INFLUENTIAL FACTORS IN THE MAINTENANCE OF TAMIL LANGUAGE AMONG INDIAN SOCIETIES IN MEDAN, NORTH SUMATERA

Abstract

The research is aimed at finding out the influential factors in the maintenance of Tamil language among Indian societies in Medan North Sumatera, It is used descriptive research by using qualitative and quantitative approach. It describes the maintenance of Tamil language among Indian speakers who lived in Medan North Sumatera. The research was conducted in Medan North Sumatera. Methods in collecting data were observation, questionnaire and interview. Recording and note taking were used as the instruments. The samples were taken 100 of Indian societies who have been settling in Medan for a long time ago. The samples were also taken based on the age groups, such as; > 60 years old, 36-59 years old, 20-35 years old, 13-19 years old, and < 12 years old. Data were analyzed by using Linier Regression. The result indicated that there were many factors influenced the maintenance of Tamil language among Indian societies in Medan North Sumatera namely; age, education, demography, religion, culture, and attitude. It was proved by the result of data examination which indicated that those factors had influenced significantly with the result of Regression showed p value for the whole variables were 0.000. However, bilingualism and mobility did not indicate significance results in which the p value for bilingualism variable was 0.184 and mobility was 0.720.