Hindu Ritual of NGOTONIN in Bali: A Discourse Analysis Approach.
Sridhar and Bilimoria
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Buddhist Modernism in 19th Century Siam
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Rajeg, Laksminy
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Hindu Ritual of Ngotonin in Bali:
A Discourse Analysis Approach
Simona C.-Ferraro
Iconography of Ambaran¹tha Temple
in Maharashtra, India
Parthama and Budiasa
Religious Terms and Languages:
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Book Review
Hindu Ritual of Ngotonin in Bali
(A Discourse Analysis Approach)
I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and
Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
Abstract
Ngotonin, as one of the Manusia Yadnya rituals shows its
uniqueness in every part of Bali and has its own
characteristics to symbolize the way of life of Hindu people
in Bali through its offering which is full of wonderful
ceremonial apparatus and ornaments decorated to their
houses and characterized by a unique form of speech
(mantra). The aim of this paper is to study the social
semiotic aspects of a language used in Ngotonin ritual by
looking at the relationship between context of situation of
the speech in terms of experiential, interpersonal and textual
meaning. The analysis of the data is based on Halliday’s
theory on the social semiotics aspects of language. The
concept of social semiotics is one aspect of the language that
will be related to the social system as a system of meaning.
While context of situation is the enviroment where the
language is used. Halliday stated that there is a
correspondence between the features of context of situation
and the function of language. The three features of context
of situation (field, tenor, and mode) are systematically
related to metafunctions of language (experiential,
interpersonal, and textual). Thus, the field is expressed
through experiential function, tenor is expressed through
interpersonal function and the mode is expressed through
the textual function of a language.The choice of words in the
ritual shows that field of the language is about religious
ceremony of Ngotonin being held to someone in a certain
period , tenor of a language is about the relationship
between participant involve in the ceremony, while the mode
is spoken text (mantra) uttered by o priest or pemangku
(assistant of a priest).
Kewords: Ngotonin, Balinese Hinduism, discourse, and context of
situation
Jurusan Sastra Inggris,FS,Universitas Udayana, Bali, Indonesia
Hindu Ritual of Ngotonin in Bali: A Discourse Analysis Approach
Introduction
Background
Balinese culture, in the course of its growth, has been passing a long
road of history. It is mirrored by the firm bond of Balinese culture and
Hindu since the beginning of the Anno Domini age, and by the
integration within the skeleton system of national culture and modern
era as well. (Mantra, 1993:11; Geria, 1995:91; Pitana, 1998:28-29).
Hindu, as one element of Balinese cultures, provides paths for
Hindus to get closer to their Maker, their God; one of them is through
Yadnya. The teachings related to yadnya is named Panca Yadnya, i.e.
five kinds of yadnya ceremonies or sacrificing ceremonies. One of the
ceremonies is Manusa Yadnya (sacrifice ceremony to humankinds).
Ngotonin ritual, one kind of Manusa Yadnya, is carried out to humans
in their age of six months, and is regularly held in the interval of the
next six months during their lives. Ngotonin has a deeply religious
emotion – not only a form of human effort to protect an individual and
rinse the darkness of their thoughts out, but also to clean up the way
humans think since it is believed only from the holly and purified
humans’ thoughts are the positive ideas, which are beneficial for
themselves and others, born they mark, with sometimes elaborate
purification ceremonies. (Wenten, 1999:1-12, Upadesa (1978:63;
Koentjaraningrat, 1985: 40-46; Eiseman, 1988: 84). The prayer
produced orally in the process of ngotonin ritual is a language in use,
whatever the form it takes and indicates the relationship between
language, culture and structure, considering the social structure as one
part of the social system. The spoken prayer can be recoded in written
text and becomes the reflection of Balinese culture and give the
identity symbol of ethnic groups if it is seen from its context of
situation in which it is used.
It is very important that a text is characterized by coherence, it
hangs together and an important contribution to coherence comes from
cohesion as these sets of linguistic resources that every language has
(as part of textual meta-function) for linking one part of the text to
another. (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 1). The text consists of some
features of the context of situation. It is important for us to know the
context of situation of a text. By knowing the context of situation of a
text we will be able to predict what are other people going to say and
by doing so we understand what he or she does say
(Koentjaraningrat, 1985: 40-46, Halliday (1985). This study will
concern with the function of spoken prayer that is recoded in written
text by relates it to context of situation.
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
The Nature of Text
A text refers to any passage, spoken or written. It is not a grammatical
unit at all but rather a unity of a different kind; a semantic unit. The
unity has a unit of meaning in context, a texture expressing the fact
that it relates as a whole to the environment in which it is placed. Text
is language in operation and the textual components embodies the
semantic systems by means of which text is created (Halliday and
Hasan, 1976:1). Semantic system is one of this strata of the linguistic
system and we will assume that the semantic system consist of four
functional components, they are experiential, logical, inteipersonal and
textual. In this case, experiential and logical are closely related under
the heading of ideational. (Halliday, 1976;128)
Generic structure, textual structure (thematic and information) and
cohesion are three factors that can distinguish text from non text
(Halliday, 1976:135). Thematic term are not optional stylistic variants,
they are integral part of the meaning of a language. Texture is not
something that is achieved by superimposing an appropriate text form
on a preexisting ideational content. The textual component is a
component of meaning along with the ideational and interpersonal
components. Hence, a linguistic description not a progressive
specification of asset of structure one after the other, ideational then
interpersonal then textual, the systems act and finally recode it as a
text as some writing in philosophical linguistic seems to imply. The
generic structure is outside the linguistic system. It is language as the
projection of a higher-level semiotic structure. The concept of generic
structure can be brought within the general framework of the concept
of register. While cohesion is a semantic one; it refers to relations of
meaning that exist within the text, and that defines it as a text.
A text, is a semantic unit which is not composed of sentences but is
realized in sentences. A text is to the semantic system. It may be
characterized by certain lexicogrammatical features, just as a clause
may be characterized by certain phonological features, but this is not
making it a lexicogrammatical structure unit. (Halliday, 1976: 135). A
text is a sociological event a semiotic encounter through which the
meanings that constitute social system are exchanged. The essential
feature of text, therefore, is that it is interaction. The exchange of
meanings is an interactive process, and it is the means of exchange, in
order for the meaning which constitutes the social meaning and system
to be exchanged between the members they must first be represented
in some exchangeable symbolic form, and the most assessable of the
available forms is language. So, the meanings are encoded in the
semantics system and given the form of text.
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The context of situation may be totally remote from what is going
on round about during the act of speaking or of writing. The situation
type, in the sense of what Berstein refers to as a social context, this is
essentially a semiotic structure, (Halliday, 1976:109). It is a
constellation of meanings deriving from the semiotic system that
constitute the structure and culture. The situations consist of, the social
action; the roles structures; and the symbolic organization. We refer to
these by the terms "field, tenor and mode". Field, the selection of the
options in experiential system; Tenor, the selection of interpersonal
options; Mode, the selection of options in the textual system such as
those of theme, information and voice and also the selection of
cohesive pattern. (Halliday, 1976;143 )
Ngotonin Ritual in Bali
Ngotonin ritual can be classified into three levels of extravagance,
utama ceremonies are the largest, nista ceremonies, the smallest,
madia being the medium variety. Ngotonin ritual in this study belongs
to madia level. There are great piles of offering characterized this ritual
including : Banten byakala or prayascita, Banten dapetan, Sodaan,
Janganan aruan (aru-aru), Pengambean ali, Sambutan lebeng matah,
Canang Daksina, Banten kurana, Petebasan. It is very unique and
firmly tied to Hindu society because during the process of ritual it is
accompanied by deeply meaningful ceremonial stuffs and witnessed by
the family and relatives as well. One of the important rituals is
generally the officiatory natab and ngayab wafting. In this natab ritual
there must be prayers produced by the officiator who leads the ritual.
