1
AN ANALYSIS OF SURABAYA DIALECT
AND BLORA DIALECT IN JAVANESE
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Javanese language
(Javanese: basa Jawa, Indonesian: bahasa Jawa) is the language of the Javanese people
from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
I.1. Background of the study
In daily activities, people always use language to communicate.
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring
and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of
such a system of complex communication. The scientific study of language in
any of its senses is called linguistics.
Human language is highly complex in that it is based on a set of rules
relating symbols to their meanings, thereby forming an infinite number of
possible innovative utterances from a finite number of elements. The word
"language" can also be used to describe the set of rules that makes this
possible, or the set of utterances that can be produced from those rules.
All languages rely on the process of semiotic to relate a sign with a
particular meaning. Spoken and signed languages contain a phonological
system that governs how sounds or visual symbols are used to form
sequences known as words or morphemes, and a syntactic system that
governs how words and morphemes are used to form phrases and utterances.
Written languages use visual symbols to represent the sounds of the spoken
languages, but they still require syntactic rules that govern the production of
meaning from sequences of words.
The word "language" has two meanings: language as a general concept
and "a language" (a specific linguistic system, e.g. "French"). Languages
other than English often have two separate words for these distinct concepts.
Language learning normally occurs most intensively during human
childhood. Most of the thousands of human languages use patterns of sound
or gesture for symbols which enable communication with others around them.
Languages seem to share certain properties, although many of these include
exceptions. There is no defined line between a language and a dialect.
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Another definition sees language as a system of communication that
enables humans to cooperate. This definition stresses the social functions of
language and the fact that humans use it to express themselves and to
manipulate objects in their environment. This view of language is associated
with the study of language in a functional or pragmatic framework, as well as
in socio-linguistics and linguistic anthropology.
Communication is the activity of conveying information. Communication
requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver
need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time
of communication; thus communication can occur across vast distances in
time and space. Communication requires that the communicating parties
share an area of communicative commonality. The communication process is
complete once the receiver has understood the sender.
Human spoken and picture languages can be described as a system of
symbols (sometimes known as lexemes) and the grammars (rules) by which
the symbols are manipulated. Therefore, communication is social interaction
where at least two interacting agents s
hare a common set of signs and a common set of semiotic rules.
There are some components of communication. Those are the important
things that can make communication done well. Laswell stated that there are
six components of communication, they are:
Sender, is a side that send message to the others
Message, is a content which is delivered by one side to the others
Channel, is media where message is delivered by the communicant
in face-to-face communication. The media might be air
Receiver, is a side that receives message from the others
Feedback, is response from a received message
The rules which are agreed by the sender and the receiver about
how communication is done
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Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be
broadly broken into three categories or subfields: the study of language form,
of language meaning, and of language in context.
The first is the study of language structure, or grammar. This focuses on
the system of rules followed by the speakers (or hearers) of a language. It
encompasses morphology (the formation and composition of words), syntax
(the formation and composition of phrases and sentences from these words),
and phonology (sound systems). Phonetics is a related branch of linguistics
concerned with the actual properties of speech sounds, non speech sounds,
and how they are produced and perceived.
The study of language meaning is concerned with how languages employ
logical structures and real-world references to convey process and assign
meaning, as well as to manage and resolve ambiguity. This subfield
encompasses semantics (how meaning is inferred from words and concepts)
and pragmatics (how meaning is inferred from context).
Language in its broader context includes evolutionary linguistics, which
considers the origins of language; historical linguistics, which explores
language change; sociolinguistics, which looks at the relation between
linguistic variation and social structures; psycholinguistics, which explores
the representation and function of language in the mind; neurolinguistics,
which looks at language processing in the brain; language acquisition, how
children or adults acquire language; and discourse analysis, which involves
the structure of texts and conversations.
Although linguistics is the scientific study of language, a number of other
intellectual disciplines are relevant to language and influence its study.
Semiotics, for example, is the general study of signs and symbols both within
language and without. Literary theorists study the use of language in
literature. Linguistics additionally draws on work from such diverse fields as
psychology, speech-language pathology, informatics, computer science,
philosophy, biology, human anatomy, neuroscience, sociology, anthropology,
and acoustics.
