A Multimodal Of Traditional Wedding Ceremony Dynamics Of Deli Malay Ethnic Group In Medan
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background
Language is the principal means whereby the speakers conduct their social
lives. When it is used in contexts of communication, it is bound up with culture in
multiple and complex ways. Kramsch (1998:3) concludes the relationship of
language and culture as language expresses embodies and symbolizes cultural
reality. In expressing cultural reality, members of a community or social group
express facts, ideas, or events based on their knowledge about the world they
share with the same community. The words they use reflect their attitudes, beliefs
and their point of views. In language embodies cultural reality, the community
creates the experience through language. They give meaning to it through the
medium they choose to communicate with one another, for example, speaking
face-to-face or on the telephone, writing a letter, reading the newspaper,
interpreting graphs, pictures or symbols used in social practices. The way in
which people use the spoken, written, or visual medium itself creates meanings
that are understandable to the community through speakers‟ tone of voice, accent,
style, gestures, and facial expressions. In language symbolizes cultural reality, a
language is seen as a system of signs which has cultural value. Speakers identify
themselves and others through their use of language; they view their language as a
symbol of their social identity.
One of cultural communities or ethnic groups that live in Indonesia is
Malay. They spread in different areas around this country but the Malay ethnic
group live in North Sumatra are genuine such as Langkat Malay, Deli Malay,
Serdang Malay, Asahan Malay and Labuhan Batu Malay (Sembiring, et. Al,
2010: 6). According to Sinar (2007: 1) Malay communities are those who are
moslem, speak Malay language and run their living with their own cultures and
traditions. They follow the ethnicity based on the cultural system and kinship
based on parental system. Malay communities are big communities which have
been shown by their historical development and movement from the west to the
east. They spread around the world doing the socio-economic activities and bring
their specific culture with them to be in parallel with other nations. This culture
makes them strong. It is the language, literature, religion and tradition which can
not be separated from culture and make them a strength for Malay communities
to compete with other natures.
Malay communities identify their culture as a symbol of social identity.
They speak their own language called ‟Malay‟ which consists symbols of nature.
Their ways of thinking are metaphoric (Anwar in Oktavianus, 2006:115). Natural
phenomena and characters are metaphorized into their ways of life and behaviors.
They usually do not say directly what they mean but they use other words
figuratively. The way of speaking and thinking indicate the portrait of Malay
communities in general who are polite, careful, smart, honest, friendly, and they
like to obey the taditional rules and follow the communities‟ decision, to hold
somebody in high esteem. They do not speak carelessly but they make other
people think of the words they use especially in pantun (Albi et.al, 2009: 85).
Their ability to transform the place of living into ways of life, enrich their
knowledge to produce expressions and cultural products which become their
community identities. Many living activities which characterize the nature are
expressed in the language. The expressions are used as guidelines and ways of life
by the community. For example, in a case of proposing a girl to be married with,
the representative of the bridegroom will use the term „kumbang‟ (beetle) for the
man (bridegroom to be) ; „bunga‟ or „kembang‟ (flower) for the girl (bride to be)
and „taman‟ (garden) for the house where the girl lives in and to indicate that the
girl‟s family accept the proposal of marriage, they usually use certain terms to
minimize the value or to show their low-profile for instance, „bunga kami, bunga
labu‟ (we just have a pumpkin flower, it means that they have a simple and naive
girl though the girl is beautiful and smart). The examples are taken from the
following quoted pantun:
Bunga yang Tuan maksud itu ada dalam taman kami. Sampai hari ini
Belum ada kumbang yang hinggap padanya. Tetapi jangan pula tak kami
bagitahu:
Bunga kami ini mulai kembang, belum pun tahu membedakan mana
Kumbang Pianggang.
Lagi pula bunga kami ini bukan mawar bukan melati, hanya :
Bunga labu, sungguhpun kembang, tapi tak berbau.
Sekianlah yang dapat saya jawab pertanyaan tuan tadi.
(Source: Sinar, 2007: 13)
More or less the translation is:
The flower you mentioned is in our garden.
Up to this time, no bees fly on it but we don‟t want us not to tell you.
Our flower is blooming; she doesn‟t know the difference which bee it is.
Neither of our flower is a rose nor a jasmine, it‟s only a pumpkin flower,
It blooms but no smell comes out from it.
That‟s all my answer for your question.
Unfortunately, as time moves and changes, the cultures and traditions also
change, so does the language the Malay communities use and the traditional
wedding ceremony they conduct. For example, pantun and figurative language
are hardly ever heard in their daily activities except in certain traditional
ceremonies such as getting a new baby, moving to a new house, wedding, etc.
Sinar (2011: iii) states that in Malay ethnic group, practising oral tradition such
as pantun is used as an art of communicating among communities to show
language politeness. This tradition had been practised from generation to other
generation in any cultural practises to make good relationship. The speakers of
pantun, commonly created directly the pantun they conveyed. They mastered,
used many vocabularies creatively, dynamically and contextually to express the
theme of pantun they conveyed. They should be able to arrange words related to
any situation and goals needed but now it is different. The speakers of pantun
are trained in an institution or a cultural service to make them able to be a
cultural mediator.
Nowadays, in conducting a ceremony such as a wedding ceremony, most
Malay people do not follow all the procedures and use the objects as what had
been done by the ancestors. Some procedures are reduced or combined into one
and the objects or elements are simplified related to effectivity. Even the leader or
the speaker of the ceremony is not one of the members of the family as it was
but a person who is paid to say the family‟s goal. The person is hired from a
cultural link service called telangkai who is capable and has been trained in
mediating family‟s meeting related with the cultural events. Consequently, it
lowers the value of originality because it can be the same person will use the same
language or message in different family‟s wedding ceremonies.
In relation to this situation, some members of the community the culture
are no longer practice and tradition because of its complexities. They assume
that culture and tradition not fit with the modern era or the era of globalization
where people competes each other to get something through the development of
technology.
