MUNA LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE AMONG TEENAGE SPEAKERS IN WATOPUTE, MUNA REGENCY, SOUTHEAST SULAWESI

Abstract

This study was aimed to investigate the language attitude of Muna teenage speakers and its relationship with the language maintenance as well as the factors affecting Muna language maintenance. This is a mixed-method study in which the data were collected by using questionnaire and interview. Seventy-four students of senior high schools in Watopute sub district were selected purposively to be the participants of this study. The data were analyzed by using chi-square and interpretation. The result shows that the respondents tend to have positive attitude toward Muna language. However, the results also indicate that there is no correlation between language attitude and language maintenance in this research (p>0.05) in which the respondents tend to use Bahasa Indonesia in several domains especially in the school and the social media. The factors affecting Muna language maintenance can be formulated as follows: (1) family, in which the parents taught Bahasa Indpnesia to their children, (2) demographic factors, and (3) the communication pattern in school that gives opportunity to the students to use Bahasa Indonesia rather than Muna language.