Before commencing the ritual, the officiator puts an offering as sodaan
in Padma shrine as dedicated to God accompanied by prayer as stated
in (D1) 1, 2 below; then she/he puts an offering as sodaan in Kemulan
shrine for the deified ancestors accompanied by prayers as in (D2); The
last prayer that will be taken as the data is natab prayer (D3)
(D1) Prayer in Padma shrine
Cls 1. nggih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ wetuan ipun
Cls. 2. titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Padma
(D2) Prayer in kemulan shrine
Cls 1a. nggih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ wetuan ipun
Cls 2a. titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida betara Hyang Guru
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
(D3) Prayer in the natab wafting rites
Cls 1b. nggih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ wetuan ipun
Cls.2b titiyang ngaturang banten sorohan ring Ida sane numadi
Cls 3. Titiyang nunas sinampura kirang langkung aturan titiyang
ring ida sane numadi
Cls.4. Luas metalang,
Cls 5. mulih /matentengan.
Cls.6. Wat kawat balung besi
Cls.7. ayab sari, kobok ombak, kobok pasih , kobok danu, sarin
danu, sarin perahu,
Text Structure
By this term we will find clauses as messages. According to Halliday
(1985: 38), the one which gives the clause its character as a message is
known as thematic structure. He states that theme is the element which
serves as the point of departure of the message; that with which the
clause is concerned; and what the clause is going to be about. The
theme is not necessary for nominal group, it may also be adverbial
group or prepositional phrase. The reminder of the message, the part in
which the theme is developed, is called rheme.
Cls 1.1a,1b singgih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ (rahina)
wetuan ipun
Well today Monday pon matal (is) his birth
Circunstance: time Identifier Process: relational Identified
Adjunct Predicate Complement
____________________ _____________________________________
Theme
Rheme.
Cls.2 : Titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Padma
I give a small offering to Hyang Widhi (The God)
Actor Process: material Goal Beneficiary
Subject Predicate Complement (DO) Complement (IO)
____________________ _____________________________________
Theme
Rheme.
Cls.2a : Titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Hyang Guru
I give a small offering to Hyang Guru (deified ancestor)
Actor Process: material Goal Beneficiary
Subject Predicate Complement (DO) Complement (IO)
____________________ _____________________________________
Theme
Rheme.
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Cls 2b: Titiyang ngaturang banten sorohan ring Ida sane numadi
I give a pile of offering to reincarnated ancestor
Actor Process: material Goal Beneficiary
Subject Predicate Complement (DO) Complement (IO)
____________________ _____________________________________
Theme
Rheme.
Cls 3 Titiyang nunas sinampura kirang langkung aturan titiyang ring
Ida sane numadi
I apologise less more offering my to reincarnated ancestor
Actor Process: material Circumstance :resultative Beneficiary
Subject Predicate Complement (DO) Complement (IO)
____________________ _____________________________________
Theme
Rheme.
Cls.4.
Luas
metalang,
Leave home
Process :material
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
empty-handed
Goal
Complement
Cls. 5. mulih
Return home
Process : material
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
Cls.6. wat
Nerve
Goal
Subject
____________________
Rheme.
balung (aji)
bone
Goal
Subject
____________________
Theme
matengtengan.
full-handed
Goal
Complement
(aji)
kawat
(made of) wire
Process : material Goal
Predicate Complement
besi
made of
iron
Process : material Goal
Predicate Complement
__________________________
Rheme.
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
Cls7
ayab
sari
wafting
Process: material
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
essence
Goal
Complement
kobok
ombak
cross
Process: action
Predicate
wave
location
Complement
____________________
Rheme.
kobok
pasih
cross
Process: action
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
sea
location
Complement
kobok
danu,
cross
Process: action
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
lake
location
Complement
(alih)
sarin
(get) essence
Process: action
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
lake
Goal
Complement
danu,
(alih)
Sarin perahu,
(get)
Process: action
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
essence boat
Goal
Complement
Functional Component of Semantic
According to Halliday (1978) there is a systemic correspondence
between the features of context of situation and the function of
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language. Each of the main areas of language function tends to be
determined or activated by one particular aspect of the situation. In
other words, the three features of the situation (field, tenor and mode)
are systematically related to the functions of language (ideational,
interpersonal and textual function). Field related to ideational function
and reflected in the experiential Meaning; tenor related to
interpersonal function and reflected in interpersonal meaning; mode
related to textual function and reflected in the textual meaning. Each
of the three functions of language will be discussed in the following
sections.
Field is Reflected in the Experiential Meaning
Field is related to the ideational function of language that is the
function of language to understand the environment, the aspect of
meaning of the clause as representation or a way of representing
patterns of experience. Halliday (1994) states that Language enables
human beings to build a mental picture of reality, to make sense of
what goes on around them and inside them so the clause plays a
central role, since it embodies a general principle for modelling
experience that is the principle that reality is made up of processes.
Experiences consist of “goings-on”- happening, doing, sensing, meaning
and becoming. All these goings-on are selected in the grammar of the
clause. The grammatical by which this is achieved is transitivity. The
transitivity system construes the world of experience into a manageable
set of process types. A process consists of three principle components,
they are: (i) the process itself; (ii) the participants in the process and
(iii) the circumstances associated with the process. The transitivity of
the “Ngotonin Text” can be seen in 2.2.
The type of process in clause 1 is relational process which is
unmarked in Balinese. It relates circumstance of time as participants
that is sane mangkin rahina Soma, Pon, Matal as identifier and wetuan
ipun, as identified token. The circumstance of time in this clause refers
to specific type of time used in Bali Hindu rituals. In Balinese calender,
a day is specified into “sapta wara” , “Panca wara”, and “Wuku” in
terms of this specification otonan comes every 210 days.
The Process in clause 2, 2a, 2b, is ngaturang (offer or give) it
belongs to material process which requires three participants that is an
Actor in this case , titiyang (I “ high level Variation” refering to the
speaker that is the officiator who led the ritual), a goal that is sodaan
alit (small offering) in clause 2, 2a; Banten “sorohan” (a pile of
offering) in clause 2b, and a beneficiary in clause 2, 2a which is
understood in this context, that is Ida betara Padma ‘God’ in clause 2,
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
Ida betara Hyang Guru, deified ancestor, in clause 2a, and reincarnated
ancestor in clause 2b. .
Clause 3 shows that the process nunas sinampura (apologise)
belongs to verbal process, titiyang as the sayer in this context is the
officiator who leads the ritual and Ida sane numadi ) as the beneficiery,
kirang langkung aturan titiyang as circumstance of resultative
The process in clause 4 is luas. It belongs to material process and
requires an Actor as a participant in this case the one who has the
“otonan”. Clause 5 shows that the process is mulih. It also belongs to
material process and requires an Actor as a participant in this case the
one who has the “otonan”. Clauses 4 and 5 belong to metaphors
because the meaning intended by the speaker is not similar to the
meaning of the lexical choices. The meaning intended is that the
officiator hopes that the one who has the otonan be successful in his
life.
Clause 6 ,Wat kawat balung besi is a metaphor since there is
incongruence between the meaning and the form that is wat ’nerve” is
never made of kawat ’wire’ and balung ‘bone’ is never made of besi ’
iron’. The participant in this clause is the one who has the “otonan”, he
or she never has nerve made of wire and bone made of iron. What is
meant here is that the officiator hopes that he or she be strong ,
healthy, and has long life. Clause 7 /ayab sari/, kebek ombak/, kebek
pasih/, sarinjong/, sarin perahu, kebek danu/ is a metaphor as well.