The technology development causes the exchanges on environment which
influences the community‟s mindset, life-style, moral values following the new
culture or trend informed by the products of technology such as TV, radio,
internet, newspaper, magazine, etc. This situation will lead to the disappearances
or even lost of culture. The acceleration of the community development as the
result of the technology development in information and communication needs to
adapt with attitude and cultural values (Sinar, 2011: 5).
However, some other Malay communities still believe that Malay culture
and tradition are able to fit with the development of era and people‟s need. They
still maintain their ancestors‟ culture, traditions and carry out them for some
reasons even though there are changes. They believe, developing nations should
not ignore the cultural traditions and values of the local communities. They should
be aware of social and cultural dimension and keep them before they are forgotten
and disappeared (Sinar, 2011: 7).
Culture and tradition are national heritage which have fundamental values
and should not be separated from the nations. Therefore, it should be saved from
extinction, so that people in the future are still able to see and listen to the Malay
culture lives among other cultures in Indonesia. This situation is realized by the
government and they support by issuing the 2004 government rules which states
that globalization gives impact to the rapid of community‟s grow, the
development of communication and the information of technology, therefore, we
need to adapt with the moral values. The cultural development is expected to
guide nations having national identity in order to create a condusive climate and
harmony among communities. Therefore, the local cultural values are able to
positively and productively respond to modernization in parallel with nation
values (government rules 2004 in Sinar, 2011: 5). There are two problems faced
by Indonesian nations as stated in that rules, 1) there has been a crisis of national
identity, in which social solidarity, hospitality used to be national unity and
national characters but they simultaneously decrease as the materialism values
increase. In addition, the use of good and correct language is also reduced because
of modernization and 2) inability of nations to manage tangible and intangible
cultural asset.
Confining culture in this way Koentjaraningrat (1990:15) states culture
of one nation exists in 3 elements namely: 1) the complexity of idea, value, name
and rules 2) the complexity of human patterned-behavioral activity in the society
and, 3) objects as products. These are proven in the culture of Malay that in
carrying out the wedding ceremony, the Malay person interacts with others
making conversation. During this interaction the ethnic group send the
information and message not only through language (verbal mode), but also
through gesture, facial expression, gaze, movements, material objects, etc. (nonverbal mode). The language is usually used in the form of speech and mostly in
verses called pantun combined with a range of activities fulfilled with various
colorful objects and symbols, for example clothes, traditional goods, food, etc.
The activities are well-patterned as cultural products which certainly have goals
and meanings so do the objects and symbols. The meanings of the objects and
symbols can be seen from the form, size, color, position, etc. Through the
language and the activities, the Malay ethnic group shows their identity and
symbolize on their ideas which can be understood as communicating meaning.
This is related to what Kress & van Leeuwen (in Bell and Garret,
β001:187) say „Language is always realized through and accompanied by other
semiotic modes. When people speak, they articulate the messages not only using
words but also through a combination of speech sound, rhythm, intonation and
accompanied by facial expression, gesture and posture. When they write the
message, it is expressed not only linguistically but also through a visual
arrangement of marks on a page. They use multimodal‟. Baldry, Kress and Kress
and van Leeuwen as quoted by Fei in O‟Halloran (β006: ββ0) note that people
live in a multimodal society which makes meaning through the co-deployment of
a combination of semiotic resources. Visual images, gestures and sounds often
accompany the linguistic semiotic resource in semiosis. Kress & van Leeuwen (in
Norris, 2004) say that language can no longer be thought as the primary mode of
communication and that other semiotics have to be taken into account when
analyzing communication.
Furthermore, Matthiessen (in Royce, 2007:1) states that multimodality is
an inherent feature of all aspects of lives. People can interpret this condition in
terms of the strata organization of semiotic systems by reference to the context of
culture in which different semiotic systems operate as suggested by Halliday:
Cultural meanings are realized through a great variety of symbolic
modes, of which semantics is one; the semantic systems are the linguistic
mode of meaning (quoted by Matthiessen in Royce, 2007:1).
Concerning with the language analysis, Halliday, (1978:4) has ever told that there
are many other modes of meaning, in any culture which are outside the realm of
language. His statement implies that the understanding of meaning not only
requires the analysis of language in text, but also the study of other semiotic
resources such as images, gestures, sounds, etc. operating independently as well
as interdependently on different levels in multimodal texts (Fei in Guijarro and
Sanz, 2008: 1602).
Therefore, it is clear that in multimodal analysis, visual modes have
important roles in relation with verbal ones. Based on those principles, it is useful
to make a research (as a final task to get Doctorate Degree) on Traditional
Wedding Ceremony Dynamics of Deli Malay Ethnic Group in Medan using
Multimodal Analysis to get the data how meanings are made in relation with the
involvement of language, and other semiotic symbols used in every step of the
wedding activities.
Searching about Malay language researches,
it was found that many
Malay languages used in any cultural events have been developed related to
linguistics, semantics,
social phenomena, etc. The languages were analysed
verbally it means that only the language is analysed in relation with linguistic
theories but there is no language research conducted related to visual analysis.
As it has been stated that in Malay traditional wedding ceremony,
language is not the only facility but there are other visual aspects, such as
activities, things or objects, etc. symbolize the culture so these visual aspects can
be put into analysis to support the language analysis. For example, makan sirih
tradition or serving betel leaves (sirih) completed by other ingredients like the
powder made of shellfish shell (kapur ), gambier (gambir ), tobacco (tembakau)
and areca nut
(pinang) sliced into small pieces arranged in a specific
compartment called „tepak‟. All the ingredients are an important menu in Malay
culture functions to serve and welcome the guests. This tradition symbolizes the
spirit, bravery, or medicine for the person who eats it. In every Malay cultural
event, tepak sirih always accompanies since the ingredients inside it symbolize
the characteristics of
Malay communities. „Sirih‟
means patient, esteemed,
having good manners, eventhough he/she is a courageous person. „kapur‟ means
holy, having good emotion related to handling problems although he/she is able
to get angry or bad-tempered in order to gain good aims. „Gambir ‟ symbolizes
perceiving
and courageous, „tembakau‟
symbolizes making sacrifice for
someone else‟s interests, it can symbolize good or bad. „Pinang‟ symbolizes good
generations who are ready to help, compassionate (Sembiring, et.al, 2010: 6).
