cirebon cultural tourism Cirebon May 5, 2025
Cirebon City is a developing area of a Sultanate that has experienced a lot of cultural acculturation, the direct impact of this acculturation is the emergence and development of the Cirebon Language. The people in Cirebon City have two main languages to communicate in everyday life, namely using Cirebon Language, also known as Basa Cerbon and Sundanese.
Especially in the Sunyaragi village which is the fifth village in the Kesambi sub-district, Cirebon City, West Java. The people of Sunyaragi Village predominantly speak a mixed dialect of the Cirebon language, influenced by many immigrants from outside the area. To explore the Cirebon language variations used in Sunyaragi, the author analyzed the Swadesh list of 200 basic words. This analysis focused on three key aspects of language variation: phonological, morphological, and lexical aspects
- Phonology
Language variation in phonology, as shown in the table, involves phonetic changes that occur in consonant articulation without altering meaning. For example, the sound /b/ changes to /w/ in data one and two, the consonant /j/ shifts to /d/ in data three, and /p/ changes to /w/ in data four.
2. Morphology
Morphology is a branch of linguistics that studies the grammatical arrangement of word parts and their combinations. In the Sunyaragi village, language variation in the morphological aspect predominantly involves the use of affixes, particularly prefixes. The Indonesian prefix (me-) transforms into two variants, (nga) and (ngu), depending on the context of the basic word in the Cirebon language.. The prefix /nga-/ is usually used for the basic words apung and alir. While the prefix /ngu-/ is usually used for the basic word pai (beri).
3. Lexical
Finally, lexical variations refer to differences in vocabulary used to convey meanings. These differences in the Swadesh basic words reflect the speech levels associated with the age differences of Sunyaragi residents.
The lexical data shows that individuals aged 21 use more modern vocabulary, while those aged 45 and older predominantly use traditional or local words. This reflects the vocabulary prevalent during their upbringing. Lexical changes based on age illustrate the dynamics of language influenced by social, cultural factors, and intergenerational interactions. This reflects how language continues to develop over time and how different generations can have different vocabularies.
