Language Research Methodology

Final Project

The Lexical Analysis of The Mandailing Language in Panti

ASRIDAYENTI BP. 10851

Graduate Program of English Padang State University 2009

Introduction The Lexical Analysis of The Mandailing Language In Panti

The geographical of the Mandailing language is located in northern of North Sumatera province. The Mandailing language is spoken by Tapanuli community. The Mandailing language spread out from northern of North Sumatera province to Panti district in line with the moving of Tapanuli community from North Sumatera province to Panti district. Panti is one of districts in Pasaman regency, West Sumatera province. Around fifty percent of the community who lives in northern Panti such as Tapus, and Rao speaks the Mandailing language. Whereas the rest fifty percent of the community whose lives in southern Panti such as Petok, Ampang Gadang, and Salibawan speaks Minang language. This data is provided based on the informal interview with the local society who lives in Panti. The local society also said that Panti community can be grouped into two: Minangese and Tapanulinese / Bataknese. The Mandailing language observed here is the Mandailing language which is spoken by Panti community in oral communication. This language is used by Panti community as a means of communication among families, cultural and religious ceremonies, trades, students, teachers, etc. it is also used in a market, a bus station, an office, a school, etc. Next, most of Panti community earn their life by farming, trading, and do plantation. It is obvious the Mandailing language plays an important role in Panti community. Consequently, this language as a part of Batak language family should be maintained and developed especially the Mandailing language which is used by Panti community. One of the ways of maintenance and development is by conducting a research in accordance with the problem mentioned above. It is caused by the result of the analysis which displays using linguistic data is a source of information to understand the language universally and the characteristic of the language particularly.

Background on Major Concept to be Investigated

Speaking about words, here a number of linguists define words. First, according to Hocket (1965), "word is only segment of sentence bounded by successive point at which pausing is possible". Next, Keraf (1980) states that words are the smallest units obtained after a sentence is divided into parts and containing a single idea. Then, "A word is one of the smallest completely satisfying bits of isolated meaning into which a sentence resolves itself, which cannot be divided without any disturbance of the meaning", (Sapir: 1977). In addition, Samarin (1967) says that the goals of linguistic field work phonology, grammar and lexicon. He concludes that a word cannot be understand and defined without understanding and explicating the life and universe of the relevant speech community. How is meaning determined? For objects and events within the sight of both the informant and the field worker the easiest way is to point. He also interested in words as words, as elements that he would have to manipulate in his structural analysis. Therefore, it implies that all other words have a "literal" or transparent meaning which is adequate for understanding language in actual use. He argues that everything in the field workers notes should be fled. Then a certain number of well-varied texts should be completely processed. To emphasize, Langacker (1972) describes that lexical items (such as words, morphemes, compounds, and idioms) can be viewed as rules of very limited generality. A lexical item pairs a meaning with a pronunciation. He notes that in the case of morphemes and some complex lexical items (idioms in particular), such pairings are arbitrary or conventional - there is no way to predict on the basis of other regularities in the language, which meaning will be paired with which pronunciation.

Langacker also mentions that a linguistic regularity namely the soundmeaning correlation that it represents in the language is constant. In other words, it does not vary randomly from one sentence to the next. Frankly speaking, a given meaning can be represented by the same phonological form in any sentence in which the meaning figures. Later on, the term lexical item will often be used in preference to lexical rule. Langacker adds "the lexical analysis of a language is intimately connected with its syntactic and phonological analysis and cannot be completed without considerable progress in these other domains. Nor is it always possible for the linguist to segment an utterance into words on the basis of its phonetic characteristic, since speakers usually do not pause at word boundaries. Phonetically, a sentence typically consists of a continuous stream of sound with lexical boundaries left unmarked; even the representation of a sentence as a series of discrete sound segments constitutes a significant abstraction from phonetic reality. To conclude Langacker (1972) mentions that there are a number of different factors are relevant in determining whether or not a phonetic sequence is a word: recurrence with constant meaning, the naturalness of pause, the possibility of constituting a complete utterance, interaction with phonological rules, the impossibility of inserting another word in the sequence, behavior as a unit with respect to permutation, and last but not least, native intuition.

Purpose of Analysis

The purposes of the analysis are: 1. To identify the meaning of the Mandailing words. 2. To describe some lexical aspects of the Mandailing language. 3. It is hoped this research will contribute teaching Indonesia language as well as English language. 4. Hopefully, this research will give contribution and benefit for the development of Panti linguistic and Indonesia linguistic as well.