Through this dissertation, the language as verbal mode and anything which
accompanies and supports the realization of language in the wedding ceremony as
non-verbal / image are analyzed to uncover how both modes of communication
interplay to send messages, indicate ideology, power, and ways of life symbolize
the reality.
Analyzing language, image or symbol and their relationship to make meanings is
seen as a frame characterizes the cultural discourse since the language is structured
differently from the image. Therefore, information resulted from linguistic and semiotic
elements appeared as language phenomena can be mapped or framed as a characterization
of a certain discourse.
In order to explore how each mode operating in the discourse, the notion
of grammar as a meaning - making resource is drawn for encoding interpretations
of experience and forms of social action. Grammar is used to refer to the
structures of relations of elements in a specific mode and between modes, which
have become established overtime rather than seeing grammar as a system of
formal rules of correctness. Halliday (1985:101) explains grammar goes beyond
formal rules of correctness. It is a means of representing patterns of
experience...and it enables human beings to build a mental picture of reality, to
make sense of their experience of what goes on around and inside them.
This notion of grammar has been extended to encompass the mode of the
visual as noted by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996:1) ‟just as grammars of language
describe how words combine in clauses, sentences and texts, so the visual
grammar will describe the way in which depicted people, places, and things
combine in visual statements of greater or lesser complexity and extension‟.
Grammar is used as a conceptual tool to explore how meanings are
actualized through language, images and other aspects of visual in the traditional
wedding ceremony, particularly, how meanings are made through the intricate
weaving together of meaning across and between these modes.
The visual structures realize meanings as linguistic structures do, and
thereby point to different interpretations of experience and different forms of
social interaction. The meanings which can be realized in language and in visual
communication overlap in part, that is something can be expressed both visually
and verbally; and in part they diverge that are something can be said only visually,
others only verbally. But even when something can be said both visually and
verbally the way in which it will be said is different. For instance, what is
expressed in language through the choice between different word classes and
semantic structures and in visual communication, it is expressed through the
choice between different uses of color, different compositional structures or
others.
The meaning of any text comes from the interplay between types of
meaning in Halliday‟s metafunctions as to represent what is going on in the world
(ideational meaning); to bring about interactions and relations between people
(interpersonal meaning); and to form communicatively meaningful whole entities
(textual meaning). Each can be viewed as the result of selections from a range of
possible meaning-features, and the action of selection represents the work of
cultural producer when producing or making a text.
The set of features which comprise the ideational meaning of any semiotic
mode concerns who does what, with or to whom and where. In language, this
articulates our experience of the world as one in which entities are involved in
and related by processes which may be material, verbal, mental or relational,
Hence this function deals with the interrelation of participants and circumstances
in the representation of the world in such processes. The interpersonal meanings
of any semiotic mode used in a communicative act function to establish, maintain
and specify the relationships between members of societies or group through
expression of the social relations which are felt in the members, environment.
These may refer to expressions of the inextricable of power and influence. The
textual meanings realized through the textual resources of a mode, ‟breathe
relevance into the other two (Halliday, 1985: xiii). They organized the text as a
coherent message relevant to the situation, producing a coherent account of the
world.
As a tool to disseminate information, a wedding ceremony provides value
or view of many social events which have the potential for expanding people‟s
awareness of how social events affect their individual lives such as events
reported in the ceremony. Therefore, there are certain structures of verbal and
visual images patterned by the cultural producer to encode power and ideology
influencing people to follow.
1.2
The Formulation of the Research Problem
Having identified the aspects and dimensions of language in context and
semiotic elements involved in the wedding ceremonial discourse. This research is
to see how verbal and visual components made meanings of the DMTWC text
with: a) is the verbal meaning similar to visual meaning, b) is there combination
of verbal and visual meanings making new meanings, or c) do verbal meanings
project the visual meanings indicate ideology, power, and ways of life? Through
the analysis of meaning, the problems are formulated as follows:
1) How do verbal and visual components in the dynamics of Deli Malay traditional
wedding ceremony in Medan create meaning?
2) How does the realization of language and symbols used in the ceremony formulate
to indicate ideology, power and influence ways of life?
1.3
The Objectives of the Research
Based on those principles and view about multimodal analysis on
discourse, it is important to apply that approach in analyzing the cultural product
which is still maintained and conducted by Deli Malay Ethnic Group when they
conduct the wedding ceremony. This research is expected to give contribution to a
local culture so it will enrich and strengthen the national culture. Through the
analysis of Deli Malay Traditional Wedding Ceremony (DMTWC) text, the
objectives of the research are:
1) to describe the results of analyzing meaning of the verbal and visual
components used in the Deli Malay traditional wedding ceremony, whether
each component of verbal and visual contributes to make meanings of the
DMTWC text, or both components combine together to make meanings of
the text or it might be the verbal components project the visual meanings.
The meanings are analyzed based on metafunction covering ideational,
interpersonal and textual function. Therefore, the verbal analysis is related
to find the realization characteristics of verbal components using transitivity
system, logico-semantic relationship, mood system and thematic system.
While visual analysis is related to find the realization characteristics of
visual components using narrative structures and conceptual structures;
interactive meanings and modality; and the systems of informational value,
salience and framing,
2) to formulate a model of realization between verbal and visual modes of
communication to report the events and the structures they make to express
different meanings indicating ideology, power and influence ways of life,
1.4
The Research Significance
This research has been conducted to find out the relationships of language
and objects or symbols used in the Malay traditional wedding ceremony interplay
to convey meanings, commonly covering moral message and ways of life. After
having finished the research, the findings are expected to give academic and
theoretical benefits as well as practical and social benefits.