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Sociolinguistic studies how language varieties differ between groups
separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, religion, status, gender,
level of education, age, etc., and how creation and adherence to these rules is
used to categorize individuals in social or socioeconomic classes. As the
usage of a language varies from place to place (dialect), language usage
varies among social classes, and it is these sociolects that sociolinguistics
studies.
In sociolinguistics a variety, also called a lect, is a specific form of a
language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, accents,
registers, styles or other sociolinguistic variation, as well as the standard
variety itself. "Variety" avoids the terms language, which many people
associate only with the standard language, and dialect, which is associated
with non-standard varieties thought of as less prestigious or "correct" than the
standard. Linguists speak of both standard and non-standard varieties. "Lect"
avoids the problem in ambiguous cases of deciding whether or not two
varieties are distinct languages or dialects of a single language.
There are many kinds of language in this world. Indonesia also has much
kinds of languages. There are Sumatra language, Sulawesi language,
Kalimantan language, Javanese language, and many others.
Javanese language (Javanese: basa Jawa, Indonesian: bahasa Jawa) is
the language of the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the
island of Java, in Indonesia.
The Javanese language is part of the Austronesian family, and is
therefore related to Indonesian and other Malay varieties. Most speakers of
Javanese also speak Indonesian for official and commercial purposes and to
communicate with non-Javanese Indonesians.
In Javanese language, there are some kinds of styles. Something that
makes them different is the way it spoken, whether it is softer or rude. Those
styles are called:
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Ngoko is informal speech, used between friends and close relatives. It
is also used by persons of higher status to persons of lower status,
such as elders to younger people or bosses to subordinates.
Madya is the intermediary form between ngoko and krama. An
example of the context where one would use madya is an interaction
between strangers on the street, where one wants to be neither too
formal nor too informal.
Krama is the polite and formal style. It is used between persons of the
same status who do not wish to be informal. It is also the official style
for public speeches, announcements, etc. It is also used by persons of
lower status to persons of higher status, such as youngsters to elder
people or subordinates to bosses.
From those explanations of background of the study above, the writers
analyze language, dialect, and varieties in sociolinguistic by the title “An
Analysis of Surabaya Dialect and Blora Dialect in Javanese
Sociolinguistics”.
I.2. Statements of the Problem
From the background of the study above, the writers formulate the
statements of the problem. They are:
1. What differentiates between Surabaya dialect and Blora dialect in
Javanese sociolinguistic?
2. What factor influences those dialects?
I.3. Purposes of the study
From the statements of the problem above, the writers formulate
purposes of the study. They are:
1. To know the differences between Surabaya dialect and Blora dialect in
Javanese sociolinguistic.
2. To know factor that influences those dialects.
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CHAPTER II
THEORY FRAMEWORK
II.1 Sociolinguistic
Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects
of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the
way language is used, and the effects of language use on society.
Sociolinguistics differs from sociology of language in that the focus of
sociolinguistics is the effect of the society on the language, while the latter's
focus is on the language's effect on the society. Sociolinguistics overlaps to a
considerable degree with pragmatics. It is historically closely related
to linguistic anthropology and the distinction between the two fields has even
been questioned recently.
It also studies how language varieties differ between groups separated by
certain social variables, e.g. ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of
education age, etc., and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to
categorize individuals in social or socioeconomic classes. As the usage of a
language varies from place to place (dialect), language usage varies among
social classes, and it is these sociolects that sociolinguistics studies.
While the study of sociolinguistics is very broad, there are a few
fundamental concepts on which many sociolinguistic inquiries depend.
Speech community
Speech community is a concept in sociolinguistics that describes a
more or less discrete group of people who use language in a unique
and mutually accepted way among themselves.
Speech communities can be members of a profession with a
specialized jargon, distinct social groups like high school students or
hip hop fans, or even tight-knit groups like families and friends.
Members of speech communities will often develop slang or jargon to
serve the group's special purposes and priorities.
