TB Culture TB Language and Culture

From functional aspect, there is only a few studies made. Pardede 1994 investigated the use of Umpama in adat ceremony. Simbolon 1981 discusses about kinship communication in Toba Batak culture. Sihombing 1989 wrote about Words used in Adat activity. A study on language in relation to culture has been done by some writers such as, a description of traditional expression Umpama, Umpasa which is concerning with adat ceremony Situmorang, 1983 Siahaan 1982 wrote about a principal and its process in Adat Dalihan Natolu. In his book, he touched about the process of Marhata talking. He introduced two terms concerning with the process of talking, they are: Panukkun and Pangalusi. Panukkun refers to one who starts a conversation by questioning, and Pangalusi refers to one who answers the question. Sianipar 1991 talked about language script and traditional expression Umpasa of Toba Batak. He divided Batak language in three daily languages, adat language, language for science and religion, and language for monk. He listed four different words for ear: for daily use, it is called Pinggol, for adat activity, it is Sipareon, for religion activity, it is Siparbinege, and for monk activity, it is Sipanangi.

2.6.2 TB Culture

The real culture of Toba Batak, as a matter of fact, lies on three matrix system called “Dalihan Natolu”, meaning “The Three Stones”. Dalihan Natolu is a kind of stove which consists of three stones. These stones support a pan under which a fire is Universitas Sumatera Utara made to heat the water inside the pan. The three stones symbolize the three main parts of Toba Batak family : Dongan Sabutuha, a term which represents the son and his wife as well as his relatives under one sub-clan, Boru, a term representing the daughter and her husband as well as her relatives under one sub-clan, and Hula-hula is a term representing the wive and all her relatives. In adat interaction the presence of these three groups is a must, and in everyday conversation the topic of kinship which is related with this systerm is often presented. Harahap and Siahaan 1987:23 observed that the characteristic of Toba Batak culture lies on Dalihan Natolu. This is true, for when one is involved in social interaction she is not separeted from the social position which is derived from family system under the three basic devisions of the social standing Dongan Sabutuha, Boru, Hula-Hula. The term Dongan Sabutuha “friends of the same womb”, meaning that every one who has the same sub-clan marga from the male side of the family represents the mentioned term. Hula-hula refers to wife’s families such as uncle, father- in-law, and those treated under the same line. Boru “female” means the daughter’s family and her relatives. Each of Toba Batak has the same opportunity to be Hula-Hula, Dongan Sabutuha, or Boru Rajamarpodang, 1992: 61. This is related to the activity held when there is a marriage. One who holds the activity is considered the centre of ceremony and he will represent Suhut “host”. This Suhut corresponds to the term Dongan Sabutuha, as he, his sons and those that have the same sub-clan or which are parallel to it, so that they belong to one group of Dongan Sabutuha. One will be treated as Hula-Hula if his daughter is taken as a wife by the other sub-clan. Boru acts as those Universitas Sumatera Utara who take the responbsibility of all work concerning with consumption and other logistic preparation. The philosophy such as, Somba Marhula-hula ‘respective to hula-hula’ ; Manat Mardongan tubu ‘care to Dongantubu’, and Elek Marboru ‘persuasive to Boru, are intertwined that make them as all for one and one for all, that still resist now. Manat mardongan tubu means that Toba Batak of the same marga should keep the friendliness among them. In other words, they should be careful in terms of how one behaves with the other, because when their sons or daughters get manrried they cooperated to cover the cost spent in the activity. If they are quarreling, the activity that has been planned may be postponed. Elek marboru means that when there is an activity, boru will take much responsibility in preparing things concerned with the job descriptions in the activity. Boru should arrange everythings from the beginning so that the ceremony can be started anytime it is intended to start by the suhut and the hula- hula. With this responsibility, the suhut as the holder of the activity should behave in a persuading way to boru, because if boru, refused to take part in the activity, it would be meaningless. In other words, the decision made will be useless. So, boru should be persuaded in such a way that the procedures run well and sound decisions are made. The socialization of dalihan natolu, including marga sub-clan, family system, and the clan relation, has been regarded as the basic primordial education of the etnic group Harahap and Siahaan, 