Concerning with the findings, academically the findings of multimodal
realizations of meanings made in the traditional wedding of Malay can be used as
the conceptual model specifically the realizations of meaning which are seen in
both verbal and visual realizations with reference to the metafunction of language
use. Moreover, the contribution of the research provides scientific idea for
linguists, mainly to the linguistic researcher to conduct researches on linguistic
phenomena appear on the object concerned, as well as to conduct multidisciplinary study to enrich studies concerning with linguistic and discourse
phenomena. Such findings provide motivation and useful input for Indonesian
linguistic experts to conduct multimodal analysis on any type of Indonesian
discourses, in order that they find out the structure and create specific nature of
Indonesian discourse.
Practically and socially, the findings can be given contribution for
discourse producers to choose the use of words or symbols so that the meanings
sent by them are accepted. People‟s perspective mainly, language users‟ know the
relation of meanings in language they use with objects or symbols accompanying
the language. Significantly, they are motivated to use and apply in other cultural
texts, so as to generate the young people to dig, keep, develop and conserve
cultural product from extinction. As Chainurrasyid in Nasution (1994: xi-xii)
advices that people keep and develop positive values of each culture and tradition,
it will fit to the Indonesian personality. By keeping and conserving the tradition,
people will increase their quality of life; strengthen their national personality and
dignity.
1.5
The Scope of the Research
This research refers to the concept of multimodal analysis that is a language
analysis which analyzes the language use verbally in relation with visual elements
accompanying the language. Multimodal analysis is aimed at investigating two modes of
communication (verbal and visual modes) interplay each other to send information or to
create meanings. Kress and Van Leeuwen in Young and Fitzgerald (2006: 170) focus a
study on how different meanings are made by each mode, and the interplay between
them. They suggest that a transformation in communication has led to a greater reliance
on the visual over the verbal. They also question whether everything that is
communicable verbally is also communicable visually, and whether in certain situations,
one mode is better than the other.
Following the aim of analysis, this research is conducted to obtain the data how
meanings are made by involving two different modes such as language and
symbols/objects used in the Malay Traditional Wedding Ceremony. Actually, there is
more than one Malay sub-ethnic groups live in north Sumatera, such as Deli Malay,
Serdang Malay, Langkat Malay, Batubara Malay, Asahan Malay, etc. but this research is
limited on Deli Malay located in Medan assumed that there are not any basic differences
made by other Malay sub-ethnic groups in celebrating the ceremony. Commonly, the
differences are on the dialects and some choices of words related to expressing
phenomena suited to the local situation and condition of the communities area. For
example, Asahan Malay live near the sea then they construct their pantun using words
related to the sea and its environment, for instance: orang ke laut menjala udang, petang
hari pasang pelita, yang ditunggu sudah pun datang yang dinanti sudah pun tiba (Sinar,
2011: 226). While Deli Malay live around the city then the word choice are mostly
figuring the city life, for example: Pulo Brayan bukanlah pulau, jalan layang seperti
bukit, kedatangan kami sangat terpukau, karena penyambutan tidak sedikit (quoted from
Lala‟s ceremony, β01β). The dialectical differences are mostly on pronouncing the vowel
sound /a/ in which in Asahan Malay it is pronounced /o / while in Deli Malay it is
pronounced /e/ but they do not change the meaning of the words.
Deli Malay Traditional Wedding Ceremony (DMTWC) which are taken to be the
source are the wedding ceremonies conducted in Medan.
Traditional Wedding Ceremony in Deli Malay is conducted through some
steps of activities; actually there are 27 steps namely: Merintis. Risik kecil, Jamu
sukut, Risik besar, Meminang, Naik emas,
Ikat janji, Akad nikah,
Malam
berhinai curi, Malam berhinai kecil, Malam berhinai besar, Mengantar pengantin
laki-laki, Hempang pintu, Bersanding, Tepung tawar, Cemetuk, Makan nasi
hadap-hadapan, Serah terima pengantin laki-laki kepada keluarga pengantin
perempuan, Mandi berdimbar, Sembah keliling, Malam bersatu, Naik halangan
(naik lepas pantang), Meminjam kedua pengantin oleh pihak keluarga laki-laki
kepada pihak keluarga perempuan, Memulangkan kedua pengantin kembali oleh
pihak keluarga laki-laki kepada pihak keluarga pengantin perempuan, Naik
sembah
besar,
Pengantin
pindah
kerumah
sendiri.
(http://library.usu.ac.id/download/fs/daerah-ramlan.pdf / accessed on Sep. 8th 09)
Concerning with data consuming and analyzing, the research is limited
and focused on the process before and after Akad nikah (married contract) ,
mengantar pengantin laki-laki (taking the groom to the bride‟s house), hempang
batang (gateway barrier), bertukar tepak (swapping the tepak), bertukar payung
(swapping the umbrella), hempang pintu (doorway barrier), perang bertih
(spreading the potpourri), hempang kipas (bridal couch barrier), tepung tawar
(congratulating and praying for the happiness and prosperity of the married
couple), bersanding (bride and groom are seated side by side on a couch called
„pelaminan‟), and makan nasi hadap-hadapan (the spreading meals) the couple
and their family are served with various, colorful and delicious traditional food for
their lunch.
By investigating and analyzing the language and symbols used in those
activities, it is expected that data obtained can give information to listeners,
viewers, or readers how meanings / information are packed and sent to them and
how linguistic and semiotic modes are understandable applying the discourse
analysis principles of
Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) by M. Halliday
(1985, 1994,2004); Grammar of
Visual Design by G. Kress and Teo van
Leeuwen (1996, 2006), and Interpreting the Visual by Helen de Silva Joyce and
John Gaudin (2007).
