21.92, p .0002. The middle-aged group had the highest number of those who answered “both” or “do not know” scored 1.
Table 4.7 Results of questionnaire question “17” according to age test: chi-square
Thus, some of the individual questions that were examined with a chi-square statistic did not show a statistically significant impact of age on scores, especially questions regarding language attitudes towards
Jambi Malay. Yet the trend is still clear to see: the young showed the highest usage of Indonesian and lowest usage of JM, then the middle-aged group, then the old. And in the question regarding the language
of choice in education, significantly higher numbers of the young claimed they would choose Indonesian.
These findings are in line with Aitchison 2001, who asserted that the younger generation, since they are exposed to a more fashionable language at an early age in school, typically lead the way towards
minority language death. The issue seems to be linked with competency, based on a study of Gaelic in 1981 by Dorian, which Aitchison reviewed 2001. Young peoples’ abilities in their mother tongue were notably
weaker than those of the older generation, in some cases. Although JM language competency was not examined in this study, based on overall results from the questionnaire, age of the speakers cannot be
overlooked in assessing the vitality of the Jambi Malay language.
4.4.3.3 Matched guise test
The matched guise test is designed to indirectly assess attitudes towards language, and the results are slightly different from the more direct questionnaire.
Looking at the data from the matched guise test, the differences between the age groups were not quite so clear. With the criteria set at p. .01, the composite ANOVA results for MGT scores according to
age were not statistically significant p .0347, as seen in table 4.8. These are test scores indicating attitudes towards Jambi Malay. Only between the middle-aged and young groups was there a statistically significant
difference, the young being the lowest, as expected. What was not expected was the fact that the old age group had lower scores than the middle-aged group, unlike the questionnaire.
Even more surprising are the results shown in table 4.9. These are MGT scores indicating attitudes towards Indonesian. Here, the old had the highest average, and the young had the lowest average. Again the
total ANOVA results were not statistically significant p .0166. In this case of attitudes towards Indonesian, though, there was a significant difference between the old and the young whereas the middle
and young were significantly different for JM.
Based on the MGT results, then, very little of statistical significance was found between the age groups, yet there were some observable patterns which were often surprising. For instance, the old had
fairly high attitudes towards Indonesian and comparatively less positive attitudes towards Jambi Malay, according to the MGT data. On the other hand, the young had less positive attitudes towards Indonesian
than expected. Contrast these findings with that of the questionnaire, in which the young had the highest usage of and the strongest attitudes towards Indonesian, while the old had the highest usage of and the
strongest attitudes towards Jambi Malay.
Table 4.8 Matched guise test JM results by age test: one-way between subjects ANOVA
Table 4.9 MGT SI results by age test: one-way between subjects ANOVA
Analyzing it further, the conclusion that age did not have a significant impact on matched guise scores was only strengthened. Three questions representing each of the different categories question “a”
for identity, question “c” for status, and question “g” for character were selected for analysis, using responses to one of the male voices. Based on table 4.10 Indonesian and table 4.11 Jambi Malay, there
was no statistically significant impact of age on the responses given to question “a” for either language. The majority of each age group answered “Yes, this person is a local Jambi Malay person”, with little
difference between each language.
Table 4.10 Results of MGT question “a” according to age – SI test: chi-square
Table 4.11 Results of MGT question “a” according to age – JM test: chi-square
Similarly, it was found that age had no significant impact on the answers to question “g” regarding character for either the Indonesian or the Jambi Malay language. Most of the respondents in
each age group answered “Yes, this person sounds trustworthy”. In this case, though, there was a slight increase in the total number of people who answered “yes” 2 or “I do not know” 1 for Jambi Malay
versus Indonesian. Refer to table 4.12 and table 4.13.
Looking at the status question “c” “Does this person sound like they are a leader?”, however, age had more of an impact. The impact was still not statistically significant if the criteria is set at p .01, but the
chi-square test on Jambi Malay, especially, yields interesting information see table 4.14 and table 4.15. For both Indonesian and Jambi Malay, there is a pattern in which the majority of the young answered “No,
this person does not sound like a leader” 0, in contrast with the majority of the middle-aged and the old, which answered “Yes, this person does sound like a leader” 2. The pattern is stronger for Jambi Malay
than for Indonesian.
Table 4.12 Results of MGT question “g” according to age – SI test: chi-square
Table 4.13 Results of MGT question “g” according to age – JM test: chi-square
Table 4.14 Results of MGT question “c” according to age – SI test: chi-square
Table 4.15 Results of MGT question “c” according to age – JM test: chi-square
The MGT questions having to do with character and identity, then, showed neither significant results nor an identifiable trend according to age. The status question revealed that age was also not
statistically significant, but it did show a pattern in that the young had slightly less positive attitudes towards Jambi Malay than Indonesian.
4.4.3.4 Summary of age variable
