Central, and East Java. North coast of West Java is also used Javanese in a bit different form, due to influence of Sundanese. We can find many Javanese speaker in other provinces of Indonesia such as Jambi, Lampung, North Sumatra, etc. Javanese native speakers are more than 100 million people, and spreading mostly in Java, the rest are spreading around Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, and other part of Indonesia. Even, there are Javanese speakers outside Indonesia, like Malaysia, Singapore, and Suriname (Dutch colony) where many Javanese people was sent there during Dutch colonization era in Indonesia. The fact that Javanese is spoken and understood by more than 100 million people make it known as one of the most spoken language in the world. In Indonesia, almost everywhere, Javanese speakers, or at least, people who can understand Javanese, can be found.

Javanese History

Javanese is one of the most used language in Indonesia and even the world. Many features and words of Bahasa are derivated from Javanese, due to the number of speaker and also looking the fact that Javanese is existed for a long time ago in Indonesia. It is inevitable that Bahasa development, more and less, is influenced by Javanese. Old Javanese was not clearly known. It approximately used around 500 years, starting from the Sukabumi inscription until the founding of Majapahit around the 13th century. It was influenced by Austronesian language, in vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammar rules. However, the biggest influence for Javanese is Sanskrit. Sanskrit has had a deep and lasting impact on the vocabulary of the Javanese language. The Old Javanese – English Dictionary, written by professor P. J. Zoetmulder in 1982, contains approximately 25,500 entries, no fewer than 12,500 of which are borrowed from Sanskrit. Clearly this large number is not an indication of usage, but it is an indication that the Ancient Javanese knew and employed these Sanskrit words in their literary works.

In any given Old Javanese literary work, approximately 25% of the vocabulary is derived from Sanskrit. After the glory of Majapahit ended, Islam kingdoms like Demak, Pajang and Mataram rise in 15-16th century. Demak was used as the role model of Mataram’s development. However, unlike Demak and Pajang, Mataram used literature to legitimate the king. Supomo Surjohudojo, explained that in Mataram era, literature (babad) was used to make a King decent and rightful to rule the kingdom. From this era, the rules of politeness was developed too. Poet in this era was not only made poetries that praised the King, but also made special language for high-class people. The usage of Old Javanese words was rising the prestige of King and high-social status people, and also lead the development of ngoko-krama that we know nowadays. This is because the Javanese that day was considered impolite or rude, when used by normal people to talk to high-class people.

Dutch Colonization Era

Javanese developed well, and until the Dutch colonization era, which was obstructing the development of Javanese. The King in Java was losing their political authority, due to influence of Dutch in the kingdom. However, the King still be able to maintain the cultural authority, through the made of symbol, myth, and cultural ritual like grebeg, and the washing of relic. Spirit of nationalism to fight Dutch colonial government become new challenge for Javanese development. In that era, language was used not only for communication, but also for symbol against the colonial government. Thus, Javanese was not really used anymore for organizational or formal activity. Especially, after Sumpah Pemuda that decided Bahasa as the national language of Indonesia.

Japanese Colonization Era

In this era, position of Javanese was still the same as the previous era. Even, Japan government allowed Bahasa to be used, alongside with Japanese itself, due to Japan’s 3A famous propaganda in that era. Bahasa was getting more used than any other local languages, include Javanese. However, Javanese was still used in informal conversation and in rural areas. In the early independence era, nationalism spirit need to be grown, so Bahasa as the national language was more used. D. Politeness in JavaneseJavanese people is widely known as kind and people. This is influenced by their language. There is a wise word from Javanese, ajining diri dumunung ana ing lathi, which means the pride of someone is located in their tongue, or someone is valued from what they said. Talking about Javanese will also talk about its politeness. Politeness in Javanese is shown by three-level words generally known as Krama Inggil, Krama Madya, and Krama Andhap/Ngoko. Other detailed resources said it is five, that can be developed into 13 levels. It can be considered hard, because of this system, and some said it teach undemocratic attitude. However, it actually teaches about value of humanity, respect to others, and positioning yourself in the society. Krama InggilLet’s get started from the top level of Javanese. It is used by people who have high social status, and also to talk to elder people in order to show some respect to them. When someone talk using Krama Inggil, they consider they are talking to someone that have higher position, higher social status, or have more wisdom and knowledge than them.