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background
Language is the principal means whereby the speakers conduct their social
lives. When it is used in contexts of communication, it is bound up with culture in
multiple and complex ways. Kramsch (1998:3) concludes the relationship of
language and culture as language expresses embodies and symbolizes cultural
reality. In expressing cultural reality, members of a community or social group
express facts, ideas, or events based on their knowledge about the world they
share with the same community. The words they use reflect their attitudes, beliefs
and their point of views. In language embodies cultural reality, the community
creates the experience through language. They give meaning to it through the
medium they choose to communicate with one another, for example, speaking
face-to-face or on the telephone, writing a letter, reading the newspaper,
interpreting graphs, pictures or symbols used in social practices. The way in
which people use the spoken, written, or visual medium itself creates meanings
that are understandable to the community through speakers‟ tone of voice, accent,
style, gestures, and facial expressions. In language symbolizes cultural reality, a
language is seen as a system of signs which has cultural value. Speakers identify
themselves and others through their use of language; they view their language as a
symbol of their social identity.
One of cultural communities or ethnic groups that live in Indonesia is
Malay. They spread in different areas around this country but the Malay ethnic
group live in North Sumatra are genuine such as Langkat Malay, Deli Malay,
Serdang Malay, Asahan Malay and Labuhan Batu Malay (Sembiring, et. Al,
2010: 6). According to Sinar (2007: 1) Malay communities are those who are
moslem, speak Malay language and run their living with their own cultures and
traditions. They follow the ethnicity based on the cultural system and kinship
based on parental system. Malay communities are big communities which have
been shown by their historical development and movement from the west to the
east. They spread around the world doing the socio-economic activities and bring
their specific culture with them to be in parallel with other nations. This culture
makes them strong. It is the language, literature, religion and tradition which can
not be separated from culture and make them a strength for Malay communities
to compete with other natures.
Malay communities identify their culture as a symbol of social identity.
They speak their own language called ‟Malay‟ which consists symbols of nature.
Their ways of thinking are metaphoric (Anwar in Oktavianus, 2006:115). Natural
phenomena and characters are metaphorized into their ways of life and behaviors.
They usually do not say directly what they mean but they use other words
figuratively. The way of speaking and thinking indicate the portrait of Malay
communities in general who are polite, careful, smart, honest, friendly, and they
like to obey the taditional rules and follow the communities‟ decision, to hold
somebody in high esteem. They do not speak carelessly but they make other
people think of the words they use especially in pantun (Albi et.al, 2009: 85).
Their ability to transform the place of living into ways of life, enrich their
knowledge to produce expressions and cultural products which become their
community identities. Many living activities which characterize the nature are
expressed in the language. The expressions are used as guidelines and ways of life
by the community. For example, in a case of proposing a girl to be married with,
the representative of the bridegroom will use the term „kumbang‟ (beetle) for the
man (bridegroom to be) ; „bunga‟ or „kembang‟ (flower) for the girl (bride to be)
and „taman‟ (garden) for the house where the girl lives in and to indicate that the
girl‟s family accept the proposal of marriage, they usually use certain terms to
minimize the value or to show their low-profile for instance, „bunga kami, bunga
labu‟ (we just have a pumpkin flower, it means that they have a simple and naive
girl though the girl is beautiful and smart). The examples are taken from the
following quoted pantun:
Bunga yang Tuan maksud itu ada dalam taman kami. Sampai hari ini
Belum ada kumbang yang hinggap padanya. Tetapi jangan pula tak kami
bagitahu:
Bunga kami ini mulai kembang, belum pun tahu membedakan mana
Kumbang Pianggang.
Lagi pula bunga kami ini bukan mawar bukan melati, hanya :
Bunga labu, sungguhpun kembang, tapi tak berbau.
Sekianlah yang dapat saya jawab pertanyaan tuan tadi.
(Source: Sinar, 2007: 13)
More or less the translation is:
The flower you mentioned is in our garden.
Up to this time, no bees fly on it but we don‟t want us not to tell you.
Our flower is blooming; she doesn‟t know the difference which bee it is.
Neither of our flower is a rose nor a jasmine, it‟s only a pumpkin flower,
It blooms but no smell comes out from it.
That‟s all my answer for your question.
Unfortunately, as time moves and changes, the cultures and traditions also
change, so does the language the Malay communities use and the traditional
wedding ceremony they conduct. For example, pantun and figurative language
are hardly ever heard in their daily activities except in certain traditional
ceremonies such as getting a new baby, moving to a new house, wedding, etc.
Sinar (2011: iii) states that in Malay ethnic group, practising oral tradition such
as pantun is used as an art of communicating among communities to show
language politeness. This tradition had been practised from generation to other
generation in any cultural practises to make good relationship. The speakers of
pantun, commonly created directly the pantun they conveyed. They mastered,
used many vocabularies creatively, dynamically and contextually to express the
theme of pantun they conveyed. They should be able to arrange words related to
any situation and goals needed but now it is different. The speakers of pantun
are trained in an institution or a cultural service to make them able to be a
cultural mediator.
Nowadays, in conducting a ceremony such as a wedding ceremony, most
Malay people do not follow all the procedures and use the objects as what had
been done by the ancestors. Some procedures are reduced or combined into one
and the objects or elements are simplified related to effectivity. Even the leader or
the speaker of the ceremony is not one of the members of the family as it was
but a person who is paid to say the family‟s goal. The person is hired from a
cultural link service called telangkai who is capable and has been trained in
mediating family‟s meeting related with the cultural events. Consequently, it
lowers the value of originality because it can be the same person will use the same
language or message in different family‟s wedding ceremonies.
In relation to this situation, some members of the community the culture
are no longer practice and tradition because of its complexities. They assume
that culture and tradition not fit with the modern era or the era of globalization
where people competes each other to get something through the development of
technology.