This clause is uttered by the officiator hoping that the one who has the
otonan gain lots of luck in his/her life. Most of the types of processes
involved in the text are material processes. They are the process of
doing which requires actors and goals as participants. The verbal
interaction among the participants are the social action as a whole. In
the data, Ngotonin Ritual Systems are materialised in the form
activities and actions of human being in carrying out their devotions to
the Supreme God, gods, ancestors’ spirits or other invisible beings, and
in their efforts to have contacts with God and the citizens of the
mystical, invisible places. The rituals and ceremonies are continuously
held. It can be daily, seasonally, or infrequently being related with
other activities such as doing prayer, bowing and kneeling down,
serving, sacrificing, eating together, chanting the praise, etc.
Tenor is Reflected in The Interpersonal Meaning
By the term of tenor we will find the role structure: who is taking part
to the nature of the participants, their status and roles : what kinds of
role relationship obtained among the participants, including permanent
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and temporary relationships of one kind or another, both types of
speech role that they are taking on in the dialogue and the whole
cluster of socially significant relationship in which they are involved.
Since the process mostly involved is material process with actor, goal
and beneficiery as the participants, the participants who are taking part
in this ngotonin ritual are : Officiator – Ida Betara Padma God and Ida
Betara Hyang Guru ‘deified ancestor relationship and Officiator –
person / anyone to whom the ritual is given and implisitly the
reincarnated ancestor in that person.
It is the component of the text that tends to activate the
interpersonal function in the semantic, representing the ‘participation’
function of language, the speaker as intruder in other word. It
functions to express the interrelationship between the participants.
Thus, tenor connected with the role relationship that determine the
selections in the system of mood (statement/command/interogative);
the system of modality and the system of person (the choice of 1st
person, 2nd person, 3rd person). These roles in a communication may
include: questioner, informer, responder, contradictor. The semantic
features of the text can be explained as the following:
1. Officiator leads the ritual, first dedicates the offering to God,
inform the ritual is being held to the God and the God supposed to
receive the offering and information about ngotonin ritual. In this
case the officiator is the leader of the ritual and act as the informer.
The information that will be identified by circumstances of the
process is wetuan ipun and related with circumstances of time as
identifier is sane mangkin rahina Soma, Pon, Matal ( See Cls
1,1a,1b below).
Cls 1.1a,1b singgih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ (rahina)
wetuan ipun
Well this time Monday pon matal (is) his birth
In this social process, offering prayers use High Language to show
appreciation dedicated to God and deified ancestor indicated by
address term Ida ‘honorable’ and toward oneself (the person to whom
the ritual being given) by address term ipun ‘ he/she’ and titiyang
‘ saya’ refers to the officiator who is leading the ritual. Thus, the
systems of mood and person, which are interpersonal systems in the
language, reflect very closely the officiator– God and deified ancestor relationship as well as the officiator– person relationship, in declarative
sentence.
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The officiator express his idea through the H language of 1st person
‘titiyang’ ‘I’ to show that the officiatoris subpower position and Hyang
Widhi God and deified ancestor are superpower. He is the one who
knows the situation and inform the Hyang Widhi God and deified
ancestor in H language, epressed in the mood of declarative as given in
the folowing clauses :
Cls 1.1a,1b singgih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ (rahina)
wetuan ipun
Well this time Monday pon matal (is) his birth
Cls.2 : titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Padma
I give a small gift to Hyang Widhi God
Cls.2a : titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Hyang Guru
I give a small gift to Hyang Guru(deified ancestor)
Cls 2b: titiyang ngaturang banten sorohan ring Ida sane numadi
I give a pile of offering to reincarnated ancestor
Cls 3 Titiyang / nunas sinampura / antuk kirang langkung aturan
titiyang / ring Ida sane numadi
I apologize more or less of my offering to reincarnated ancestor
Hyang Widhi God, Hyang Guru (deified ancestor) and the family
reincarnated ancestors, is the recipient of the information and the gift
in the form of offering. The offering is valuable things to show great
appreciation to God. This religious emotion brings people to possessing
religious attitude, i.e. a religious emotion manifested in ‘fears,
amazement, and belief’ towards ‘magical or mystical and sacred things’
and believes in God. Logically, this attitude is hardly explained for it is
out of humans’ capability, and for it makes difference with the other
societies’ social system of culture
2. The relationship between the officiator– person / anyone to whom
the ritual is given is expressed by low language in the mood of
imperative.
Cls7 :
ayab
sari
wafting
essence
kobok
ombak
cross
wave
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kobok
pasih
cross
sea
kobok
danu
cross
lake
(alih)
sarin danu,
(get)
essence lake
(alih)
sarin perahu,
(get)
essence boat
This relationship shows the belief system of a religion is shaped
into humans’ thoughts and ideas covering the God’s attitude, the form
of mystical life and place, the creation of the world, the world
hereafter, and the appearance of the soul, invisible creatures,
ancestors, gods, etc. Additionally, belief cannot be untied from the
religious values and norms systems, ethics teachings, and the other
doctrines organizing humans’ life.
Mode is Reflected in the Textual Meaning
The third feature of context of situation is what is called mode. By this
term we will find the symbolic organization: what role language is
playing refers; to what part the language is playing. What it is that the
participants are expecting the language to do for them, in that
situation; the symbolic organization of the text, the status that it has
and its function in the context; including the channel [ it is spoken or
written or some combination of the two ] and also the rhetorical mode,
what is being achieved by the text in terms of such categories as
persuasive, expository, didactic and the like.
When the officiator is making an offer and giving information that
there will be ngotonin ritual given to anyone (the person that is given
the ritual) indicated by material process ngaturang ‘give’, then the
theme is talking about the the officiator of the ritual –that is identified
by unmarked theme ‘titiyang’ and talking about the related time when
the ritual take place, indicated by “ sane mangkin, rahina soma Pon
Matal.(See 2.1, clause 1, 2, and 3). Those clauses have participants, the
person (the implicit officiator characterised by Pronoun ‘titiyang’), the
believable God and deified ancestor, Ipun ( the person who is given the
Ngotonin ritual).
The texture of a text is provided by the cohesion relation: reference
(personal reference, demonstrative reference, and comparative
reference); substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical cohesion
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
Halliday ( 1985: 72). The cohesion relation found in this study is as the
following:
References
Cls.2 : titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Padma
I give a small offering to Ida Betara Padma (God)
I offer a small offering to Ida Betara Padma (God).
Ida (He)‘honorific‘(cataforic ) refers to Betara Padma (God)
Titiyang (I) refers to the officiator
Cls.2a : titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Hyang Guru
I give a small offering to Ida Betara Hyang Guru (deified ancestor)
I offer a small offering to Ida Betara Hyang Guru (deified
ancestor).
Ida (He) ‘honourific (cataforic) refers to Betara Hyang Guru
(deified ancestor)
Titiyang (He) refers to the officiator(officiator)
Cls 2b: titiyang ngaturang banten sorohan ring Ida sane numadi
I give a pile of offering to reincarnated ancestor
I offer a pile of offering to reincarnated ancestor.
Ida (He) ‘honorific (cataforic) refers to sane numadi (the
reincarnated person)
Titiyang (He) refers to the officiator
Cls 1.1a,1b singgih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ wetuan
ipun
Well this time (now) Monday pon matal (is) his birth
Well, today is Monday pon metal, his/ her birthday
Ipun (He/She) ‘humble’ (cataforic) refers to .anyone being given
the otonan ritual
(2) Demonstrative reference
Cls 1.1a,1b singgih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ wetuan ipun
Well this time (now) Monday pon matal (is) his birth
Well, today is Monday pon metal, his/ her birthday.
