The Uniqueness of The Cirebon Language from Kaliwulu Village

Indonesia is not only a rich language, but also a fantastic mosaic of cultural heritage. The Cirebon language in Kaliwulu village is one of the gems of West Java and it has various dialects. Language is a means of daily communication, but it also reflects a person’s personality and culture. Every word there is a breath of ancestral heritage, keeping tradition alive and emphasizing the identity of the local community.

The research focused on three main aspects: phonology, morphology, and lexical variation. All vocabulary data collection was conducted through direct interviews with villagers. Furthermore, the researcher subsequently grouped and organized the data into lists and classifications.

Language variation in phonology

Phonology is the study of sound patterns. Phonology is a field of linguistics that studies, analyzes, and discusses the sequence of language sounds (Chaer 2015, p. 102). Phonological changes in vowels and consonants occur in the Cirebon language spoken by Kaliwulu residents.

It can be seen that there are changes in the phonology of some words experiencing phonological changes in vowel shifts. For instance in the word “mata” to “mato”, which is a shift in the vowel letter “a” which changes to “o”. This also indicates that older speakers still preserve phonological patterns than younger speakers.

The words “abu” and “awu” show this transformation through the change of the consonant letter “b” to “w”. Besides that, there are the words “bintang” and “lintang” which experience changes in the consonant letters “b” and “k”. This phonological variation is fascinating because changes occur in both letters and speaker age: younger speakers use vocabulary closer to Indonesian, while older speakers use typical village dialects.

Language variation in Morphology in Kaliwulu village

Morphology is a branch of linguistics that studies word structure. According to Chaer (2015:3) defines morphology as the science of forms and word formation.

Variations in terms of morphology also often appear in everyday communication. Younger speakers say the word “bagaimana” as “prebe,” while older speakers pronounce it as “kepreben.” Younger speakers often pronounce the word “jait” without a prefix, while older speakers add the prefix “ny,” pronouncing it as “nyait.”

Language variation in Lexical

According to Chear (2003:289) what is meant by lexical meaning is the meaning that is owned or exists in the laxem even without any context.

From a lexical point of view, there are many vocabulary words that strongly characterize a culture. The lexical variation of the different ages of the speakers is clearly visible. For instance, the word “pasir” changes to “wedi” or the word “sayap” becomes “lar”. The vocabulary used by older speakers is more traditional by maintaining the original dialect of the Javanese tribe. However, younger speakers do not usually use these vocabularies, changing times-marked by advances in education and technology-can influence this change.

The study of phonological, morphological, and lexical aspects can open a window to the world of how local linguistic wealth affects a culture. The Kaliwulu community is a clear example of how language can live and thrive with its local wisdom in the midst of modernization.

Author: Nita Urmila