The technology development causes the exchanges on environment which
influences the community‟s mindset, life-style, moral values following the new
culture or trend informed by the products of technology such as TV, radio,
internet, newspaper, magazine, etc. This situation will lead to the disappearances
or even lost of culture. The acceleration of the community development as the
result of the technology development in information and communication needs to
adapt with attitude and cultural values (Sinar, 2011: 5).
However, some other Malay communities still believe that Malay culture
and tradition are able to fit with the development of era and people‟s need. They
still maintain their ancestors‟ culture, traditions and carry out them for some
reasons even though there are changes. They believe, developing nations should
not ignore the cultural traditions and values of the local communities. They should
be aware of social and cultural dimension and keep them before they are forgotten
and disappeared (Sinar, 2011: 7).
Culture and tradition are national heritage which have fundamental values
and should not be separated from the nations. Therefore, it should be saved from
extinction, so that people in the future are still able to see and listen to the Malay
culture lives among other cultures in Indonesia. This situation is realized by the
government and they support by issuing the 2004 government rules which states
that globalization gives impact to the rapid of community‟s grow, the
development of communication and the information of technology, therefore, we
need to adapt with the moral values. The cultural development is expected to
guide nations having national identity in order to create a condusive climate and
harmony among communities. Therefore, the local cultural values are able to
positively and productively respond to modernization in parallel with nation
values (government rules 2004 in Sinar, 2011: 5). There are two problems faced
by Indonesian nations as stated in that rules, 1) there has been a crisis of national
identity, in which social solidarity, hospitality used to be national unity and
national characters but they simultaneously decrease as the materialism values
increase. In addition, the use of good and correct language is also reduced because
of modernization and 2) inability of nations to manage tangible and intangible
cultural asset.
Confining culture in this way Koentjaraningrat (1990:15) states culture
of one nation exists in 3 elements namely: 1) the complexity of idea, value, name
and rules 2) the complexity of human patterned-behavioral activity in the society
and, 3) objects as products. These are proven in the culture of Malay that in
carrying out the wedding ceremony, the Malay person interacts with others
making conversation. During this interaction the ethnic group send the
information and message not only through language (verbal mode), but also
through gesture, facial expression, gaze, movements, material objects, etc. (nonverbal mode). The language is usually used in the form of speech and mostly in
verses called pantun combined with a range of activities fulfilled with various
colorful objects and symbols, for example clothes, traditional goods, food, etc.
The activities are well-patterned as cultural products which certainly have goals
and meanings so do the objects and symbols. The meanings of the objects and
symbols can be seen from the form, size, color, position, etc. Through the
language and the activities, the Malay ethnic group shows their identity and
symbolize on their ideas which can be understood as communicating meaning.
This is related to what Kress & van Leeuwen (in Bell and Garret,
β001:187) say „Language is always realized through and accompanied by other
semiotic modes. When people speak, they articulate the messages not only using
words but also through a combination of speech sound, rhythm, intonation and
accompanied by facial expression, gesture and posture. When they write the
message, it is expressed not only linguistically but also through a visual
arrangement of marks on a page. They use multimodal‟. Baldry, Kress and Kress
and van Leeuwen as quoted by Fei in O‟Halloran (β006: ββ0) note that people
live in a multimodal society which makes meaning through the co-deployment of
a combination of semiotic resources. Visual images, gestures and sounds often
accompany the linguistic semiotic resource in semiosis. Kress & van Leeuwen (in
Norris, 2004) say that language can no longer be thought as the primary mode of
communication and that other semiotics have to be taken into account when
analyzing communication.
Furthermore, Matthiessen (in Royce, 2007:1) states that multimodality is
an inherent feature of all aspects of lives. People can interpret this condition in
terms of the strata organization of semiotic systems by reference to the context of
culture in which different semiotic systems operate as suggested by Halliday:
Cultural meanings are realized through a great variety of symbolic
modes, of which semantics is one; the semantic systems are the linguistic
mode of meaning (quoted by Matthiessen in Royce, 2007:1).
Concerning with the language analysis, Halliday, (1978:4) has ever told that there
are many other modes of meaning, in any culture which are outside the realm of
language. His statement implies that the understanding of meaning not only
requires the analysis of language in text, but also the study of other semiotic
resources such as images, gestures, sounds, etc. operating independently as well
as interdependently on different levels in multimodal texts (Fei in Guijarro and
Sanz, 2008: 1602).
Therefore, it is clear that in multimodal analysis, visual modes have
important roles in relation with verbal ones. Based on those principles, it is useful
to make a research (as a final task to get Doctorate Degree) on Traditional
Wedding Ceremony Dynamics of Deli Malay Ethnic Group in Medan using
Multimodal Analysis to get the data how meanings are made in relation with the
involvement of language, and other semiotic symbols used in every step of the
wedding activities.
Searching about Malay language researches,
it was found that many
Malay languages used in any cultural events have been developed related to
linguistics, semantics,
social phenomena, etc. The languages were analysed
verbally it means that only the language is analysed in relation with linguistic
theories but there is no language research conducted related to visual analysis.
As it has been stated that in Malay traditional wedding ceremony,
language is not the only facility but there are other visual aspects, such as
activities, things or objects, etc. symbolize the culture so these visual aspects can
be put into analysis to support the language analysis. For example, makan sirih
tradition or serving betel leaves (sirih) completed by other ingredients like the
powder made of shellfish shell (kapur ), gambier (gambir ), tobacco (tembakau)
and areca nut
(pinang) sliced into small pieces arranged in a specific
compartment called „tepak‟. All the ingredients are an important menu in Malay
culture functions to serve and welcome the guests. This tradition symbolizes the
spirit, bravery, or medicine for the person who eats it. In every Malay cultural
event, tepak sirih always accompanies since the ingredients inside it symbolize
the characteristics of
Malay communities. „Sirih‟
means patient, esteemed,
having good manners, eventhough he/she is a courageous person. „kapur‟ means
holy, having good emotion related to handling problems although he/she is able
to get angry or bad-tempered in order to gain good aims. „Gambir ‟ symbolizes
perceiving
and courageous, „tembakau‟
symbolizes making sacrifice for
someone else‟s interests, it can symbolize good or bad. „Pinang‟ symbolizes good
generations who are ready to help, compassionate (Sembiring, et.al, 2010: 6).