The Method of Research

A. Type of The Research This research involves the researcher as key instrument in collecting data. Consequently this research uses descriptive qualitative method. The qualitative method talks about human behavior as individuals. As Berg (2001) says, "why uses qualitative method? Many researchers believe that the social sciences have depended too much on sterile survey techniques, regardless of whether or not the technology is appropriate for the problem". He adds, "scientific researchers may be primarily interested in individual and their so called life worlds". That is why the researcher in this case selects this method. It is also supported by Bogdan and Biklen (1992). They argue that qualitative research is primary viewed as an inquiry process based on building a holistic, and complex understanding of a social problem. It is characterized by data collection in a natural setting where the researcher acts as a key instrument. Moreover, the research contains deep and rich description where it is more concerning with process than specifying outcomes. In general, the data will be analyzed in an inductive process to provide meaning to the researcher as well as to other researchers. The idea above has been greatly stated by Gay and Airasian (2000). They mention that in the qualitative research, the researchers rely on themselves as the main instrument of data collection. It is the researcher who enters the setting, collects, observational, and other qualitative data and provides his or her own interpretation of the data.

B. Source of Data The data of this research were all of utterances which the researcher assumes as words in the Mandailing language in Panti.

To identify and describe the lexical meaning of the Mandailing words in Panti, the researcher used the oral data source. The source of data was taken from the using of the language orally by the community of Panti district. The researcher selected this way because so far there is no written data source of the Mandailing language in Panti yet such as newspapers, magazine, books and so forth. Since the researcher teaches at SMA Negeri 1 Panti, she will be easier to collect data and do observation both at the school and in Panti community.

C. Informants The informants were taken from a location of the research done that is Panti district located in Pasaman regency, West Sumatera province. Therefore, the populations of this research were native speakers of the Mandailing language who live in Panti. There are three informants involved in this research. One was a key informant and the rest were supported informants. The main data were taken from the key instrument. On the other hand, the data was produced by the rest two informants used for comparison and additional information. The informants were chosen during the grand tour time. According to Samarin (1967) in classifying the informants also depends on the personality of the investigator based on the theory and the other factors. The nature of study the circumstances under which it is done, the informant's health, and innumerable other factors will influence one's judgement about a candidate. He adds that there four qualifications of informants: age, sex, cultural and psychological qualities, and language. During the research, the researcher visited the informants and talked to them regularly in accordance to the schedule until the data which the researcher gathered complete.

D. Technique of Data Collection To collect the data the researcher will do three steps: 1. She will do grand tour to get a generally description toward the social situation observed. 2. She will focus more on observation or in other words do mini tour. 3. She will select and elicit the data gathered to look for more information or called selective observation or elicitation.

In addition, this research will be done by the researcher herself. Spradley (1980) called this participant observation. This term is the same as his book titled "Participant Observation". Next, the data were collected through direct observation and interview the native speakers of the Mandailing language. It is done from January 25, 2007 to February 25, 2007 in Panti. The direct observation helped the researcher to see the Mandailing language used by the native speakers particularly. While an interview guide is also to help the researcher to collect information about the lexical meaning of words in the Mandailing language. Conducting the interview the researcher visited the informants continually. The data were written on a notebook called field note and recorded on a tape recorder. Then, in order to complete the data, the researcher also did direct observation against the informants. The data were written on a note book too, E. Technique of Data Analysis The result of the direct observation and interview were studied and analyzed to see and figure out the lexical meaning of words in the Mandailing language. F. Instumentation There are two instrumentations used to collect the data for this research. The first instrument is a direct observation to the field. The second instrument is

an interview guide that used to interview the native speakers of the Mandailing language. To conduct this research, the researcher play an important role because she was involved in the field to gather the data directly. Then, in a direct observation has been done, the researcher wrote and recorded everything dealing with the Mandailing language particularly the lexical meaning of words in that language. Finally, to deal with interview, the researcher used a list of interview and a note book called field note. Before the researcher did the interview she asked for permission to the informants whether or not she could do the interview and collect data from them. The interview responses in this research, she wrote on a note book and recorded in a tape recorder. G. Technique of Elicitation Indeed, there are several factors make eliciting distinct from every other technique used in linguistic research: a) The utterances obtained in elicitation are short, generally not longer than a single sentence and usually out of context. b) The elicitation is motivated toward analysis of some aspects of the linguistic system. c) Eliciting is defined by the intimate human relations established between the investigator and his informant that affect the nature of the data which are obtained and their interpretation (Samarin: 1967). In general, Samarin (1967) considers some steps in eliciting: preparation, build up, transcription, and repetition.