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sane Mangkin ‘this time’( now) refers to ‘soma pon matal’(Monday
pon Matal)
(3) Comparative reference
Cls 3 Titiyang nunas sinampura kirang langkung aturan titiyang ring
Ida sane numadi
I apologise more or less of my offering to reincarnated ancestor
I apologise for my approximate offering to reincarnated ancestor
Kirang ‘less’ refers to aturan titiyang (my offering)
Langkung ‘more’ refers to aturan titiyang (my offering)
(4) Ellipsis and Substitution
(a) Nominal ellipsis
Cls 1.1a,1b singgih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ (rahina)
wetuan ipun
Well this time Monday pon matal (is) (day) birth his
Well, today is Monday pon metal, his/ her birthday.
(rahina) ‘day’ is deleted
Cls.4. (Ipun) Luas metalang,
(He/she) leave home empty-handed
He/She leaves home empty handed.
Cls. 5. (Ipun) mulih matentengan.
He/She return home full-handed
He/ She returns home full-handed.
Cls.6. wat (Ipun) (aji) kawat
Nerve (his/her) (made of) iron
His/Her nerves are made of iron.
balung (Ipun) (aji) besi
bone (his/her) (made of) iron
His/ner bones are made of iron.
Cls7 : (Ipun) ngayab sari
(He/She) wafting essence
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
He/She is wafting the essence.
(Ipun) kobok ombak
(He/She) cross wave
He/She crosses the wave.
(Ipun) kobok danu,
(He/She) cross lake
He/She crosses the lake.
(Ipun) kobok pasih
(He /She) cross sea
He/She crosses the sea.
(Ipun) (ngalih) sarin danu,
He/She (get) essence lake
He/She gets many fish.
(Ipun) (ngalih) Sarin perahu,
He/She (Get) essence boat
He/She gets many fish.
Ipun ‘His/her’ in clause 1, 1a, 1b, and 6 is the person to whom the
ritual is dedicated is deleted from the sentence
Ipun ‘ He/She’ in clause 4, 5, 7 is the person to whom the ritual is
dedicated is deleted from the sentence
(b) Verbal Ellipsis
Cls.6. wat (Ipun) (aji) kawat
Nerve (his/her) (made of) iron
His/Her nerve is made of iron.
balung (Ipun) (aji) besi
bone (his/her) (made of) iron
His/ner bones are made of iron.
(Ipun)
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(ngalih) sarin danu,
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Hindu Ritual of Ngotonin in Bali: A Discourse Analysis Approach
He/She
(get) essence lake
He/She gets many fish.
(Ipun) (ngalih) sarin perahu,
He/She (Get) essence boat
He/She gets many fish.
Verb aji and ngalih in clause 6 are delated from the sentence.
(c) Substitution
Cls 7: ngayab sari
(sane mangkin ipun natab) sari
In the sentence above clause (sane mangkin ipun natab)
deleted and substituted with ngayab ‘wafting’ .
5. Lexical Cohesion
a. same referent : sane mangkin and rahina soma pon matal and
wetuan
banten sorohan and aturan and sodaan
Ida and Betara Padma
Ida and Betara Hyang Guru
Ida and sane numadi
b. repetition:
singgih – singgih
mangkin – mangkin
soma pon matal - soma pon matal
ngaturang – ngaturang
ring – ring
ida - ida
ipun – ipun
rahina – rahina - rahina
titiyang – titiyang
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
sari-sarin-sarin
danu – danu
kobok – kobok
The text texture is manifested by certain kinds of
semantic relation between its individual message. The property
of texture is related to the listener’s perception of coherence
(Hasan, 1985:72). The ngotonin ritual which is not only
informed through the material process ngaturang ‘give’,
participants and theme but the texture also have semantic
relation between individual message through Personal reference
(cataforic) clause 2; Demonstrative reference in clause 1.1a,1b;
Comparative reference in clause 3; Nominal ellipsis in clause
1.1a,1b clause 4, clause 5, and clause 6; Verbal Ellipsis in clause
6; Substitution in clause 7; Lexical Cohesion : a. same referent,
b. repetition.
The officiator is the one who masters and leads the ritual and gives
information to the God and Ida Betara Hyang Guru (deified ancestor)
that there is a ngotonin ritual taking place at the moment. The
language expressed in the mood of declarative implisitely informs the
God, Ida betara Hyang Guru ‘deified ancestor’ and reincarnated
ancestors in H language to witness the ritual (see clause 1, 1a, 1b, 2,
2a, 2b, in 2.1) . The declarative form in clause 3 used to apologise for
being mistaken in the process of ngotonin ritual . The use of persuasive
language in the form of metaphorical expression to show a great
expectation for anyone (being given the otonan ritual) blessing ,
prosperity, protection, as well as strength. ( see clause 4, 5, 6, and 7 in
2.1).
Conclusion
Ngotonin ritual is very unique and firmly tied to Hindu belief because
during the process it is accompanied by deeply meaningful ceremonial
stuffs and forms of discourse. Besides, this also becomes the reflection
of Balinese culture and the identity symbol of particular ethnic groups.
In addition, language is seen as the conduit as well as the means to
transfer and conserve the cultural values of a society from generation
to generation. From its context of situation, Ngotonin ritual has a
deeply religious emotion – not only a form of human effort to
protect an individual and rinse the darkness of their thoughts
out, but also elaborate purification ceremonies.
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Process types indicated by process material show that there must
be an offering dedicated to activities and actions of human being in
carrying out their devotions to the Supreme God, gods, ancestors’
spirits or other invisible beings, and in their efforts to have contacts
with God and the citizens of the mystical, invisible places. The rituals
and ceremonies are continuously held every six months being related
to other activities such as praying, bowing and kneeling down, and
natab wafting rites.
Participants in the ritual are the officiator - Ida betara Padma
(God), Ida betara Hyang Guru ‘deified’ God and reincarnated ancestor
in the person having has otonan ritual, can be seen from their role as
an actor that is the officiator who informs Ida betara Padma (God), Ida
betara Hyang Guru ‘deified’ God and the reincarnated, is the recipient
of the information (indicated by material process, ngaturang, the gift in
the form of offering. The offering is valuable things to show great
appreciation to God. This religious emotion that brings people to
possessing religious attitude, i.e. a religious emotion manifested in
‘fears, amazement, and belief’ towards ‘magical or mystical and sacred
things’ and believes in God.
Text texture prayers manifested by certain kinds of semantic
relation between its individual message. The property of texture is
related to the listener’s perception of coherence (Hasan, 1985:72). The
ngotonin ritual which is not only informed through the material
process, ngaturang ‘give’, participants and theme but the texture also
has a semantic relation between individual message through Personal
reference (cataforic) clause 2; Demonstrative reference in clause
1.1a,1b; Comparative reference in clause 3; Nominal ellipsis in clause
1.1a,1b clause 4, clause 5, clause 6; Verbal Ellipsis clause 6;
Substitution in clause 7; Lexical Cohesion : (a). same referent, (b).
repetition.
The language expressed in the mood of declarative implicitly
informs the God, Ida betara Hyang Guru ‘deified ancestor’ and
reincarnated ancestors in H language to witness the ritual The
declarative form in clause 3 used to apologise for being mistaken (if
any) in the process of ngotonin ritual. The use of persuasive language
in the form of metaphorical expressions is to show a great expectation
for anyone (being given the otonan ritual): the blessing , prosperity,
protection, as well as strength.
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
Refrences
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Upada Sastra.