1987. It means that Toba Batak people build friendship and other social relations based on marga. Each marga has the posistion as hula-hula, dongan sabutuha, and boru. When for example, marga Pardede whose wife is from Universitas Sumatera Utara marga Pasaribu, met a Batak male whose marga is also Pasaribu, the Pardede would call the Pasaribu his hula-hula. When he meets marga Panjaitan, whose wife is marga Pardede male, he will call him boru. The practice of this dalihan natolu can be seen in the activity, which is called uloan adat custom ceremony. In Toba Batak culture, there is a term, Manghatai, pronounced as makkatai which is concerned with a face-to-face interaction practiced wheather in institutional or ordinary talk or conversation. This study concerns with ordinary conversation. In adat conversation the traditional expressions are used as a tool to bridge the gap which emerges, and to base the decisions made on the reflected norms in umpama Sihombing, 1989. Parhata speakers from both sides are appointed to be their representatives. So, both suhut and hulahula have their own speakers who had been selected before hand. Everything dealing with materials used supplementary to the activity is prepared by boru. These materials are used as symbols which are addressed to those who are legitimately supposed to receive them. They can be in the shape of meat, ulos Batak blanket or money. The distribution of this is always followed by the use of traditional expression. Marriage and funeral are two of the most important activities in Toba Batak ceremony. Dalihan Natolu functions as determining the position, rights, and obligation of people or groups in the social interaction including marriages and funerals. Other than this, it also funtions as the basis for making decisions in a democratic way, especially when the ceremony takes place. The elements of Dalihan Natolu, like Dongan Sabutuha suhut, Hula-hula, and Boru, can not be separated from any adat Universitas Sumatera Utara ceremony. For example, in a marriage, the sitting position of each of the participant is fixed according to the place where the activity takes place. If it takes place indoor a house or building, the position of Suhut will be at the right side of the house, while Hula-hula will face Suhut. Boru sits at the left of Suhut, and at the position of front door in between those who are invited take their positions. The same thing is done in funeral activity. The difference here is that in the middle lies the body. The component of Toba Batak marriage ceremonies are all the talks which occur in each of the various processes such as Marhusip whispering, Marhata Sinamot talking about the marriage costdowry talk, Martuppol confirmationpremarriage, and Marunjuk wedding. Dalihan Natolu is the means of implementation of all the processes in the marriage. In a funeral ceremony too, in which one of the processes is Tonggo Raja Kingly meeting, the ceremony contains an obligation to invite Bius King of adat according to the system of Dalihan Natolu. This activity is meant to reach confirmation about what to do based on the opinion, comments, and advise of the eldest in the funeral ceremony. A funeral in Toba Batak reflects a belief that there will be a life beyond that Rajamarpodang, 1992. In this case Dalihan Natolu is seen as the representative for giving blessings so that the body will be accepted in heaven. As representative, Dalihan Natolu is considered a bridge, before the blessing from the priest. Universitas Sumatera Utara

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses Research Design, Location of Research, Data, Data Analysis, and Validity.

3.1 Research Design

A descriptive qualitative design is used in this study. A qualitative research refers to the meanings, concept, definitions, characteristics, metaphors, symbol, and description of things Berg, 1989:2. Berg noted that the word quality refers to the what, how, when, and where, and where of a thing-its essence and ambience. Concerning with the research being done, some of those procedures are applied as what to be observed are people interaction in conversation. The researcher can observe what are involved in the interaction, when, where, and how people interact. Bogden and Biklen 1983 formulated the following characteristics of qualitative research 1 It has natural setting, 2 The qualitative researches tend to analyze the data inductively, and 3 Meanings are of essential concerns in qualitative research. Natural setting in this study refers to spontaneous conversation conducted by people in houses, markets, and coffee counters. The approach used in this research is Conversation Analysis CA proposed by Sacks, Schegloff, and Jafferson 1974. CA enables us to analyze the recurring patterns in conversation and to find the ordeliness as well as the turn-by-turn of interaction. In 44 Universitas Sumatera Utara