Defining Language Identity of Youth Learning Islamic Studies in Traditional Pesantren

Abstract

This article is a library study taking a look at how the traditional pesantren santris use their languages by focusing at what languages are recognized and used by them, and to see whether the language is used as the reflection of their identity both as young persons and santris of traditional pesantren. This article will also look at how their language identity is reflected through literary works. The previous studies show that mostly they used their mother tongue in daily communication, in all level of Javanese, as they feel obliged to use it to converse with different addresse. However, out of the context of pesantren, they also use informal Bahasa Indonesia, closely similar to the language used by other teenagers. Literary works also describe the language used by santris as being modern, typical type of informal Bahasa Indonesia used by teenagers. Keywords: traditional pesantren, language identity, santri.