Refusal Strategies of Coastal Language Society in Sibolga

Roma Ayuni A. Loebis

English Department, Faculty of Cultural Studies, Universitas Sumatera Utara

Keywords: Refusal Strategies, Language Behavior, Language Society in Sibolga.

Abstract: This research analyses and discusses “refusal strategies”as the reflection of language behavior and socio-

culture of language society in Sibolga. Society in Sibolga come from multi ethnic, therefore there are multi-

languages such as Minangkabau language , Batak language and Aceh language, also coastal ethnic languages

as Malay root language. But the society claim the language they use in daily activities is Coastal Language

(Bahasa Pesisir).”Refusal strategies” is not only a part of Speech Act , but also another form of language

behavior which occur in daily activities in responding request, invitation, offer, and suggestion. This research

uses qualitative -descriptive method. The data are collected by doing observation, questioning informants,

and recording dialogues among respondents. Pragmatics approaches which covers ethno-pragmatics, and

socio pragmatics will be used. Data are grouped based on Refusal strategies taxonomy by Beebe et.al.:1990

(Triana: 2007 and Hiroko: 2014). The research found that the using of “Refusal Strategies” is not only consider

as the language behavior which influenced by norms and culture value. The choice on “Statement of regret”

and “Giving explanation” to the interlocutor are preferred than other classifications which also various in

usages. The phenomenon are due to the culture effect which believed by language society in Sibolga

1 INTRODUCTION

As a sub-study of Linguistics that examines how

context supports meaning, Pragmatic research is

often done. It is not just broad Pragmatic

coverage, but because Pragmatics refers to the

language skills in society that are used daily in

interacting with others. Language understanding

shows on the fact that to understand an

expression / speech language it is also necessary

to outsource the meaning of words and

grammatical relationships that relate to the

context of using it and (Triana, 2008) the term

"linguistic proper" also used to mention this

linguistic approach (Norman, 2001).

One of the studies in Pragmatics is Speech

Act. Speech Act covers refusal strategy which is

a response to request, invitation, offer, and

suggestion. Under normal circumstances,

acceptance and approval is always the expected

countermeasures when refusal is not expected.

However, delays also sometimes indicate that

speakers have a strong reason for a refusal.

The pragmatic paradigm is the exposure to be

associated with the sociocultural state of the

speaker. In other words, the pragmatic study of

Malay speech has not shown the study that puts

language analysis and social analysis in a

proportional context. Some categorized this

study to speech act analysis as a communication

medium (Akmajian et al., 1990). In fact, the

study of the actual speech can explain the

linguistic aspects and simultaneously explain the

social processes that apply in the community of

speakers who are pleased. This is why the

pragmatic study of Malay speech does not touch

social life.

Sibolga is a city and port located in the

natural harbour of Sibolga on the west coast of

North Sumatera province, Indonesia. The city

has an area of 10,77 km2 and had population of

95.471 at 2015. The residents of Sibolga consists

of many Malays who come from Minangkabau

and from the more southerly coastal ports;

Bataknese who have wandered to the beach and

more or less have made a marriage with beach

residents and other groups including Acehnese

Loebis, R.

Refusal Strategies of Coastal Language Society in Sibolga.

DOI: 10.5220/0010069011731177

In Proceedings of the International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches (ICOSTEERR 2018) - Research in Industry 4.0, pages

1173-1177

ISBN: 978-989-758-449-7

1173

(Jane, 2003). Speech in Sibolga community

(especially the speakers of Malay) will become

more important if studied in the context of the

latest social life, namely life in the global era

which identified with the era of cultural

transformation. Cultural transparency can have

an impact on the language, norms and values that

ethnic practices speak of, as stated (Jane, 2003)

that "the major elements of culture are language,

norms, beliefs, and values." Language as a

system symbols that cannot be separated from

norms and culture values because it is created

and used by people who have the norms and

culture values. Pragmatics examines the factors

that drive the choice of language in social

interaction and the influence of that choice to the

partners (Antony, 2005). In this theory we can

say something as we please, but in practice we

have to follow a number of social rules (largely

unconscious) that we must follow

Therefore, a study is needed that can analyze

linguistic aspects based on the latest

development of Malay society and culture,

called Malay language behavior study. In this

research, Malay speech study framework is used

to explore linguistic aspects and sociocultural

behavior of refusal. The choice of refusal is also

because the study is still very little compared to

other (Hadari, 2005) even from a sociolinguistic

standpoint (Leslie et al., 1990), much less in the

context of Malay culture. Research focusing on

refusals, by Beebe and Takahashi (Triana, 2008),

(Santoso et al., 2008), (Hiroko, 2014).