Halliday, M.A.K & Hassan R. 1975. Cohesion in English. London : Longman
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Sudharta, Tjok Rai. 1993. Manusia Hindu .Denpasar : Yayasan Dharma
Naradha
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Water in the Indic Traditions
Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof
The Story of the Golden Shell Prince in
Traditional Malay Theatre
Adrian Hermann
Buddhist Modernism in 19th Century Siam
and the Discourse of Scientific Buddhism
Dwivedi and K. Lochan
T¹mbØla in Indian Tradition
Puspani and Sukarini
The Function of Water (Tirtha) in
Balinese Hindu Rituals
Sophana Srichampa
Vietnamese-Thai Beliefs for Their
Well-being
Prem Saran
Women in Eastern Indian Buddhism:
An Axiology of Indic Culture and its
Southeast Asian Interface
Goh Sang Seong
Some Cultural and Buddhism Terms
in the Translation of Chinese Classical
Texts into Malay
Rajeg, Laksminy
and Indrawati
Hindu Ritual of Ngotonin in Bali:
A Discourse Analysis Approach
Simona C.-Ferraro
Iconography of Ambaran¹tha Temple
in Maharashtra, India
Parthama and Budiasa
Religious Terms and Languages:
Understanding and Transferring
Meaning through Languages
Book Review
Hindu Ritual of Ngotonin in Bali
(A Discourse Analysis Approach)
I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and
Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
Abstract
Ngotonin, as one of the Manusia Yadnya rituals shows its
uniqueness in every part of Bali and has its own
characteristics to symbolize the way of life of Hindu people
in Bali through its offering which is full of wonderful
ceremonial apparatus and ornaments decorated to their
houses and characterized by a unique form of speech
(mantra). The aim of this paper is to study the social
semiotic aspects of a language used in Ngotonin ritual by
looking at the relationship between context of situation of
the speech in terms of experiential, interpersonal and textual
meaning. The analysis of the data is based on Halliday’s
theory on the social semiotics aspects of language. The
concept of social semiotics is one aspect of the language that
will be related to the social system as a system of meaning.
While context of situation is the enviroment where the
language is used. Halliday stated that there is a
correspondence between the features of context of situation
and the function of language. The three features of context
of situation (field, tenor, and mode) are systematically
related to metafunctions of language (experiential,
interpersonal, and textual). Thus, the field is expressed
through experiential function, tenor is expressed through
interpersonal function and the mode is expressed through
the textual function of a language.The choice of words in the
ritual shows that field of the language is about religious
ceremony of Ngotonin being held to someone in a certain
period , tenor of a language is about the relationship
between participant involve in the ceremony, while the mode
is spoken text (mantra) uttered by o priest or pemangku
(assistant of a priest).
Kewords: Ngotonin, Balinese Hinduism, discourse, and context of
situation
Jurusan Sastra Inggris,FS,Universitas Udayana, Bali, Indonesia
Hindu Ritual of Ngotonin in Bali: A Discourse Analysis Approach
Introduction
Background
Balinese culture, in the course of its growth, has been passing a long
road of history. It is mirrored by the firm bond of Balinese culture and
Hindu since the beginning of the Anno Domini age, and by the
integration within the skeleton system of national culture and modern
era as well. (Mantra, 1993:11; Geria, 1995:91; Pitana, 1998:28-29).
Hindu, as one element of Balinese cultures, provides paths for
Hindus to get closer to their Maker, their God; one of them is through
Yadnya. The teachings related to yadnya is named Panca Yadnya, i.e.
five kinds of yadnya ceremonies or sacrificing ceremonies. One of the
ceremonies is Manusa Yadnya (sacrifice ceremony to humankinds).
Ngotonin ritual, one kind of Manusa Yadnya, is carried out to humans
in their age of six months, and is regularly held in the interval of the
next six months during their lives. Ngotonin has a deeply religious
emotion – not only a form of human effort to protect an individual and
rinse the darkness of their thoughts out, but also to clean up the way
humans think since it is believed only from the holly and purified
humans’ thoughts are the positive ideas, which are beneficial for
themselves and others, born they mark, with sometimes elaborate
purification ceremonies. (Wenten, 1999:1-12, Upadesa (1978:63;
Koentjaraningrat, 1985: 40-46; Eiseman, 1988: 84). The prayer
produced orally in the process of ngotonin ritual is a language in use,
whatever the form it takes and indicates the relationship between
language, culture and structure, considering the social structure as one
part of the social system. The spoken prayer can be recoded in written
text and becomes the reflection of Balinese culture and give the
identity symbol of ethnic groups if it is seen from its context of
situation in which it is used.
It is very important that a text is characterized by coherence, it
hangs together and an important contribution to coherence comes from
cohesion as these sets of linguistic resources that every language has
(as part of textual meta-function) for linking one part of the text to
another. (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 1). The text consists of some
features of the context of situation. It is important for us to know the
context of situation of a text. By knowing the context of situation of a
text we will be able to predict what are other people going to say and
by doing so we understand what he or she does say
(Koentjaraningrat, 1985: 40-46, Halliday (1985). This study will
concern with the function of spoken prayer that is recoded in written
text by relates it to context of situation.
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The Nature of Text
A text refers to any passage, spoken or written. It is not a grammatical
unit at all but rather a unity of a different kind; a semantic unit. The
unity has a unit of meaning in context, a texture expressing the fact
that it relates as a whole to the environment in which it is placed. Text
is language in operation and the textual components embodies the
semantic systems by means of which text is created (Halliday and
Hasan, 1976:1). Semantic system is one of this strata of the linguistic
system and we will assume that the semantic system consist of four
functional components, they are experiential, logical, inteipersonal and
textual. In this case, experiential and logical are closely related under
the heading of ideational. (Halliday, 1976;128)
Generic structure, textual structure (thematic and information) and
cohesion are three factors that can distinguish text from non text
(Halliday, 1976:135). Thematic term are not optional stylistic variants,
they are integral part of the meaning of a language. Texture is not
something that is achieved by superimposing an appropriate text form
on a preexisting ideational content. The textual component is a
component of meaning along with the ideational and interpersonal
components. Hence, a linguistic description not a progressive
specification of asset of structure one after the other, ideational then
interpersonal then textual, the systems act and finally recode it as a
text as some writing in philosophical linguistic seems to imply. The
generic structure is outside the linguistic system. It is language as the
projection of a higher-level semiotic structure. The concept of generic
structure can be brought within the general framework of the concept
of register. While cohesion is a semantic one; it refers to relations of
meaning that exist within the text, and that defines it as a text.
A text, is a semantic unit which is not composed of sentences but is
realized in sentences. A text is to the semantic system. It may be
characterized by certain lexicogrammatical features, just as a clause
may be characterized by certain phonological features, but this is not
making it a lexicogrammatical structure unit. (Halliday, 1976: 135). A
text is a sociological event a semiotic encounter through which the
meanings that constitute social system are exchanged. The essential
feature of text, therefore, is that it is interaction. The exchange of
meanings is an interactive process, and it is the means of exchange, in
order for the meaning which constitutes the social meaning and system
to be exchanged between the members they must first be represented
in some exchangeable symbolic form, and the most assessable of the
available forms is language. So, the meanings are encoded in the
semantics system and given the form of text.
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The context of situation may be totally remote from what is going
on round about during the act of speaking or of writing. The situation
type, in the sense of what Berstein refers to as a social context, this is
essentially a semiotic structure, (Halliday, 1976:109). It is a
constellation of meanings deriving from the semiotic system that
constitute the structure and culture. The situations consist of, the social
action; the roles structures; and the symbolic organization. We refer to
these by the terms "field, tenor and mode". Field, the selection of the
options in experiential system; Tenor, the selection of interpersonal
options; Mode, the selection of options in the textual system such as
those of theme, information and voice and also the selection of
cohesive pattern. (Halliday, 1976;143 )
Ngotonin Ritual in Bali
Ngotonin ritual can be classified into three levels of extravagance,
utama ceremonies are the largest, nista ceremonies, the smallest,
madia being the medium variety. Ngotonin ritual in this study belongs
to madia level. There are great piles of offering characterized this ritual
including : Banten byakala or prayascita, Banten dapetan, Sodaan,
Janganan aruan (aru-aru), Pengambean ali, Sambutan lebeng matah,
Canang Daksina, Banten kurana, Petebasan. It is very unique and
firmly tied to Hindu society because during the process of ritual it is
accompanied by deeply meaningful ceremonial stuffs and witnessed by
the family and relatives as well. One of the important rituals is
generally the officiatory natab and ngayab wafting. In this natab ritual
there must be prayers produced by the officiator who leads the ritual.