For example: “Sugeng enjing Pak Guru, kados pundi materi kagem ulangan umum?” (Good morning sir, how about the materials for the examination?) The speaker, considered as student, is showing his respect for his teacher, who is having more knowledge than him. There is reason to believe that many choices inJavanese are determined by a wider need to maintain the existing social arrangement rather than by any individual’s need to address his or her momentary wants. Words in Krama Inggil are often inserted by parents when they talk to their children, or by teacher when they talk to their students, usually for teacher in pre-school or elementary school level. This is for teaching to use Krama Inggil properly, and for making students and children get used with it, not about teacher or parents are looking for some respects from their children or students. Krama MadyaThe second level is Krama Madya. It is actually Krama Inggil that has been done the process of colloquialization (demoting formal language to informal, daily language). It can be considered as cross of Ngoko and Krama Krama Madya is used for talking to someone who has same level, but tend to respect each other. It is also used when meeting someone else that unknown before, like asking direction in strange and new place, or asking what time is it to someone in public places.

Krama Andhap/ Ngoko

Ngoko is reflecting friendly feeling between someone who talk each other. It means that both speaker and listener are enjoy talking to each other, without any reluctance. They just talking freely like no boundaries between them. This level is best for showing solidarity between friends. It is also commonly used by people with higher status position, when they talk to someone below them. It is weird when people in higher status talk to someone below them using Krama Inggil, and when they do, it is a kind of teasing or sign of anger/disappointment. The use of the higher levels of speech, Krama or Madya, instead of Ngoko to show respect to an elder or superiors is socially and culturally governed. Javanese people are socially expected to obey this kind of politeness strategy in order to respect to elders or superiors. A person will be considered impolite or rude if he or she does not show his respect when talking to elders or superiors. Elders or superiors, on the other hand, are expected to show their good attitudes or behaviour because they will become a good figure or example for younger persons that they can imitate. What elders or superiors say should be obeyed by the younger, especially when the relation between the elder and the younger is distant. The society think that elders or superiors have got much experience in their life (ie of being elders or superiors) so that they think that what elders or superiors has done is surely more 'correct' than what the younger has done. This Javanese myth has put the position of elders or superiors higher than the younger. This is one of reasons why a younger person should show respect to his elders or superiors. Actually, there is a level under Ngoko. It is Ngoko Kasar, which is used by thugs, bad guys, and uneducated people who does not know how to behave properly. This level is full of rude, cursing, and taboo words.

The speaker interacts with high and rude tone, unsympathetic gesture, and do not care to whom they are talking to. One level above Krama Inggil is also existed too. It is Krama Kedathon, special language used in Keraton (palace) environment. The users encompass Keraton’s family and member, and the Abdi Dalem (servant). The special environment and users make it limited and people commonly does not know about this level of language, because it is different with common Javanese. The FactorAuthentic Javanese people know how to place themselves, and know to choose which level they have to use. The factors for choosing the suitable level are depend on the listener, who is being talked, and in what situation. In other words, the level choosing is manifestation of the speaker’s politeness in the society. Politeness is related with the speaker’s ‘feel’ to the listener, and also closely related with:

