OKARA: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra

“Family” as a Site of Gender and Class Struggles in Catherine Lim’s The Song of Silver Frond

Sri Mulyani — 2022-11-20

“Family” in The Song of Silver Frond (TSOSF) functions as a site of gender and class struggles to challenge the Chinese yin-yang and nei-wai tradition. Continuities and transformations in Chinese familial practices result from complex socio-cultural-generational dynamics. "Family" becomes a battleground of gender and class struggles for the preservation and transformation of those familial traditions. Moreover, the dynamic of ethnicity also intersects with gender and class relations. The traditional Chinese familial practices follow two fundamental Confucian gender foundations: yin-yang and nei-wai. The yin-yang delineation privileges man versus woman. Meanwhile, the private/public distinction of nei-wai relegates the woman's place to the domestic sphere. By employing Post-Structural feminist perspectives focusing on gender intersectionality, this article examines how "family" becomes the site of ethnic-gender-class struggles in TSOSF. The articles revealed that some family members, both men, and women, continue to apply the traditional Confucian rules from generation to generation. However, other members challenge those traditional practices to contest gender and class inequalities to adapt to different sociocultural dynamics in Southeast Asian Society. Thus, this article has articulated the way TSOSF displays "family" as a site of gender and class struggle in Chinese familial practices.

Linguistics Pattern on Acehnese Reduplicative System: Classifications and Meanings

Ika Apriani Fata — 2022-11-20

The significance of reduplication in language studies was to construct a linguistics pattern. However, linguists tend to disregard the functions of individual creativity and the core language meaning-making approach at the discourse level. Therefore, we should investigate this intriguing topic more to describe the repetition of words. Many studies analyzed classification reduplication in Acehnese through documentation techniques, in contrast, this current study investigated classifications and meanings of reduplication in Acehnese through observation and interview. Sulaiman's paradigm as the framework stated that reduplication had three parts: complete, affix, and ablaut reduplication. In addition, the researchers used the Ali et al. framework, which suggested eight meanings of reduplication, mainly grammatical meanings. The findings revealed that full reduplication was the most common among the 100 data of utterances. Furthermore, the meanings of reduplications are to convey the collective and distributive meaning, to express resemblance, and to express simultaneously and continuously were not discovered. The current study looked at how people could use morphological perspectives on reduplication in community discussions. Acehnese reduplication may vanish.

Binā al-Jumal al-Mu’aqqodah fī Riwayah “Mā Lā Nabūh Bih” ala Asāsi Nadhariyyati Tagmemic Kenneth L. Pike [Complex Sentence Construction in Novel “Mā Lā Nabūh Bih” Based on the Perspective of Kenneth L. Pike’s Tagmemic]

Abdul Basid — 2022-11-09

Sentence studies that are rarely discussed in the realm of linguistics are complex sentences. This article aims to describe the construction and types of complex sentences based on their clause formation in the novel Mā Lā Nabūh Bih based on Kenneth L. Pike's Tagmemic theory. This research was a qualitative and descriptive study, with the primary data source were the novel Mā Lā Nabūh Bih by Sandra Serag. Each type of complex sentence was selected and described according to Tagmemic theory. The results of this study found that four ‘harf’ functions were used as subordinating conjunctions based on the formation of the clauses, which consists of the arrangement of musnad (subject), musnad ilaih (predicate), and maf'ul bih (object). The distinguishes among four ‘harf’ functions are in the form and position of the subordinating conjunctions that separate the main sentence and its subordinate clauses, namely time relations (mundzu/since), causal relationship (lianna/because), complementary relationships (anna/really), comparative relationship (kaanna/as if). Complex sentences in the Tagmemic perspective are more complex than other types of sentence structures since they may consist of two slots, two classes, two roles, or two cohesions. In contrast, other sentence structure types have only one slot, class, role, and cohesion.