Findings of the Analysis Findings 1. au markarejo 2. alak lai i markarejo 3. ho markarejo 4. daknak alak lai i markarejo 5. hami martata 6. anak born i martata 7. au sadang markarejo 8. hamu sadang markarejo 9. hamu sude sadang markarejo 10. hami sude sadang markarejo 11. alak lai i sadang markarejo 12. au marlange 13. ho marlange 14. alak lai i giot marlange 15. daganak alak lai i markarejo 16. daboru i markarejo 17. anak boru i giot marlange 18. au sidung marlange I work about the man works about you (singular) work about the boy works about we laugh she laughs I am working you (singular) are working you (plural) are working we are working he is working I swim about you (singular) swim about. the man will swim the boy works about the girl works about the woman will swim I have already swum

19. ho sidung marlange 20. au giot marlojong 21. alak lai i giot marlojong 22. hami sude mardalan 23. au mardalan 24. au marlojong 25. ho marlojong

you (singular) have already swum 1 will run the man will run we walk along I walk along I run you run

To analyze the above findings, the researcher isolated the words to state the meaning of them. Doing so, words were defined as the smallest phonological units that recur with the constant meaning. The analysis brought each segment of every sentence is assigned to some word. it means there should be no residues when a sentence is broken up into words. Finally, Langacker (1967) states, lexical units can be identified by comparing sentences that are very similar but not quite identical. This technique would be done in the analysis of findings in this research.

Discussion The units of various sizes that seem to recur with constant meaning can be isolated. For example, markarejo occurs in sentence (1) and (3) which share the meaning component work about. 1. au markarejo 2. ho markarejo From sentence (1) and (3), the researcher can find: markarejo means work about au means I ho means you (singular)

3. alak lai i markarejo 4. daknak alak lai i markarejo From sentence (2) and (4), the researcher can find; markarejo ainklal i = work (s) about = man = the

daknak alak lai = boy

5. hami martata 6. anak boru i martata From sentence (5) and (6), the researcher can find: martata hami anak boru i = laugh (s) = we = she

7. au sadang markarejo 8. hamu sadang markarejo

From sentence (7) and (8), the researcher can find: sadang markarejo au hamu = are (am) working =I = you (singular)

9. hamu sude sadang markarejo 10. hami sude sadang markarejo From sentence (9) and (10), the researcher can find: sadang markarejo hamu sude hami sude = are working = you (plural) = we

11. alak lai i markarejo 12. alak lai i sadang markarejo From sentence (2) and (11), the researcher can find: alak lai markarejo sadang = the man / he = work (s) / working = is

13. au marlange 14. ho marlange From sentence (12) and (13), the researcher can find: marlange au ho = swim about =I = you (singular)

15. alak lal i giot marlange 16. anak boru i giot marlange From sentence (14) and (17), the researcher can find;

giot marlange alak lai i anak boru i

= will = swim = he / the man = she / the woman

17. daganak alak lai i markarejo 18. daboru i markarejo From sentence (15) and (16), the researcher can find; markarejo = work (s) about

daganak alak lai = boy daboru i = girl = the

19. ausidungmarlange 20. ho sidung marlange From sentence (18) and (19), the researcher can find: marlange sidung au ho = swum / swim = have already =i = you (singular)

21. au giot marlojong 22. alak lai i giot marlojong From sentence (20) and (21), the researcher can find: giot marlojong au alaklai = will = run =I = man/he

= the

23. hami sude mardalan 24. au mardalan From sentence (22) and (23), the researcher can find: mardalan hamisude au = walk along = we =I

25. au marlojong 26. ho marlojong From sentence (24) and (25), the researcher can find; marlojong ho au = run = you (singular) =I

To conclude, evidently that the verbs in the Mandailing language in Panti introduced by th werd mar like marlojong, martnta, mardalan, and marlange. To show plural the Mandailing language uses sude. To indicate the, mandailing language uses i. Alak lai can be isolated as he or man. While, in stating continuous, it only uses sadang. And to indicate past perfect uses sidung.

Conclusion Based on the discussion of findings above, it is apparently that studying a regional language particularly the MandaiIing language in Panti is important. To notice and know the Mandailing language is hoped, the communication among communities will be more effective.

Reference

Berg, Bruce L. 2001. Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. USA: Allyn and Bacon a Pearson Education Company Bogdan, Robert C. and Biklen, Sari Knopp. 1992. An Introduction to Theory and Method. USA: Allyn and Bacon, Inc. Gay, L.R. and Airasian, Peter. 2000. Educational Research Competencies for Analysis and Application. New Jersey: Printice-Hall, inc. Hocket, Charles F.. 1965. A Course in Modern Linguistics. New York: The Ronald Press Company. Keraf, Goris. 1980. Tata Bahasa Indonesia. Ende-Flores; Nusa Indah Arnoldus. Langacker, Ronald W.. 1972. Fundamentals of Linguistic Analysis. USA: Harcourt Brace Jovanich, Inc. Rosidi, Ajib. 1999. Bahasa Nusantara Suatu Pemetaan Awal. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka. Samarin, William J.. 1967. Field Linguistics: A Guide to Linguistic Field Work USA: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Sapir, Edward. 1971. Language. New York: Harcourt Brace and co. Tarigan, Henry Guntur. 1991. Bahassa Karo. Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.