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High prestige and low prestige varieties
Crucial to sociolinguistic analysis is the concept of prestige; certain
speech habits are assigned a positive or a negative value which is then
applied to the speaker. This can operate on many levels. It can be
realized on the level of the individual sound/phoneme, as Labov
discovered in investigating pronunciation of the post-vocalic /r/ in the
North-Eastern USA, or on the macro scale of language choice, as
realized in the various diglossias that exist throughout the world,
where Swiss-German/High German is perhaps most well known. An
important implication of sociolinguistic theory is that speakers
'choose' a variety when making a speech act, whether consciously or
subconsciously.
Social network
Understanding language in society means that one also has to
understand the social networks in which language is embedded. A
social network is another way of describing a particular speech
community in terms of relations between individual members in a
community. A network could be loose or tight depending on how
members interact with each other. For instance, an office or factory
may be considered a tight community because all members interact
with each other. A large course with 100+ students would be a looser
community because students may only interact with the instructor and
maybe 1-2 other students. A multiplex community is one in which
members have multiple relationships with each other. For instance, in
some neighborhoods, members may live on the same street, work for
the same employer and even intermarry.
The looseness or tightness of a social network may affect speech
patterns adopted by a speaker. For instance, Sylvie Dubois and
Barbara Horvath found that speakers in one Cajun Louisiana
community were more likely to pronounce English "th" [θ] as [t] (or
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[ð] as [d]) if they participated in a relatively dense social network (i.e.
had strong local ties and interacted with many other speakers in the
community), and less likely if their networks were looser (i.e. fewer
local ties).
A social network may apply to the macro level of a country or a city,
but also to the inter-personal level of neighborhoods or a single
family. Recently, social networks have been formed by the Internet,
through chat rooms, MySpace groups, organizations, and online
dating services.
Internal vs. external language
In Chomskian linguistics, a distinction is drawn between I-
language (internal language) and E-language (external language). In
this context, internal language applies to the study of syntax and
semantics in language on the abstract level; as mentally represented
knowledge in a native speaker. External language applies to language
in social contexts, i.e. behavioral habits shared by a community.
Internal language analyses operate on the assumption that all native
speakers of a language are quite homogeneous in how they process
and perceive language. External language fields, such as
sociolinguistics, attempt to explain why this is in fact not the case.
Many sociolinguists reject the distinction between I- and E-language
on the grounds that it is based on a mentalist view of language. On
this view, grammar is first and foremost an interactional (social)
phenomenon (e.g. Elinor Ochs, Emanuel Schegloff, Sandra
Thompson).
Sociolinguistics as a field distinct from dialectology was pioneered
through the study of language variation in urban areas. Whereas dialectology
studies the geographic distribution of language variation, sociolinguistics
focuses on other sources of variation, among them class. Class and
occupation are among the most important linguistic markers found in society.
One of the fundamental findings of sociolinguistics, which has been hard to
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disprove, is that class and language variety are related. Members of the
working class tend to speak less standard language, while the lower, middle,
and upper middle class will in turn speak closer to the standard. However, the
upper class, even members of the upper middle class, may often speak 'less'
standard than the middle class. This is because not only class but also class
aspirations are important.
Studies in the field of sociolinguistics typically take a sample population
and interview them, assessing the realization of certain sociolinguistic
variables.
A commonly studied source of variation is regional dialects.
Dialectology studies variations in language based primarily on geographic
distribution and their associated features. Sociolinguists concerned with
grammatical and phonological features that correspond to regional areas are
often called dialectologists.
There are several different types of age-based variation one may see
within a population. They are: vernacular of a subgroup with membership
typically characterized by a specific age range, age-graded variation, and
indications of linguistic change in progress.
Variation may also be associated with gender. Men and women, on
average, tend to use slightly different language styles. These differences tend
to be quantitative rather than qualitative. That is, to say that women use a
particular speaking style more than men do is akin to saying that men are
taller than women (i.e., men are on average taller than women, but some
women are taller than some men).
II.2. Dialect and Varieties
Sociolinguistics a variety, also called an elect, is a specific form of a
language or language cluster.