• Pekewuh (Disinclined) It is one of the characteristic of Javanese people. In sociolinguistics study, it is closely related with ‘indirectness’ strategy. This 'indirectness' strategy is used to minimise the acts which can threaten face such as orders and requests, advice, offers, expression of hatred, criticism, and disagreement. In Javanese culture, it is very sensitive to give orders, to give advice, to show one's dislike upon the addressee, to express criticism or to show disagreement. These acts that can threaten face are even more sensitive if they are done by a younger person toward elders or superiors. According to Javanese cultural norm, a younger person is not expected to give orders, to give advice or to express criticism to elders or superiors. If, however, the younger person has to give advice to an elder, for example, he has to express it in a very polite way, that is, by using 'indirect language'. In this case, the younger as the speaker is not expected to express explicitly what he wants or what he feels, rather he is expected to say something else in such a way that the addressee can understand what the speaker really wants him to do. Even, Javanese people is actually felt disinclined when they are supposed to their rights or belonging (borrowed items or money) if it is not too over. They are rarely correcting or commenting someone straightforward, because they think like ‘ah ndak ra kepeneran’, ah ndak kleru. ’ (I will feel sorry to him/her if I do that) it is related with next factor.
• Tepa Selira (Respect others’ feeling) Javanese people develop their feeling towards others. Before they speak or do something, they will think about the effects, especially when it comes to other people. They will think about the other people’s feeling, ‘what would they feel if I said or done this to them’.
• Empan Papan (Know the place and situation) Javanese have to know in what context they are talking, to whom they are talking, when and where they are talking. This is related to their level usage as it mentioned before. No matter how rich a person is, or how exclusive their job is, if they cannot place themselves in the right position in the society, they will not be accepted in the society. Smart people know how to behave properly and place themselves.
• Andhap Asor (Humble) Javanese tend to lower themselves when they speak. They rarely talk about their positive or their strength. If they are a teacher, they will say that they are just ordinary employee. If they are a Kiai, they will say that they are just a farmer, like their Jamaah. This kind of lowering is to avoid being called as arrogant person. Javanese people will not over proud of themselves. It is suitable with one of Javanese wise words, ‘adigang,adigung,adiguna’ which means do not be an arrogant person who rely on physical strength, social status, and intelligence, but use it properly. The level of Krama usage is determined by how a person respect the others. Kind person tend to use Krama (Madya or Inggil), although they speak to someone in lower social status. Andhap Asor (humble) person will also choose Ngoko words if it refers to themselves, and choose Krama words when it refers to others.

The Influence of Javanese Politeness

From the previous section’s explanation, we can assume that Javanese has beautifully settle the way how people should interact with others in the form of level language or politeness. That’s why Javanese people is widely known as kind, humble, and friendly people, because their language told so. Javanese people is also mostly accepted if they are moving to another place by the origin people. We can look at the fact that we can easily find Javanese people in almost all of the part of Indonesia. This is because Javanese people has been taught how to behave and respect others, so they can adapt easily in the new environment without making the origin people feel annoyed with their existence. Their humble and earthy lifestyle also make them be liked by other people. Their tendency to lower themselves when talking is also make other people enjoy talk to them, and they feel being respected by Javanese people. All of these phenomena, one of the factors is Javanese language itself. ‘it is nearly impossible to say anything withoutindicating the social relationships between the speaker and the listener in termsof status and familiarity. ’ Geertz (1960, p. 249) about Javanese Javanese, become mother language and first language of most of Javanese people. Parents are likely teaching Javanese to their kids, and along with this process of teaching and learning, kids received many lessons of life. Parents are not just teaching how to speak, and how to write for the first time, but also inculcate how to be an authentic Javanese people. The importance of Javanese is not only about how to use language to communicate with others, but also in terms of how to humanize others. Many wise words and literature of Javanese are talking about good value of life, that can be used as guide to live in society.