Before commencing the ritual, the officiator puts an offering as sodaan
in Padma shrine as dedicated to God accompanied by prayer as stated
in (D1) 1, 2 below; then she/he puts an offering as sodaan in Kemulan
shrine for the deified ancestors accompanied by prayers as in (D2); The
last prayer that will be taken as the data is natab prayer (D3)
(D1) Prayer in Padma shrine
Cls 1. nggih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ wetuan ipun
Cls. 2. titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Padma
(D2) Prayer in kemulan shrine
Cls 1a. nggih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ wetuan ipun
Cls 2a. titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida betara Hyang Guru
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(D3) Prayer in the natab wafting rites
Cls 1b. nggih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ wetuan ipun
Cls.2b titiyang ngaturang banten sorohan ring Ida sane numadi
Cls 3. Titiyang nunas sinampura kirang langkung aturan titiyang
ring ida sane numadi
Cls.4. Luas metalang,
Cls 5. mulih /matentengan.
Cls.6. Wat kawat balung besi
Cls.7. ayab sari, kobok ombak, kobok pasih , kobok danu, sarin
danu, sarin perahu,
Text Structure
By this term we will find clauses as messages. According to Halliday
(1985: 38), the one which gives the clause its character as a message is
known as thematic structure. He states that theme is the element which
serves as the point of departure of the message; that with which the
clause is concerned; and what the clause is going to be about. The
theme is not necessary for nominal group, it may also be adverbial
group or prepositional phrase. The reminder of the message, the part in
which the theme is developed, is called rheme.
Cls 1.1a,1b singgih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ (rahina)
wetuan ipun
Well today Monday pon matal (is) his birth
Circunstance: time Identifier Process: relational Identified
Adjunct Predicate Complement
____________________ _____________________________________
Theme
Rheme.
Cls.2 : Titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Padma
I give a small offering to Hyang Widhi (The God)
Actor Process: material Goal Beneficiary
Subject Predicate Complement (DO) Complement (IO)
____________________ _____________________________________
Theme
Rheme.
Cls.2a : Titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Hyang Guru
I give a small offering to Hyang Guru (deified ancestor)
Actor Process: material Goal Beneficiary
Subject Predicate Complement (DO) Complement (IO)
____________________ _____________________________________
Theme
Rheme.
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Cls 2b: Titiyang ngaturang banten sorohan ring Ida sane numadi
I give a pile of offering to reincarnated ancestor
Actor Process: material Goal Beneficiary
Subject Predicate Complement (DO) Complement (IO)
____________________ _____________________________________
Theme
Rheme.
Cls 3 Titiyang nunas sinampura kirang langkung aturan titiyang ring
Ida sane numadi
I apologise less more offering my to reincarnated ancestor
Actor Process: material Circumstance :resultative Beneficiary
Subject Predicate Complement (DO) Complement (IO)
____________________ _____________________________________
Theme
Rheme.
Cls.4.
Luas
metalang,
Leave home
Process :material
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
empty-handed
Goal
Complement
Cls. 5. mulih
Return home
Process : material
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
Cls.6. wat
Nerve
Goal
Subject
____________________
Rheme.
balung (aji)
bone
Goal
Subject
____________________
Theme
matengtengan.
full-handed
Goal
Complement
(aji)
kawat
(made of) wire
Process : material Goal
Predicate Complement
besi
made of
iron
Process : material Goal
Predicate Complement
__________________________
Rheme.
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
Cls7
ayab
sari
wafting
Process: material
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
essence
Goal
Complement
kobok
ombak
cross
Process: action
Predicate
wave
location
Complement
____________________
Rheme.
kobok
pasih
cross
Process: action
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
sea
location
Complement
kobok
danu,
cross
Process: action
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
lake
location
Complement
(alih)
sarin
(get) essence
Process: action
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
lake
Goal
Complement
danu,
(alih)
Sarin perahu,
(get)
Process: action
Predicate
____________________
Rheme.
essence boat
Goal
Complement
Functional Component of Semantic
According to Halliday (1978) there is a systemic correspondence
between the features of context of situation and the function of
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language. Each of the main areas of language function tends to be
determined or activated by one particular aspect of the situation. In
other words, the three features of the situation (field, tenor and mode)
are systematically related to the functions of language (ideational,
interpersonal and textual function). Field related to ideational function
and reflected in the experiential Meaning; tenor related to
interpersonal function and reflected in interpersonal meaning; mode
related to textual function and reflected in the textual meaning. Each
of the three functions of language will be discussed in the following
sections.
Field is Reflected in the Experiential Meaning
Field is related to the ideational function of language that is the
function of language to understand the environment, the aspect of
meaning of the clause as representation or a way of representing
patterns of experience. Halliday (1994) states that Language enables
human beings to build a mental picture of reality, to make sense of
what goes on around them and inside them so the clause plays a
central role, since it embodies a general principle for modelling
experience that is the principle that reality is made up of processes.
Experiences consist of “goings-on”- happening, doing, sensing, meaning
and becoming. All these goings-on are selected in the grammar of the
clause. The grammatical by which this is achieved is transitivity. The
transitivity system construes the world of experience into a manageable
set of process types. A process consists of three principle components,
they are: (i) the process itself; (ii) the participants in the process and
(iii) the circumstances associated with the process. The transitivity of
the “Ngotonin Text” can be seen in 2.2.
The type of process in clause 1 is relational process which is
unmarked in Balinese. It relates circumstance of time as participants
that is sane mangkin rahina Soma, Pon, Matal as identifier and wetuan
ipun, as identified token. The circumstance of time in this clause refers
to specific type of time used in Bali Hindu rituals. In Balinese calender,
a day is specified into “sapta wara” , “Panca wara”, and “Wuku” in
terms of this specification otonan comes every 210 days.
The Process in clause 2, 2a, 2b, is ngaturang (offer or give) it
belongs to material process which requires three participants that is an
Actor in this case , titiyang (I “ high level Variation” refering to the
speaker that is the officiator who led the ritual), a goal that is sodaan
alit (small offering) in clause 2, 2a; Banten “sorohan” (a pile of
offering) in clause 2b, and a beneficiary in clause 2, 2a which is
understood in this context, that is Ida betara Padma ‘God’ in clause 2,
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
Ida betara Hyang Guru, deified ancestor, in clause 2a, and reincarnated
ancestor in clause 2b. .
Clause 3 shows that the process nunas sinampura (apologise)
belongs to verbal process, titiyang as the sayer in this context is the
officiator who leads the ritual and Ida sane numadi ) as the beneficiery,
kirang langkung aturan titiyang as circumstance of resultative
The process in clause 4 is luas. It belongs to material process and
requires an Actor as a participant in this case the one who has the
“otonan”. Clause 5 shows that the process is mulih. It also belongs to
material process and requires an Actor as a participant in this case the
one who has the “otonan”. Clauses 4 and 5 belong to metaphors
because the meaning intended by the speaker is not similar to the
meaning of the lexical choices. The meaning intended is that the
officiator hopes that the one who has the otonan be successful in his
life.