Language varieties are:
1. Dialect
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O'Grady et al. define dialect as, "A regional or social variety of a
language characterized by its own phonological, syntactic, and lexical
properties”. The term dialect is often associated with regional varieties
of speech. In addition, though, there are dialect varieties associated with
particular ethnic groups (sometimes called ethnolects), socioeconomic
classes (sometimes called sociolects), or other social or cultural groups.
Dialectology is the study of dialects and their geographic or social
distribution. Traditionally, dialectologists study the variety of language
used within a particular speech community, a group of people who
share a set of norms or conventions for language use. More recently,
sociolinguists have adopted the concept of the community of practice, a
group of people who develop shared knowledge and shared norms of
interaction, as the social group within which dialects develop and
change. Sociolinguists Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-
Ginetexplain, "Some communities of practice may develop more
distinctive ways of speaking than others. Thus it is within communities
of practice that linguistic influence may spread within and among
speech communities."
2. Accent
Accent according a manner pronunciation is a way of pronouncing
word that indicated the places of origin or social background of the
speaker. Although the words dialect and accent are sometimes used
interchangeably in everyday speech, linguists and scholars define the
two terms differently. Accent, in technical usage, refers only to
differences in pronunciation, especially those associated with
geographic or social differences. Dialect, which refers to differences in
syntax, morphology, and vocabulary, as well as pronunciation, is the
broader term.
3. Idiolect
An idiolect is defined as "the language use typical of an individual
person." An individual's idiolect may be affected by contact with
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various regional or social dialects, professional registers, and in the case
of multilingual, various languages. For scholars who view language
from the perspective of linguistic competence, essentially the
knowledge of language and grammar that exists in the mind of an
individual language user, the idiolect is a way of referring to this
specific knowledge. For scholars who regard language as a shared
social practice, idiolect is more like a dialect with a speech community
of one individual.
4. Register or style
A register (sometimes called a style) is a variety of language used in a
particular social setting. Settings may be defined in terms of greater or
lesser formality, or in terms of socially recognized events, such as baby
talk, which is used in many western cultures when talking to small
children, or a joking register used in teasing or playing the
dozens. There are also registers associated with particular professions or
interest groups; jargon refers specifically to the vocabulary associated
with such registers. Unlike dialects, which are used by particular speech
communities and associated with geographical settings or social
groupings, registers are associated with particular situations, purposes,
or levels of formality. Dialect and register may be thought of as
different dimensions of variation. For example, Trudgill suggests the
following sentence as an example of a nonstandard dialect used with the
technical register of physical geography:
Most speakers command a range of registers, which they use in
different situations. The choice of register is affected by the setting
and topic of speech, as well as the relationship that exists between
the speakers.
The appropriate form of language may also change during the
course of a communicative event as the relationship between
speaker’s changes, or different social facts become relevant.
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Speakers may shift styles as their perception of an event in progress
changes.
II.3. Surabaya dialect
Surabaya dialect or more famous called “Suroboyoan” language is
Javanese dialect that spoken in Surabaya and around Surabaya. This dialect is
developed and used by Surabaya society. In structural language,
“Suroboyoan” language can be called as most rough language. Even though
refined language is still used by some people in Surabaya as respect to other
people, but the usage of refined language (madya until krama) in around
Surabaya people, mostly, was not too refined like in Central Java, especially
Yogyakarta and Surakarta combined with every day word which are more
rough.
The usage of Surabaya dialect based on the regions is:
South Region
Perak (Kab. Jombang-not Tanjung Perak in Surabaya)
North Perak region still use Surabaya dialect, while south Perak have
been using western Javanese dialect.
North Region
Madura
Several Maduranese can use this dialect effectively.
West
Gresik region
East
Unknown, but it still exists in along central coast East Java (Pasuruan,
Probolinggo until Banyuwangi). This dialect also mostly used.
Some special vocabularies of “Suroboyoan” dialect are:
“Pongor, Gibeng, Santap, Waso” (has meaning punch)
“ae” has meaning “only” (standart java language: wae)
“gak” has meaning “no” (standart java language: ora)
“arek” has meaning “child” (standard java language: bocah)
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“mene” has meaning “tomorrow” (standard java language: sesuk)
“jancuk” is bad word which often use such as “fuck” inj English. It was
abbreviation from passive form of “diancuk”; rough variation is
“mbokmu goblok”.