The Acknowledgments in Student Theses: Eastern and Western Ideology

Agus Purnomo Ahmad Putikadyanto — 2022-11-09

People's ideologies in various Western and Eastern countries influence language use, including acknowledgment writing. This qualitative study attempts to establish Eastern and Western ideologies in the acknowledgments of the student's final projects using a critical discourse approach. Eastern ideology was examined through 57 acknowledgments of student theses from eastern countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore) written in Indonesian and English. In comparison, Western ideology was examined through 53 acknowledgments of student theses from western countries (United States of America, England, and Germany) written in English. The linguistic features of Fairclough and Santoso were used to reveal the Eastern and Western ideology found in the acknowledgments of students’ final projects. The findings revealed that the language used to acknowledge eastern ideology was rigid. In Muslim-majority countries, gratitude to God comes first, and there are expressions of gratitude to parents. Gratitude expressions found in some eastern countries were based on the hierarchy of positions. The Western ideology in the acknowledgment, on the other hand, can be seen in the use of more expressive languages. Moreover, the acknowledgment format is not rigid and is arranged according to the hierarchy of works' contributions. The findings also indicate that identity has an impact on language.

Deconstructing Sins from the Moral Compass of Don Carlos Cobello in F. Sionil Jose’s Sins

Aubrey Anne C. Edaniol — 2022-11-15

The novel “Sins” by F. Sionil Jose depicts the adventurous life of an affluent man whose confessions rationalize the sins he committed as judged only against social standards but ironically narrates the dire consequences as moral concepts. The study aims to deconstruct the prevailing theme of sins as social notions to prove that sins are moral constructs and to teach that morality is an inherent feature of man's mortality. To establish these contradicting ideologies, the study utilized the deconstruction approach in literary criticism by Jacques Derrida. Deconstructionism exposes embedded ideologies by revealing inconsistencies in the text. Specifically, content analysis was integrated to examine words and phrases in-depth to analyze rooted messages. This paper found out that the novel claims incest, premarital sex, and sexual exploitation as sins established only by society and should be judged by it and not beyond it. However, through investigating its instabilities, it was revealed that the novel actually justifies sins against the character's morality because of his belief in mortality as the recipient of suffering, forgiveness, retributive punishments, and even conscience. Thus, the novel inculcates that sins are not just mere social concepts, they are the foremost moral constructs.

Resilience and Resistance: Indigenous Agency of Hawai’ian Indigene in Lynn Kalama Nakkim’s Mahele o Maui

Kristiawan Indriyanto — 2022-11-15

In recent years, the emergence of indigenous literature contextualizes the historicity of colonialism and the ensuing resistance. This present study articulates how the Native Hawai’ians articulate their resistance against American domination through the resilience of their cultural heritage and advocates for political changes, as is reflected in Lynn Kalama Nakkim’s Mahele o Maui. The study applied an econarratological perspective which foregrounds the reader's active role in reimagining a different socio-cultural perspective of the natural environment from Mahele’s perspective and engaging with other (non-Western) environmental imagination. The theory of resilience and resistance, as stated by Adamson and Molina, underlines how indigenous Hawai’ian tradition manages to persevere and transform through the Western model of narration, a novel. The study explores how Nakkim’s fiction articulates the indigenous epistemology of Aloha Aina to actively resist American domination with the eventual goal of achieving sovereignty and independence. The finding concludes how Native Hawai’ians’ literature has a similar concern with other indigenous struggles in the world, advocative and politically oriented in outlook, echoing their struggle for the right of self-determination and eventual sovereignty.

Analyzing the Speech Sound Structures of Indonesian Child Language

Susanto Susanto — 2022-11-15

In the acquisition of language, there could be gradual construction and systematic development of the children's linguistic skills. In their communication, the children speak the words, but their sounds may not be as complete as the adults. This difference between the child and adult language has attracted the attention of scholars in language acquisition to examine if there are specific structures of the child language. This research focuses on the structures of the child's speech sound to see what aspects could explain the difference between child and adult language. The data were the speech of 37 children (Male = 20; Female = 17) with the age range of 1;2 (one year two months) to 5;2 (five years two months). The data was transcribed, and its phonological aspects were classified. PRAAT software (version 6.2.02) was used to study the phonetic properties that support the explanation of the phonological aspects, especially for intensity, duration, and pitch. The study revealed some important aspects of the child language, i.e., syllable deletion, nasal assimilation, velar fronting, lateral substitution, vowel lowering and raising, and pitch harmony. This study may shed new light on the research of speech sound structure for promoting children's literacy programs in Indonesia.

