THE VARIATIONS OF MINANGKABAU LANGUAGE IN SUNGAI

LIMAU, PARIAMAN AND KURANJI, PADANG

LINGUISTIC RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

BY:
RANTI FITRI ANWAR
1106033

NK-Linguistics 2011
English Department
Faculty of Languages and Arts
State University of Padang
2014

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter consists of several sections: background of research problem,
identification of research problem, limitation of research problem, and formulation of
research problem.
1.1.

Background of Research Problem

Every human that exist in the world must communicate and interact each other in
order to maintain their own life. Therefore, to communicate with other people, human use a
language as a tool. Language not only as a tool for communication but also become a utility
that bring some meanings. Edward Sapir (1921) identified that language is non-intuitive but
purely in humans that carries the communication of ideas, emotions and willingness to
produce symbols. On the other hand, language is a tool in the form of symbols that have
meaning in it and have the rules to combining these symbols that are used to create infinite
messages (Wayne Weiten, 2007).
Language has so many variations due to the creativity of human being. The variations
of language that create by human being cause some contradictions among one language with
another language. The variations of language can cause by some factors beside human being
creativity. The factors that can make the variations of language happen such as by linguistic
factors and non linguistic factors. The linguistic factors are the factors which come from the
element of language itself. On the other hand, non linguistic factors come from some outside
elements of language such as individual creativity, characteristic individual, prestige, social
status, and limitation. In the study of language variations required some understanding of
various theories. The studies which always highlight the language variations are the studies of

dialectology and sociolinguistics. Dialectology is the study about language variations and
mutual intelligibility. Dialectology describe about language variations that can be
differentiated by time, place, and social condition of speakers. Temporal dialect describe
about language variations based on period and different historical background. Social dialect
or sociolect is a part of sociolinguistic study which describes language variations based on
social variables. On the other hand, regional dialect which is called geography dialect
describe about language variations based on geography or area of living.
Geography dialect describe a number of variations of language based on geography or
area of living which comparing one region to other region, and grouping similar variation in a
particular area, either synchronic or diachronic. Indonesian language consists of some
different languages and dialects. These different languages and dialects happen due to the
differences of area of living or social status. One kind of Indonesian language is
Minangkabau language. Minangkabau language is a language that used by Minangnese
people in the area of living Sumatera Barat. Although Sumatera Barat uses same language,
Minangkabau, it does not mean if dialect of its area is same. Speakers are separated by
different regions tend to have differences in vocabulary, speech differences, differences in
dialect and sub dialect, nor language differences. Moreover, separate by natural boundaries
such as river or sea, mountains, and forests or artificial boundaries such as toll roads and
airports. For instance, the differences of area of living or geography dialect in this research
methodology are Sungai Limau in Kota Pariaman and Kuranji in Kota Padang. Both of this
area is in Sumatera Barat and use Minangkabau language as native language, but both of this
area use different dialect. Dialect that use in Kota Pariaman is Pariaman dialect and also this
dialect consist of several sub dialect, like Sungai Limau sub dialect, Sungai Garinggiang sub
dialect, Toboh sub dialect, Nareh sub dialect, and etc. On the other hand, Kota Padang also
uses its own dialect, Padang dialect. Padang dialect also consists of several sub dialect like

Kalawi sub dialect, Pauh sub dialect, Kalumbuk sub dialect, and Kuranji sub dialect. So that,
language variations based on geography in Sungai Limau in Kota Pariaman and Kuranji in
Kota Padang will be analyzed in this research methodology.
1.2.

Identification of Research Problem

Sumatera Barat is one of province in Indonesia and has its own native language. The
native language of Sumatera Barat is Minangkabau language. The cities in Sumatera Barat
divide by artificial boundaries, although that the dialect among one region to the other region
is different. Kota Padang is the capital city of Sumatera Barat and it has its own dialect. Kota
Padang consists of several sub districts and its sub districts also use its own sub dialect. The
sub district in Kota Padang for instance is Kuranji. Sub district Kuranji is within 5 kilometers
from the city center. The most circumstance of this sub district is paddy fields. According to
this circumstance, although sub district Kuranji is in Kota Padang, it also has its own sub
dialect. Its own sub dialect is quite different with dialect in Kota Padang. On the other hand,
Kota Pariaman is the closest neighborhood of Kota Padang. Although these region is close
each other and use same language, the dialect of Kota Padang and Kota Pariaman is different.
Kota Pariaman where located about 56 kilometers from Kota Padang has own dialect and sub
dialect. Kota Pariaman consists of several villages. The villages in Kota Pariaman has own
sub dialect, for instance sub dialect in Sungai Limau. Sungai Limau is a region in Kabupaten
Padang Pariaman and its located quite far from the city center and the capital city of
Pariaman. Geography dialect is language variations in the using of language which
determined by regional differences and related to pronunciation; phonology, phonetic, and
phonemic, and morphology.

1.3.

Limitation of Research Problem

1.4.

Formulation of Research Problem

In order to do this research, the author categorize a universal area that the author like
to research like sociolinguistics and scrutinize what research problem that is available to
research. And then, the author reduce her overall areas of concentration into smaller
subdivisions. In sociolinguistics, there are several problems that branch, so that the author
take slang language especially in popular magazine.