Javanese Language Learning and Teaching Nowadays

Globalization era has made Javanese faces big challenge right now. The waves of information and cultures from all over the world has big influence, unexceptionally Javanese. Unfortunately, Javanese people is not the one who influencing, but the one that influenced mostly. Javanese people has lost their identity, and even nowadays many people from different country that learn Javanese culture, not the Javanese itself. It called ‘Wong Jawa ilang Jawane’ or Javanese people lost its ‘Javanese’ (characteristic)’ The study from Nur Rita Dewi Utari about Javanese usage ability in an elementary school in Surabaya student has shown that student there cannot using correct and proper Javanese, but they tend to use Indo-Java language rather than Javanese. Because the study was taken in urban area of Surabaya, it can be fully used as benchmarks, but it can be used as sample how children nowadays are lacking the ability of using Javanese. The other result of the study is also showing that Javanese is less favourite subject than others. It can be caused by the teacher that still using conservative method to teach (lecturing) since the teacher of Javanese is mostly old person who have been a teacher for many years, although, obviously, their ability and credibility in teaching Javanese is amazing. Our education institution is lacking of young teacher that have new innovation in teaching, and also bring new spirit. Student nowadays need variative class learning activity that do not make them bored.

Apart from the problem in school, at home that Javanese should be taught primarily and first them, nowadays parents are rarely taught Javanese to their kids. They tend to use Bahasa rather than Javanese in their daily life, so kids are not used with Javanese and the fact of that shown in the study is inevitable. There also a change in people’s view. A kid is considered bad if they cannot use proper language level then. And now, people is embarrassed when their kid cannot use English or Bahasa properly, and consider Javanese is not popular, and not think that having bad mark in Javanese is bad rather than other subjects. Even though, Javanese is actually better than Bahasa for primary language, since the rules of politeness which is explained in previous section can be beneficial for building children’s character. Children will be more respectful and know how to talk politely to elder people. However, if the environment is not supporting Javanese usage, the Javanese that has may be has been taught in family will be useless. Juvenile DelinquencyThe number of Juvenile Delinquency that increased recently is make us sad. Youngster now dare to rebel and show their disrespect to elder people. In Yogyakarta, which is one of the base of Javanese users, the number of ‘Klitih’ (a gang of schoolboys who do criminal thing like robbing, attacking, etc) is increasing recently. They even dare to harm innocent people or kill them. It is a sad fact, that in its biggest base, Javanese people is doing something which is not ‘Javanese’. It can be, one of the factor, is the decrease in Javanese usage. Javanese is only a tool of communication now, not to be learnt more about its great philosophy anymore. In youngster community, there will be barely no one that can use Krama properly. Ngoko, or even Ngoko Kasar, is more used.

The Usage in Educational Context

Obviously, student who able to use Javanese properly will know how to respect their teacher. Respectful student is obviously easier to be guided, and transferring knowledge between teacher and student will be easy. Teacher, although not teaching Javanese, can be showing the good value of Javanese. For example, they can use soft and calm words that not make hard feeling, always dressed politely as teacher do, not giving bad example like smoking or cursing, and also humanize human. All of those examples can be combined with new innovation in teaching like using media, doing outdoor activity, playing educational games, etc. will make student happier in classroom, and they are feel respected as human. So, they can maximize their potential in school.

Conclusion

Javanese is obviously one of the most beautiful language that has deep philosophy and rich of lesson of life. It tells about how to being human and how to respect other people, like Geertz’s statement that in Javanese is impossible to talk without looking at social relationships between each person. Unfortunately, we have to face the sad facts, that Javanese is not popularly used in Javanese anymore. The usage of Bahasa is reducing Javanese existence, even in its land itself. It is followed by the increase in criminal case that done by youngster. They cannot be fully blamed of course, there are many factors outside the Javanese usage such as religious belief, environment, and globalization effects. However, if good and proper Javanese can be taught, it is not impossible to make our youngster become a better generation, who is respectful, kind, and polite, or we can say a truly Javanese/an authentic Javanese. Javanese, our native local language that have noble values, has to be preserved in order to keep its existence. Awareness to develop Javanese usage has to be made. Who knows that if these phenomena are still going, we have to go abroad just to learn Javanese?