Through this dissertation, the language as verbal mode and anything which
accompanies and supports the realization of language in the wedding ceremony as
non-verbal / image are analyzed to uncover how both modes of communication
interplay to send messages, indicate ideology, power, and ways of life symbolize
the reality.
Analyzing language, image or symbol and their relationship to make meanings is
seen as a frame characterizes the cultural discourse since the language is structured
differently from the image. Therefore, information resulted from linguistic and semiotic
elements appeared as language phenomena can be mapped or framed as a characterization
of a certain discourse.
In order to explore how each mode operating in the discourse, the notion
of grammar as a meaning - making resource is drawn for encoding interpretations
of experience and forms of social action. Grammar is used to refer to the
structures of relations of elements in a specific mode and between modes, which
have become established overtime rather than seeing grammar as a system of
formal rules of correctness. Halliday (1985:101) explains grammar goes beyond
formal rules of correctness. It is a means of representing patterns of
experience...and it enables human beings to build a mental picture of reality, to
make sense of their experience of what goes on around and inside them.
This notion of grammar has been extended to encompass the mode of the
visual as noted by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996:1) ‟just as grammars of language
describe how words combine in clauses, sentences and texts, so the visual
grammar will describe the way in which depicted people, places, and things
combine in visual statements of greater or lesser complexity and extension‟.
Grammar is used as a conceptual tool to explore how meanings are
actualized through language, images and other aspects of visual in the traditional
wedding ceremony, particularly, how meanings are made through the intricate
weaving together of meaning across and between these modes.
The visual structures realize meanings as linguistic structures do, and
thereby point to different interpretations of experience and different forms of
social interaction. The meanings which can be realized in language and in visual
communication overlap in part, that is something can be expressed both visually
and verbally; and in part they diverge that are something can be said only visually,
others only verbally. But even when something can be said both visually and
verbally the way in which it will be said is different. For instance, what is
expressed in language through the choice between different word classes and
semantic structures and in visual communication, it is expressed through the
choice between different uses of color, different compositional structures or
others.
The meaning of any text comes from the interplay between types of
meaning in Halliday‟s metafunctions as to represent what is going on in the world
(ideational meaning); to bring about interactions and relations between people
(interpersonal meaning); and to form communicatively meaningful whole entities
(textual meaning). Each can be viewed as the result of selections from a range of
possible meaning-features, and the action of selection represents the work of
cultural producer when producing or making a text.
The set of features which comprise the ideational meaning of any semiotic
mode concerns who does what, with or to whom and where. In language, this
articulates our experience of the world as one in which entities are involved in
and related by processes which may be material, verbal, mental or relational,
Hence this function deals with the interrelation of participants and circumstances
in the representation of the world in such processes. The interpersonal meanings
of any semiotic mode used in a communicative act function to establish, maintain
and specify the relationships between members of societies or group through
expression of the social relations which are felt in the members, environment.
These may refer to expressions of the inextricable of power and influence. The
textual meanings realized through the textual resources of a mode, ‟breathe
relevance into the other two (Halliday, 1985: xiii). They organized the text as a
coherent message relevant to the situation, producing a coherent account of the
world.
As a tool to disseminate information, a wedding ceremony provides value
or view of many social events which have the potential for expanding people‟s
awareness of how social events affect their individual lives such as events
reported in the ceremony. Therefore, there are certain structures of verbal and
visual images patterned by the cultural producer to encode power and ideology
influencing people to follow.
1.2
The Formulation of the Research Problem
Having identified the aspects and dimensions of language in context and
semiotic elements involved in the wedding ceremonial discourse. This research is
to see how verbal and visual components made meanings of the DMTWC text
with: a) is the verbal meaning similar to visual meaning, b) is there combination
of verbal and visual meanings making new meanings, or c) do verbal meanings
project the visual meanings indicate ideology, power, and ways of life? Through
the analysis of meaning, the problems are formulated as follows:
1) How do verbal and visual components in the dynamics of Deli Malay traditional
wedding ceremony in Medan create meaning?
2) How does the realization of language and symbols used in the ceremony formulate
to indicate ideology, power and influence ways of life?
1.3
The Objectives of the Research
Based on those principles and view about multimodal analysis on
discourse, it is important to apply that approach in analyzing the cultural product
which is still maintained and conducted by Deli Malay Ethnic Group when they
conduct the wedding ceremony. This research is expected to give contribution to a
local culture so it will enrich and strengthen the national culture. Through the
analysis of Deli Malay Traditional Wedding Ceremony (DMTWC) text, the
objectives of the research are:
1) to describe the results of analyzing meaning of the verbal and visual
components used in the Deli Malay traditional wedding ceremony, whether
each component of verbal and visual contributes to make meanings of the
DMTWC text, or both components combine together to make meanings of
the text or it might be the verbal components project the visual meanings.
The meanings are analyzed based on metafunction covering ideational,
interpersonal and textual function. Therefore, the verbal analysis is related
to find the realization characteristics of verbal components using transitivity
system, logico-semantic relationship, mood system and thematic system.
While visual analysis is related to find the realization characteristics of
visual components using narrative structures and conceptual structures;
interactive meanings and modality; and the systems of informational value,
salience and framing,
2) to formulate a model of realization between verbal and visual modes of
communication to report the events and the structures they make to express
different meanings indicating ideology, power and influence ways of life,
1.4
The Research Significance
This research has been conducted to find out the relationships of language
and objects or symbols used in the Malay traditional wedding ceremony interplay
to convey meanings, commonly covering moral message and ways of life. After
having finished the research, the findings are expected to give academic and
theoretical benefits as well as practical and social benefits.