Clause 6 ,Wat kawat balung besi is a metaphor since there is
incongruence between the meaning and the form that is wat ’nerve” is
never made of kawat ’wire’ and balung ‘bone’ is never made of besi ’
iron’. The participant in this clause is the one who has the “otonan”, he
or she never has nerve made of wire and bone made of iron. What is
meant here is that the officiator hopes that he or she be strong ,
healthy, and has long life. Clause 7 /ayab sari/, kebek ombak/, kebek
pasih/, sarinjong/, sarin perahu, kebek danu/ is a metaphor as well.
This clause is uttered by the officiator hoping that the one who has the
otonan gain lots of luck in his/her life. Most of the types of processes
involved in the text are material processes. They are the process of
doing which requires actors and goals as participants. The verbal
interaction among the participants are the social action as a whole. In
the data, Ngotonin Ritual Systems are materialised in the form
activities and actions of human being in carrying out their devotions to
the Supreme God, gods, ancestors’ spirits or other invisible beings, and
in their efforts to have contacts with God and the citizens of the
mystical, invisible places. The rituals and ceremonies are continuously
held. It can be daily, seasonally, or infrequently being related with
other activities such as doing prayer, bowing and kneeling down,
serving, sacrificing, eating together, chanting the praise, etc.
Tenor is Reflected in The Interpersonal Meaning
By the term of tenor we will find the role structure: who is taking part
to the nature of the participants, their status and roles : what kinds of
role relationship obtained among the participants, including permanent
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and temporary relationships of one kind or another, both types of
speech role that they are taking on in the dialogue and the whole
cluster of socially significant relationship in which they are involved.
Since the process mostly involved is material process with actor, goal
and beneficiery as the participants, the participants who are taking part
in this ngotonin ritual are : Officiator – Ida Betara Padma God and Ida
Betara Hyang Guru ‘deified ancestor relationship and Officiator –
person / anyone to whom the ritual is given and implisitly the
reincarnated ancestor in that person.
It is the component of the text that tends to activate the
interpersonal function in the semantic, representing the ‘participation’
function of language, the speaker as intruder in other word. It
functions to express the interrelationship between the participants.
Thus, tenor connected with the role relationship that determine the
selections in the system of mood (statement/command/interogative);
the system of modality and the system of person (the choice of 1st
person, 2nd person, 3rd person). These roles in a communication may
include: questioner, informer, responder, contradictor. The semantic
features of the text can be explained as the following:
1. Officiator leads the ritual, first dedicates the offering to God,
inform the ritual is being held to the God and the God supposed to
receive the offering and information about ngotonin ritual. In this
case the officiator is the leader of the ritual and act as the informer.
The information that will be identified by circumstances of the
process is wetuan ipun and related with circumstances of time as
identifier is sane mangkin rahina Soma, Pon, Matal ( See Cls
1,1a,1b below).
Cls 1.1a,1b singgih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ (rahina)
wetuan ipun
Well this time Monday pon matal (is) his birth
In this social process, offering prayers use High Language to show
appreciation dedicated to God and deified ancestor indicated by
address term Ida ‘honorable’ and toward oneself (the person to whom
the ritual being given) by address term ipun ‘ he/she’ and titiyang
‘ saya’ refers to the officiator who is leading the ritual. Thus, the
systems of mood and person, which are interpersonal systems in the
language, reflect very closely the officiator– God and deified ancestor relationship as well as the officiator– person relationship, in declarative
sentence.
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
The officiator express his idea through the H language of 1st person
‘titiyang’ ‘I’ to show that the officiatoris subpower position and Hyang
Widhi God and deified ancestor are superpower. He is the one who
knows the situation and inform the Hyang Widhi God and deified
ancestor in H language, epressed in the mood of declarative as given in
the folowing clauses :
Cls 1.1a,1b singgih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ (rahina)
wetuan ipun
Well this time Monday pon matal (is) his birth
Cls.2 : titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Padma
I give a small gift to Hyang Widhi God
Cls.2a : titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Hyang Guru
I give a small gift to Hyang Guru(deified ancestor)
Cls 2b: titiyang ngaturang banten sorohan ring Ida sane numadi
I give a pile of offering to reincarnated ancestor
Cls 3 Titiyang / nunas sinampura / antuk kirang langkung aturan
titiyang / ring Ida sane numadi
I apologize more or less of my offering to reincarnated ancestor
Hyang Widhi God, Hyang Guru (deified ancestor) and the family
reincarnated ancestors, is the recipient of the information and the gift
in the form of offering. The offering is valuable things to show great
appreciation to God. This religious emotion brings people to possessing
religious attitude, i.e. a religious emotion manifested in ‘fears,
amazement, and belief’ towards ‘magical or mystical and sacred things’
and believes in God. Logically, this attitude is hardly explained for it is
out of humans’ capability, and for it makes difference with the other
societies’ social system of culture
2. The relationship between the officiator– person / anyone to whom
the ritual is given is expressed by low language in the mood of
imperative.
Cls7 :
ayab
sari
wafting
essence
kobok
ombak
cross
wave
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kobok
pasih
cross
sea
kobok
danu
cross
lake
(alih)
sarin danu,
(get)
essence lake
(alih)
sarin perahu,
(get)
essence boat
This relationship shows the belief system of a religion is shaped
into humans’ thoughts and ideas covering the God’s attitude, the form
of mystical life and place, the creation of the world, the world
hereafter, and the appearance of the soul, invisible creatures,
ancestors, gods, etc. Additionally, belief cannot be untied from the
religious values and norms systems, ethics teachings, and the other
doctrines organizing humans’ life.
Mode is Reflected in the Textual Meaning
The third feature of context of situation is what is called mode. By this
term we will find the symbolic organization: what role language is
playing refers; to what part the language is playing. What it is that the
participants are expecting the language to do for them, in that
situation; the symbolic organization of the text, the status that it has
and its function in the context; including the channel [ it is spoken or
written or some combination of the two ] and also the rhetorical mode,
what is being achieved by the text in terms of such categories as
persuasive, expository, didactic and the like.
When the officiator is making an offer and giving information that
there will be ngotonin ritual given to anyone (the person that is given
the ritual) indicated by material process ngaturang ‘give’, then the
theme is talking about the the officiator of the ritual –that is identified
by unmarked theme ‘titiyang’ and talking about the related time when
the ritual take place, indicated by “ sane mangkin, rahina soma Pon
Matal.(See 2.1, clause 1, 2, and 3). Those clauses have participants, the
person (the implicit officiator characterised by Pronoun ‘titiyang’), the
believable God and deified ancestor, Ipun ( the person who is given the
Ngotonin ritual).
The texture of a text is provided by the cohesion relation: reference
(personal reference, demonstrative reference, and comparative
reference); substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical cohesion
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
Halliday ( 1985: 72). The cohesion relation found in this study is as the
following:
References
Cls.2 : titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Padma
I give a small offering to Ida Betara Padma (God)
I offer a small offering to Ida Betara Padma (God).
Ida (He)‘honorific‘(cataforic ) refers to Betara Padma (God)
Titiyang (I) refers to the officiator
Cls.2a : titiyang ngaturang sodaan alit ring Ida Betara Hyang Guru
I give a small offering to Ida Betara Hyang Guru (deified ancestor)
I offer a small offering to Ida Betara Hyang Guru (deified
ancestor).
Ida (He) ‘honourific (cataforic) refers to Betara Hyang Guru
(deified ancestor)
Titiyang (He) refers to the officiator(officiator)
Cls 2b: titiyang ngaturang banten sorohan ring Ida sane numadi
I give a pile of offering to reincarnated ancestor
I offer a pile of offering to reincarnated ancestor.
Ida (He) ‘honorific (cataforic) refers to sane numadi (the
reincarnated person)
Titiyang (He) refers to the officiator
Cls 1.1a,1b singgih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ wetuan
ipun
Well this time (now) Monday pon matal (is) his birth
Well, today is Monday pon metal, his/ her birthday
Ipun (He/She) ‘humble’ (cataforic) refers to .anyone being given
the otonan ritual
(2) Demonstrative reference
Cls 1.1a,1b singgih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ wetuan ipun
Well this time (now) Monday pon matal (is) his birth
Well, today is Monday pon metal, his/ her birthday.
