The Positioning of Banyumasan and Its Ideology „Cablaka’ as Reflected in Linguistic Features

Abstract

Banyumas dialect is one of many variants of Javanese language. Banyumas dialect or Banyumasan is a variant which is found along the flow of Serayu river. The river flows from Sindoro-Sumbing Mountains (Koentjaraningrat, 1984:23). Banyumasan has some differences compared to standard Javanese spoken in Jogjakarta, Surakarta and Semarang. Those differences due to phonological and lexical features. This fact is then reflected in the positioning of this variant towards the standard. Banyumasan is considered as ‗the other‘ while standard Javanese is ‗the self‘. It is in line with Hall, who states that ‖Cultural identities are the points of identification, the unstable points of identification or suture, which are made, within the discourses of history and culture. Not an essence but a positioning‘. This positioning is caused by several factors. Meanwhile the use of Banyumasan also carries the ideology of cablaka. Cablaka is a tendency to speak frankly in accordance with social and cultural background. Cablaka is a little bit different from Blakasuta which means saying something as it is without considering anything. The ideology of cablaka is reflected in linguistic features used in Banyumasan.