The theory of cultural scripts 'cultural

discourse' deals with the communication of

humans or groups of people from a cultural

perspective. In different societies, people or

groups of people not only have different

languages, but they use those languages in

different ways. In some societies, for example,

communication or conversation often occurs

because of disagreements, tension or tone of

voice increases, emotions are so loose.

Meanwhile, in other societies, people or groups

avoiding conflict and tension, they speak in

coolness, and even in a soft tone of voice

(Goddard, 2003). This cultural script can be

applied to examine cross-cultural emotions, to

see how emotional differences in feelings in

communication (Wierzbicka, 1999). The

selection of coastal language speakers in Sibolga

is more due to the suitability of the nature of the

study framework to the social reality that appears

in the present social phenomenon or in the

historical record. Compatibility can be observed

through the philosophy of life the nature of

social, customs, and ethnic Malay role in the life

of nation and state.

2 METHOD

This study uses a qualitative descriptive

approach. A descriptive approach can be

interpreted as a problem-solving procedure that

is investigated by describing or describing the

state of the research subject (person, institution,

community and others), which is now based on

facts that appear and as it is (Nawawi, 2005). The

study of speech acts of the coastal language

speaker Malay community is intended as a study

that sees speech behavior as a form of social

behavior which is realized through verbal

language. The paradigm used in the study is a

Socio-pragmatic paradigm that developed

through the ethnographic approach The data are

collected by the ethnographic rules of speech

that proposed by the Seville-Troike, which

includes observation techniques, interviews. The

data is taken there informal situations that focus

on the conversation.

This research was conducted in March 2018 with

duration of about 3-4 hours in a day. Referring

to the consideration and process of determining

the corpus (Samarin, 1967), the corpus of data

studied are 121 speech- events involving 102

participants from random areas in Sibolga. The

tools used are handy-cam and voice-recorder.

Data analysis is done qualitatively. The analysis

is using Beebe et.al theory with taxonomy. The

analysis of speech behavior refers to (Leech,

1983) rhetorical analysis that is more

fundamental to the principle of speech rather

than to the sentence. Analysis of social culture

refers to theories of cultural change (Saville-

Troike, 1987).

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

1174

3 DISCUSSION

In a speech acts often occur where the second

speech is a sequence of the first one which is

called an adjacency pair. This situation occurs

when the speech is produced by two or more

participants. One of the speech constructed as a

response to the previous speech is a refusal.

Refusal is a form of response to a request, offer,

gift, suggestion, award or praise, invitation or

order from one or more participants involved in

a speech.

The results that the refusal among between

friends among coastal language speakers in

Sibolga is variously disaggregated. Researcher

indicate that the strategy of refusal among Malay

speakers can be clarified to 7 (seven) strategies.

Table 1: Frequent Usage of Refusal Strategies based on

age

Refus

Strate

gies

Usage

tal

)

Older (>30) Younger (<30)

F M Tota

(%)

Total

(%)

1 Direct

Refusa

23(

14.

2 5 7

(3.04

)

9 7 16

(6.95)

2 Expres

sing

Guilty

22(

13.

6 9 15

(6.81

)

4 3 7 (3.18

)

3 Giving

Excus

es/

Explai

nation

23(

14.

6 8 14

(6.08

)

3 6 9

(3.91)

4 Giving

Choic

es to

anothe

alterna

tives

23(

14.

9 7 16

(6.95

)

3 4 7

(3.04)

5 Expres

sing

Princi

pals

(15

.8)

5 4 9

(3.6)

9 7 16

(6.4)

6 Giving

Uncle

Replie

20(

12.

2 1 3

(1.5)

7 5 12

(8.5)

7 Saying

Thank

You

(Be

Gratef

ul)

22(

13.