Cohesive Devices Used in English Scientific Articles: Comparative Study Across Groups of Indonesian, Malaysian, and Native English Writers

Nanik Sri Rahayu — 2022-11-18

In every piece of writing, cohesive devices play an important role in interconnecting the writer's ideas in such a way so that they are logically unified and coherent. However, employing cohesive devices in scientific articles is not always easy for authors who learn English as a foreign language, like Indonesians as well as their Asian counterparts. This current study attempts to look into the compared uses of cohesive devices in English scientific articles written by three different groups, namely Indonesian, Malaysian, and Native English speakers. The data on cohesive devices were collected from articles written in English by different Indonesian writers and from articles written by different Native English authors published in several international journals. The data analysis was carried out quantitatively by identifying and classifying them based on the taxonomy proposed by Halliday and Matthiessen. Descriptive statistics and One-Way ANOVA were also employed in this study. This study revealed that native and non-native writers employed different patterns of cohesive devices. Although Indonesian and Malaysian represent similar distribution patterns at the relatively equivalent level of English proficiency, it does not determine a completely general pattern of cohesive distribution in the reality of writing practice.

Multi-Regression Analysis of Factors Influencing Perceived Academic Writing Competence (PAWC) of Vocational School Students

Lastika Ary Prihandoko — 2022-11-25

Most upper-semester students who fail to graduate have an issue with their perceived academic writing competence (PAWC). PAWC is associated with writing self-efficacy (WSE) and writer's block (WB). Thus, improving WSE and decreasing WB are crucial for succeeding in the final project writing of the upper-semester students. Only limited studies focused on exploring academic writing practice for vocational students by survey strategy. This study used a quantitative approach to test the hypothesis that WSE and WB positively affect PAWC. Respondents were selected using random sampling involving 200 students from a vocational school in Surakarta. Respondents filled survey about PAWC, WSE, and WB consisting of 18 items. The hypothesis was tested by multiple regression analysis. The study results revealed that WSE and WB are positively correlated with PAWC. This research implies that faculty members are advised to focus on encouraging WSE and reducing WB to improve AW competence through curriculum improvements. With the increase in students' academic writing skills, the classic problem of late completion of studies due to late writing of the final project can be solved.

The Trilogy of Linguistic Communication of the Qur’an Surah Al-Kâfirûn

Hasanuddin Chaer — 2022-11-29

In Indonesia, the word "al-kâfir" which comes from the Arabic word "al-kâfir" (الكافر) as in the Qur'an surah al-Kâfirûn is often used to offend non-Muslim groups. This study aims to reveal the essence of the meaning of linguistic features in the form of the main word "al-kâfir" and sentence in the first verse of surah al-Kâfirûn, which is still ambiguous, as the word "kâfir" is often only interpreted to non-Muslim people. This study used Jakobson's "interlingual" linguistic translation theory with the "mutual translatability" analysis method. These methods reveal aspects of the equivalent of words and sentences from the source language of the Qur'an to the target language (Indonesian). This study found that the word al-kafir in the first verse of al-Kâfirûn does not only mean to people who are not Muslim but contains meaning to all individuals who are blind to the truth of the Qur'an. Allah taught the linguistics of the Qur'an through Muhammad to all individuals. Thus Allah teaches the meaning of effective and persuasive communication through the trilogy of linguistic communication of surah al-Kâfirûn. As an implication, this finding is expected to reduce the gap in understanding the word "al-Kâfirûn," which sometimes triggers social conflict.