Matched guise test Individual questions by percentage
28. Would you like it if there were books in Jambi Malay?
No 6 OK 1
yes 93 It is clear from the answers to the questionnaire questions above that usage of Jambi Malay was
high in the two communities under study. Ninety-nine percent of respondents claimed to use Jambi Malay every day question 1, and in each home and neighborhood situation over 90 of the informants said they
use Jambi Malay question 6a–p. It is especially noteworthy here that 98 of informants claimed to speak JM with their children, and 99 said their children speak JM to them. And, 93 said that the youth in the
communities generally speak Jambi Malay question 7.
The percentages of JM language usage decreased as spatial distance from home increased, as well as when the venue or person being addressed was considered more prestigious. Compare, for instance,
reported usage of JM at the Angso Duo market the large fresh market not far from Jambi Seberang in question 6k1 with usage of JM at the supermarket in downtown Jambi City: 39 versus 19. An even
greater difference was seen between usage of JM at a local health center in question 6m2 and usage of JM at a hospital in 6m1: 63 versus 30. This is in line with informal observations of Jambi Malay language
usage as noted in section 1.3.3: Jambi Malay was spoken mainly in such domains as the home and neighborhood and traditional ceremonies, and was spoken less in domains like education, government, and
city supermarkets.
The strength of Jambi Malay in the face of Indonesian and other languages was somewhat remarkable. Seventy-two percent of the informants claimed they speak Indonesian only once in a while
question 2, and 11 claimed to rarely or never speak it. Moreover, 32—not a high percentage but much higher than expected—of the informants said they use JM when addressing a stranger question 4, and in
question 6n 32 use JM when praying privately. A similar percentage of informants 30 reported that they use JM even when talking to a Chinese or Javanese or Minangkabau person question 9, and 38
reported that people from those other language groups learn to speak JM question 10.
Attitudes as revealed by the questionnaire percentages were relatively positive as well, despite being somewhat conflicting. With regard to attitudes towards Jambi Malay itself, responses were positive.
For example, in question 11, 86 of informants claimed to speak Jambi Malay because they like to, and high percentages of informants said that children should be spoken to in JM in the home, and that they want
their children to master JM questions 14 and 15. Ninety percent said they would like to learn to read and write in Jambi Malay question 22, and high percentages of informants said they would be happy to see
media in Jambi Malay. The majority 75 of people said they would still marry a person who could only speak JM and not Indonesian question 18. And, most of the informants claimed to feel pleased if they
hear JM spoken in public places question 21. Some of the attitude questions had higher percentages than others, especially the ones regarding a desire for mastery and development of Jambi Malay.
Attitude questions dealing with education or advancement, however, resulted in much less positive responses. Only 16 of informants answered that they would want to send their children to a school that
uses Jambi Malay as the medium of instruction question 17.
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And in the case of receiving information from the government regarding public health or agriculture, only 29 said they would want the
information in Jambi Malay, whereas 65 said they would want the information in Indonesian.