Existence of Banyumasan Javanese Language in Digital Era

Abstract

This research examines whether Banyumasan Javanese Language is still commonly used in the current digital era, both in daily interaction and in interaction through digital media. The national language of the Republic of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia. Besides the national language, local languages are usually used by local people in a country according to the people’s ethnicities. The local language used by local people is also called the first language. There are about 719 local languages throughout Indonesia. In Java, some local languages are used in specific regions and have their uniqueness as the form of local people’s local wisdom. One of the existing local languages in Java is Banyumasan Javanese Language, also known as Penginyongan Language or Basa Ngapak, used in Banjarnegara, Purbalingga, Banyumas, Cilacap, Kebumen and surroundings (Barlingmascakeb). Many researchers have reported that their speakers slowly abandoned local languages because of migration, the young generation’s reluctance to use the local language, and lack of pride in first language factors. A UNESCO report states that nearly 1,500 ethnic languages are becoming extinct every day. Using a quantitative approach, this research randomly took the respondents, constituting Banyumasan language speakers from some regencies. The data were collected through questionnaires that were distributed online. The collected data were analyzed using a descriptive statistics technique. The research results show that Banyumasan Javanese Language started to be abandoned by its main speakers and their descendants, both in family communication and online activities on the internet and social media communication.