Surabaya dialect is the roughest dialect, but it actually shows simplicity,
explicitly, and straightforward. Lips service that is impressive for Javanese
people does not exist in Surabaya people. For example, when people are
having conversation, Javanese people say that younger people are not allowed
to see older people eyes because it is impolite. In Surabaya people culture,
that action shows that they are chicken because they are not able to see their
partner’s eyes.
II.4 Blora Dialect
Speakers of Java language almost spread in all of Java island
(Nothofer,1975:8) moreover the user of java language can meet in other
province of Indonesia, for example in DKI Jakarta, in territory of
transmigrates Lampung, South Sumatra, and until other country
Every language, includes of Java language, has totality system of
special characteristic regulation and shows of variation of good social
characteristic, although geographic variation. There are geography variation
in Blora language (include Blora Samin language) that needs to obtain in kind
of research. The research of Blora language has several considerations as
follows:
1. Firstly, Blora historically, there are Samin society who have
background of interesting history that takes experts’ attention.
According Hutomo (1985:4-5). Samin society is formed by appearing a
person named R. Kohar, who was born in Plosokediren, Randu blatum,
Blora in 1859, a son of R. Surowijoyo (or Samin sepuh). in order more
sociable, the name of R. Kohar change into Samin and then he becomes
spiritual teacher (in society of Java, spiritual teacher has a big effect).
That name is completed with Surosentiko, become Samin Surosentiko
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and with additional title, becomes “Panembahan Suryongalam”. The
followers of Saminisme often call Ki (Kyai) Sumin Surantika. As a
spiritual teacher KI Samin composed the special technical term that can
give more variations to Blora Java language and they are spread by his
follower.
2. Secondly, Blora as like the user area Java Blora language contains from
lime land which spread widely in Kendeng Mountain, forest area,
agriculture with infertile land. By this same condition, it can give effect
to dialect variation of Blora language.
3. Thirdly, in linguistic, it is found the data of Samin Blora language, there
are elements of religion special lexical, urip-rukun means “having sex
before marriage”, salin-sandhangan means “die”, rukun-kulo means
“wife or husband”, sumur means “virgin girl” and mak-yung means
“parents” as God for Samin people. But in a formal and semantic, this
element is different with Java Samin language. In a morphologist, Blora
language (include dialect Samin), it is found the data empiris such as:
sawahem means ”sawahmu”, turunem means “anakmu”, sapiyem
means “lembumu” which in Blora language the pronunciation of
sawahmu means “sawahmu”, turunmu means “anakmu” and sapimu
means “sapimu”. It was found data, such as putEh means “putih”,
malEh means “malih”, winEh means “biji”, isEh means “masih” in
Blora language (include Samin language).
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CHAPTER III
DISCUSSION
III.A. The Differences Between Surabaya dialect and Blora dialect in
Javanese sociolinguistic
Language serves a great social function in social life. In this case,
language works as a mean for people to act upon their environment.
Michael Halliday calls it as “language as social semiotic”, that is to say, on
language as a system of signs which are socially motivated or inform in
that they have been developed to express social meaning. (Widdowson,
1995: 14).
Javanese language is the language of Javanese people from the
Central and Eastern parts of the island of Java in Indonesia. In addition,
Javanese language spreads out almost at the whole Java Island. There are
some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of Western Java.
It is the native language of more than 75,500,000 people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/javanese_language)
Javanese speech varies depending on social context, yielding three
distinct styles, or registers. Those three styles are Ngoko, Madya, and
Krama. Javanese also consists of three main groups of Javanese dialect
based on the sub-region where the speakers live. They are western
Javanese, central Javanese, and eastern Javanese.
Since Blora includes Central Javanese dialect, it has such different
dialect with Surabaya, Eastern Javanese. Here are some differences
between Surabaya and Blora in Javanese sociolinguistic:
1. Surabaya dialect is considered as a rude dialect but actually it shows
firm attitudes, simplicity, and straightforwardness. In opposite of
Surabaya dialect, Blora has softer dialect than Surabaya. For example:
for the word “jagung”, Surabaya calls it with the same name as
“jagung”, however, Blora dialect uses the refined one to call “jagung”
as “gandum” (krama inggil of “jagung”)
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2. Based on the morphology, there are some differences between
Surabaya and Blora dialect.
