MAINTAINING BANYUMAS LOCAL LANGUAGE THROUGH BATIK AND ITS CULTURAL VALUES

Abstract

This paper is aimed at exploring Banyumas cultural heritage, specifically its traditional batik. Banyumas batik has a distinguished patterns as well as colors which are different from Solo, Yogyakarta, or Pekalongan batik. The patterns and colors of batik reflect the socio-cultural values of local people. As the illustration, Banyumas batik preserves natural color like brown and black and some of the famous patterns are: lumbon, jahe rajang, babon angrem, and kali serayu. It implies the socio-cultural value specifically ecological awareness of Banyumas people. Considering those aspects, the researchers are interested in exploring an ethnolinguistic study on Banyumas batik. This approach investigates the language employed in the name of batik pattern which mainly discuss the lexical classification of Banyumas batik. Furthermore, the relationship between the name of batik and socio-cultural value of Banyumas people are also explained in this paper. The writers apply descriptive qualitative method in this study. The data were collected through observation, documentation and interview with key informants. The result reveals 23 patterns in Banyumas batik which represent Banyumas philosophy particularly in terms of ecology. This research leads to the conclusion that Banyumas people still strongly preserve the Javanese value and philosophy. Preserving socio-cultural values is one of the ways to maintain local languages in accordance with the efforts in strengthening national identity in global community.