8 7 15

(6.81

)

5 2 7

(3.18)

Total 15

(10

(53.1

(46.83)

3.1 Refusal Strategy in Coastal

Language Society

It can be seen on the table that refusal strategies

which are used are 1) Direct refusal, 2) Express

regret, 3) Apologize and give reasons /

explanation 4) Give choice of other things, 5)

State the principle of refusal, 6) give unclear

replies, and 7) Be grateful.

3.1.1 Direct Refusal

Direct refusal occurs againts long-known or

familiar opponents. Word is used explicitly and

directly. The word used is the word rejection like

tidak, ndak. This strategy is more dominantly

used by young people who mostly use direct

speech.

3.1.2 Stating Regret

This strategy is widely used among adult at

higher age. Generally use the words ambo

menyesal…, sedih rasonyo tidak dapat

membantu ..

3.1.3 Apologize and Give a Reason /

Explanation

This strategy is the most widely used Malay

speakers in Sibolga. Apologies are expressed in

order to maintain politeness and interlocutor can

understand. Giving a reason is meant as a step to

form a polite refusal. Refusing for explicit

reasons can be identified through the use of a

conjunctive word, such as kerano, and sobab.

Refusal Strategies of Coastal Language Society in Sibolga

1175

This strategy is used to refuse friends with

different types and levels of relationships. The

findings indicate that this strategy is often used

by the Malay-speaking community in Sibolga in

refusing.

3.1.4 Giving Another Choice

The strategy of giving choice to other things

aims to give way out of the conditions

experienced by the interlocutor. Actually

speakers cannot undertake the request, command

from the interlocutor so that speakers propose

other options. This strategy is used to neutralize

the atmosphere of speech and avoid conflict.

Therefore, this strategy is often used by Malay

speakers in Sibolga to interact, regardless of the

type and level of participant relationships.

3.1.5 Expressing the Principle of Life

Statement of principle of life like ambo ndak

biaso baniaga seperti ini ... to suggestion

generally happened among adult age group

which indicates that a person has a life principle

in living his life so that he can refuse the offer or

invitation of the interlocutor.

3.1.6 Providing an Unclear Reply

This strategy is generally used if the Malay

speakers in Sibolga do not recognize the

interlocutor. Generally, the refusal is in the form

of silent action or dodge.

3.1.7 Be Grateful

Grateful strategy is commonly used by Malay

speakers in Sibolga as a greeting to refuse a

request or an offer Words like terima kasih ...

are used to maintain the politeness and respect

and to keep the feelings of the interlocutor.

The results indicate that the old Sibolga

society practices the refusal strategy by

politeness, as well as the young ones. Young

people seem to be starting to imitate older people

in speaking style. The speaker’s coastal language

in Sibolga who adhere to norms and custom

values seem to try to maintain the Malay

tradition. In other words, the elderly still want

and continue to perpetuate the cultural values in

refusing. The youth are also learning practice the

values though not so obvious.

The change in values is also found in the

behavior of refusal strategies by gender. It is

found that “Giving another choice” and “Stating

principles” are dominated by women. This may

be due to the reinforcement of cultural

development among female speakers. This

finding can be considered interesting, because

normally in every culture, women is

psychological constructed as a weak and

emotional speaker.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Various strategies in refusing among coastal

language speakers in Sibolga are closely related

to the speaker's social aspect and his language

behavior. The variety shows the tendency of

Malay speakers can be clarified based on the

social aspect of the speakers, the age group and

gender. The dual variables provide a meaningful

variation for the phenomenon of refusing among

Malay speakers in Sibolga. Refusing is not a

single activity, but an activity supported by socio

cultural values and norms.

The rules in speech acting are not always able

to be obeyed by every member of the community

although it is realized that by obeying the rules,

success in interaction can be achieved. The

reasons of condition, emotion, and logical

aspects make the rules may not be obeyed or not

practiced. Therefore, deviation of the rules is not

a barrier thing; basically, the deviation of rules is

just a manifestation of changes in a dynamic

society. Especially in Sibolga live various ethics,

which in daily interaction, cultural factors -

especially in speaking- more likely impact each

other’s.

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