Concerning with the findings, academically the findings of multimodal
realizations of meanings made in the traditional wedding of Malay can be used as
the conceptual model specifically the realizations of meaning which are seen in
both verbal and visual realizations with reference to the metafunction of language
use. Moreover, the contribution of the research provides scientific idea for
linguists, mainly to the linguistic researcher to conduct researches on linguistic
phenomena appear on the object concerned, as well as to conduct multidisciplinary study to enrich studies concerning with linguistic and discourse
phenomena. Such findings provide motivation and useful input for Indonesian
linguistic experts to conduct multimodal analysis on any type of Indonesian
discourses, in order that they find out the structure and create specific nature of
Indonesian discourse.
Practically and socially, the findings can be given contribution for
discourse producers to choose the use of words or symbols so that the meanings
sent by them are accepted. People‟s perspective mainly, language users‟ know the
relation of meanings in language they use with objects or symbols accompanying
the language. Significantly, they are motivated to use and apply in other cultural
texts, so as to generate the young people to dig, keep, develop and conserve
cultural product from extinction. As Chainurrasyid in Nasution (1994: xi-xii)
advices that people keep and develop positive values of each culture and tradition,
it will fit to the Indonesian personality. By keeping and conserving the tradition,
people will increase their quality of life; strengthen their national personality and
dignity.
1.5
The Scope of the Research
This research refers to the concept of multimodal analysis that is a language
analysis which analyzes the language use verbally in relation with visual elements
accompanying the language. Multimodal analysis is aimed at investigating two modes of
communication (verbal and visual modes) interplay each other to send information or to
create meanings. Kress and Van Leeuwen in Young and Fitzgerald (2006: 170) focus a
study on how different meanings are made by each mode, and the interplay between
them. They suggest that a transformation in communication has led to a greater reliance
on the visual over the verbal. They also question whether everything that is
communicable verbally is also communicable visually, and whether in certain situations,
one mode is better than the other.
Following the aim of analysis, this research is conducted to obtain the data how
meanings are made by involving two different modes such as language and
symbols/objects used in the Malay Traditional Wedding Ceremony. Actually, there is
more than one Malay sub-ethnic groups live in north Sumatera, such as Deli Malay,
Serdang Malay, Langkat Malay, Batubara Malay, Asahan Malay, etc. but this research is
limited on Deli Malay located in Medan assumed that there are not any basic differences
made by other Malay sub-ethnic groups in celebrating the ceremony. Commonly, the
differences are on the dialects and some choices of words related to expressing
phenomena suited to the local situation and condition of the communities area. For
example, Asahan Malay live near the sea then they construct their pantun using words
related to the sea and its environment, for instance: orang ke laut menjala udang, petang
hari pasang pelita, yang ditunggu sudah pun datang yang dinanti sudah pun tiba (Sinar,
2011: 226). While Deli Malay live around the city then the word choice are mostly
figuring the city life, for example: Pulo Brayan bukanlah pulau, jalan layang seperti
bukit, kedatangan kami sangat terpukau, karena penyambutan tidak sedikit (quoted from
Lala‟s ceremony, β01β). The dialectical differences are mostly on pronouncing the vowel
sound /a/ in which in Asahan Malay it is pronounced /o / while in Deli Malay it is
pronounced /e/ but they do not change the meaning of the words.
Deli Malay Traditional Wedding Ceremony (DMTWC) which are taken to be the
source are the wedding ceremonies conducted in Medan.
Traditional Wedding Ceremony in Deli Malay is conducted through some
steps of activities; actually there are 27 steps namely: Merintis. Risik kecil, Jamu
sukut, Risik besar, Meminang, Naik emas,
Ikat janji, Akad nikah,
Malam
berhinai curi, Malam berhinai kecil, Malam berhinai besar, Mengantar pengantin
laki-laki, Hempang pintu, Bersanding, Tepung tawar, Cemetuk, Makan nasi
hadap-hadapan, Serah terima pengantin laki-laki kepada keluarga pengantin
perempuan, Mandi berdimbar, Sembah keliling, Malam bersatu, Naik halangan
(naik lepas pantang), Meminjam kedua pengantin oleh pihak keluarga laki-laki
kepada pihak keluarga perempuan, Memulangkan kedua pengantin kembali oleh
pihak keluarga laki-laki kepada pihak keluarga pengantin perempuan, Naik
sembah
besar,
Pengantin
pindah
kerumah
sendiri.
(http://library.usu.ac.id/download/fs/daerah-ramlan.pdf / accessed on Sep. 8th 09)
Concerning with data consuming and analyzing, the research is limited
and focused on the process before and after Akad nikah (married contract) ,
mengantar pengantin laki-laki (taking the groom to the bride‟s house), hempang
batang (gateway barrier), bertukar tepak (swapping the tepak), bertukar payung
(swapping the umbrella), hempang pintu (doorway barrier), perang bertih
(spreading the potpourri), hempang kipas (bridal couch barrier), tepung tawar
(congratulating and praying for the happiness and prosperity of the married
couple), bersanding (bride and groom are seated side by side on a couch called
„pelaminan‟), and makan nasi hadap-hadapan (the spreading meals) the couple
and their family are served with various, colorful and delicious traditional food for
their lunch.
By investigating and analyzing the language and symbols used in those
activities, it is expected that data obtained can give information to listeners,
viewers, or readers how meanings / information are packed and sent to them and
how linguistic and semiotic modes are understandable applying the discourse
analysis principles of
Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) by M. Halliday
(1985, 1994,2004); Grammar of
Visual Design by G. Kress and Teo van
Leeuwen (1996, 2006), and Interpreting the Visual by Helen de Silva Joyce and
John Gaudin (2007).