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sane Mangkin ‘this time’( now) refers to ‘soma pon matal’(Monday
pon Matal)
(3) Comparative reference
Cls 3 Titiyang nunas sinampura kirang langkung aturan titiyang ring
Ida sane numadi
I apologise more or less of my offering to reincarnated ancestor
I apologise for my approximate offering to reincarnated ancestor
Kirang ‘less’ refers to aturan titiyang (my offering)
Langkung ‘more’ refers to aturan titiyang (my offering)
(4) Ellipsis and Substitution
(a) Nominal ellipsis
Cls 1.1a,1b singgih sane mangkin rahina ‘soma pon matal’ (rahina)
wetuan ipun
Well this time Monday pon matal (is) (day) birth his
Well, today is Monday pon metal, his/ her birthday.
(rahina) ‘day’ is deleted
Cls.4. (Ipun) Luas metalang,
(He/she) leave home empty-handed
He/She leaves home empty handed.
Cls. 5. (Ipun) mulih matentengan.
He/She return home full-handed
He/ She returns home full-handed.
Cls.6. wat (Ipun) (aji) kawat
Nerve (his/her) (made of) iron
His/Her nerves are made of iron.
balung (Ipun) (aji) besi
bone (his/her) (made of) iron
His/ner bones are made of iron.
Cls7 : (Ipun) ngayab sari
(He/She) wafting essence
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
He/She is wafting the essence.
(Ipun) kobok ombak
(He/She) cross wave
He/She crosses the wave.
(Ipun) kobok danu,
(He/She) cross lake
He/She crosses the lake.
(Ipun) kobok pasih
(He /She) cross sea
He/She crosses the sea.
(Ipun) (ngalih) sarin danu,
He/She (get) essence lake
He/She gets many fish.
(Ipun) (ngalih) Sarin perahu,
He/She (Get) essence boat
He/She gets many fish.
Ipun ‘His/her’ in clause 1, 1a, 1b, and 6 is the person to whom the
ritual is dedicated is deleted from the sentence
Ipun ‘ He/She’ in clause 4, 5, 7 is the person to whom the ritual is
dedicated is deleted from the sentence
(b) Verbal Ellipsis
Cls.6. wat (Ipun) (aji) kawat
Nerve (his/her) (made of) iron
His/Her nerve is made of iron.
balung (Ipun) (aji) besi
bone (his/her) (made of) iron
His/ner bones are made of iron.
(Ipun)
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(ngalih) sarin danu,
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He/She
(get) essence lake
He/She gets many fish.
(Ipun) (ngalih) sarin perahu,
He/She (Get) essence boat
He/She gets many fish.
Verb aji and ngalih in clause 6 are delated from the sentence.
(c) Substitution
Cls 7: ngayab sari
(sane mangkin ipun natab) sari
In the sentence above clause (sane mangkin ipun natab)
deleted and substituted with ngayab ‘wafting’ .
5. Lexical Cohesion
a. same referent : sane mangkin and rahina soma pon matal and
wetuan
banten sorohan and aturan and sodaan
Ida and Betara Padma
Ida and Betara Hyang Guru
Ida and sane numadi
b. repetition:
singgih – singgih
mangkin – mangkin
soma pon matal - soma pon matal
ngaturang – ngaturang
ring – ring
ida - ida
ipun – ipun
rahina – rahina - rahina
titiyang – titiyang
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
sari-sarin-sarin
danu – danu
kobok – kobok
The text texture is manifested by certain kinds of
semantic relation between its individual message. The property
of texture is related to the listener’s perception of coherence
(Hasan, 1985:72). The ngotonin ritual which is not only
informed through the material process ngaturang ‘give’,
participants and theme but the texture also have semantic
relation between individual message through Personal reference
(cataforic) clause 2; Demonstrative reference in clause 1.1a,1b;
Comparative reference in clause 3; Nominal ellipsis in clause
1.1a,1b clause 4, clause 5, and clause 6; Verbal Ellipsis in clause
6; Substitution in clause 7; Lexical Cohesion : a. same referent,
b. repetition.
The officiator is the one who masters and leads the ritual and gives
information to the God and Ida Betara Hyang Guru (deified ancestor)
that there is a ngotonin ritual taking place at the moment. The
language expressed in the mood of declarative implisitely informs the
God, Ida betara Hyang Guru ‘deified ancestor’ and reincarnated
ancestors in H language to witness the ritual (see clause 1, 1a, 1b, 2,
2a, 2b, in 2.1) . The declarative form in clause 3 used to apologise for
being mistaken in the process of ngotonin ritual . The use of persuasive
language in the form of metaphorical expression to show a great
expectation for anyone (being given the otonan ritual) blessing ,
prosperity, protection, as well as strength. ( see clause 4, 5, 6, and 7 in
2.1).
Conclusion
Ngotonin ritual is very unique and firmly tied to Hindu belief because
during the process it is accompanied by deeply meaningful ceremonial
stuffs and forms of discourse. Besides, this also becomes the reflection
of Balinese culture and the identity symbol of particular ethnic groups.
In addition, language is seen as the conduit as well as the means to
transfer and conserve the cultural values of a society from generation
to generation. From its context of situation, Ngotonin ritual has a
deeply religious emotion – not only a form of human effort to
protect an individual and rinse the darkness of their thoughts
out, but also elaborate purification ceremonies.
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Process types indicated by process material show that there must
be an offering dedicated to activities and actions of human being in
carrying out their devotions to the Supreme God, gods, ancestors’
spirits or other invisible beings, and in their efforts to have contacts
with God and the citizens of the mystical, invisible places. The rituals
and ceremonies are continuously held every six months being related
to other activities such as praying, bowing and kneeling down, and
natab wafting rites.
Participants in the ritual are the officiator - Ida betara Padma
(God), Ida betara Hyang Guru ‘deified’ God and reincarnated ancestor
in the person having has otonan ritual, can be seen from their role as
an actor that is the officiator who informs Ida betara Padma (God), Ida
betara Hyang Guru ‘deified’ God and the reincarnated, is the recipient
of the information (indicated by material process, ngaturang, the gift in
the form of offering. The offering is valuable things to show great
appreciation to God. This religious emotion that brings people to
possessing religious attitude, i.e. a religious emotion manifested in
‘fears, amazement, and belief’ towards ‘magical or mystical and sacred
things’ and believes in God.
Text texture prayers manifested by certain kinds of semantic
relation between its individual message. The property of texture is
related to the listener’s perception of coherence (Hasan, 1985:72). The
ngotonin ritual which is not only informed through the material
process, ngaturang ‘give’, participants and theme but the texture also
has a semantic relation between individual message through Personal
reference (cataforic) clause 2; Demonstrative reference in clause
1.1a,1b; Comparative reference in clause 3; Nominal ellipsis in clause
1.1a,1b clause 4, clause 5, clause 6; Verbal Ellipsis clause 6;
Substitution in clause 7; Lexical Cohesion : (a). same referent, (b).
repetition.
The language expressed in the mood of declarative implicitly
informs the God, Ida betara Hyang Guru ‘deified ancestor’ and
reincarnated ancestors in H language to witness the ritual The
declarative form in clause 3 used to apologise for being mistaken (if
any) in the process of ngotonin ritual. The use of persuasive language
in the form of metaphorical expressions is to show a great expectation
for anyone (being given the otonan ritual): the blessing , prosperity,
protection, as well as strength.
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I Made Rajeg, Luh Putu Laksminy and Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati
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