Possessive pronoun (your….)
Surabaya Blora
bapakmu Bapakem
Sapimu Sapiem
Second person singular
Surabaya Blora
Koen/awakmu Dheweke/de’e
Suffix variation
Surabaya Blora
Jupukno Jupuken
3. The speakers of Surabaya dialect often use a stress in a base word to
express “something that has high degree (sangat)”. They seldom use
adverb to modify the base word like adding the word “bangat or temen”.
For example:
Complex word Base word Meaning
puanas panas Very hot
suedhep sedhep Very delicious
4. Javanese has various vocabularies. Here are some different vocabularies
between Surabaya and Blora dialect:
Surabaya Blora Indonesia English
Yok opo? Piye leh? Bagaimana? How?
Arek Turun Anak Child
Modar/mathek Salin-sandhangan Mati Die
Peno/koen dheweke Kamu You
Gak Odhak/orak Tidak No
Parek/carek Cerak Dekat Near
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Ae Wae Saja Only
Mudhun Anjar Turun Get down
Gendheng/edan Bento Gila Crazy
Balang Anthem Lempar Throw
Ciyut Ciyuk Sempit Narrow
Nggolek Luru Mencari Look for
Bal-balan Sadhukan Sepak bola Soccer
Ganteng Barik Tampan Handsome, etc
III.B. Factor That Influences the Differences of Surabaya Dialect and Blora
Dialect
Many kinds of language exist in this world and those are dynamic.
Language develops through the development of society. Many factors
influence the development of language. One of them is region.
The development of language happens in Indonesia, includes
Javanese language. As the standard dialect, Javanese language has three
groups of dialects based on the sub-region where the speakers live. They
are: Western Javanese, Central Javanese, and Eastern Javanese.
Accordance to the sub-region dialect division, Blora and Surabaya
are stated in a different sub-region. Blora includes in Central Java while
Surabaya includes in Eastern Java. Both dialects are determined by each
region dialect.
Eastern Javanese speakers range from the eastern banks of Brantas
River in Kertosono, Nganjuk to Banyuwangi, comprising the majority of
the Easst Java province, excluding Madura Island. However, the dialect
has been influenced by Madurese, and is sometimes referred to as
Surabayan speech.
The central Javanese variant, based on the speech of Surakarta (and
also to be degree of Yogyakarta), is considered as the refined Javanese
dialect. Blora dialect is influenced much by those kinds of dialect as it
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includes in Central Javanese main group of dialect. For this reason, Blora
dialect is softer than Surabaya dialect.
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CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION
IV.1. Conclusion
1. The differences between Surabaya and Blora dialect are:
Blora dialect is softer than Surabaya dialect
Based on morphology, there are some differences between
Surabaya dialect and Blora dialect:
o First is on possessive pronoun
o Second is on second person singular
o Suffix variation
There is a stressing on base word that has function to express
“something that has high degree”.
There are some differences in vocabularies between Surabaya
dialect and Blora dialect.
2. Region is a factor that makes difference between Surabaya dialect and
Blora dialect.
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References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javanese_language. April 8,2011. Time 10.25 am
http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/dialect. April 8th, 2011. Time 09.13 pm.
http://forum.detik.com/merger-kamus-dialek-surabaya-t7323.html?df9922tpop. April 8, 2011. Time 10.21 am
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahasa_Jawa_Surabaya. April 8, 2011. Time 10.44 am
http://ls1959.com/language/sociolinguistics/language-dialect-and-variety . April 8th, 2011. Time 09.13 pm.
KAJIAN GEOGRAFI DIALEK: BAHASA JAWA DI KABUPATEN BLORA Wakit Abdullah dan Sri Lestari Handayani Sastra Indonesia Fakultas Sastra dan Seni Rupa Universitas Sebelas Maret
Widdownson, H.G. 1995. Oxford Introductions to Language Study. Linguistics. Oxford University Press