The Language Attitudes of the Community Members Towards Their Local Language, Konjonese of Bulukumba, Indonesia

Abstract

The study reported here aims to figure out the language attitudes of the community members of the Konjonese language, a minority language in the Bulukumba Regency of South Sulawesi Indonesia. It involves three villages of sub-district Bonto Tiro; Batang, Bonto Bulaeng, and Tamalanrea. The study is descriptive quantitative assigning two independent variables; the age group comprising three categories; teenagers, adults, and the olds. The educational background consists of two groups; the less-educated, and well-educated groups. Data were obtained from 45 respondents through questionnaires and additional data were obtained from field observation and interviewing the villages figures such as the village heads, teachers, and religious leaders. The study identified four contributing factors as the skeletal bones of language attitudes; high appreciation to their local language, pride in using their local language, open-mindedness to everyone, and modesty. The study then concluded that the Konjonese language is developed and growing and as such it is relatively safe from endangerment due to the positive attitudes of the community members. A language shift is occurring in the community because of the increased use of the Indonesian language in the community. However, this is not alarming as the community members possess those skeletal bones protecting them from shifting their local language to the other language, including the Indonesian language, from their genuine and natural domains like homes, neighborhood, and the likes. Rather, it results in a stable bilingual for the community