Folklore as a Tool to Naturally Learn and Maintain Sasak Language

as Mother Tongue

Nuriadi

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Mataram, Majapahit Street No.62, Mataram

Keywords: Folklore, Maintenance, Sasak Language, Mother Tongue.

Abstract: This paper discusses the role of function of Sasak folklore, especially verbal folklores, in teaching and

maintaining Sasak language naturally. ‘Sasak’ is a name of an ethnic group exisiting in Lombok island

using Sasak language as mother tongue. Based on qualitative research, Sasak people is usually ‘planting’

(teaching) the Sasak language as their mother tongue through folklore, especially verbal Sasak folklores.

Those are such as: pinje panje, children playing songs (elate), lullabying songs (bedede), or story telling

(waran). This activity mostly happens in informal form in any kind of occasions. This phenomenon is

usually undergone by mothers to their children or by other children to their friends in their own

communities. Hence, it is also found that this model of learning is very effective in maintaining the Sasak

language as mother tongue and Sasak culture. Finally, based on the research, most of the informants

acknowledge that they still well remember all the folklores they played in childhood. They even still love

their Sasak backgrounds. Therefore, Sasak folklore is a good tool in naturally teaching and/or maintaining

Sasak language.

1 INTRODUCTION

Language is as a culture and identity as well for each

of ethnic group (Sairin, 2010). It is said as ‘culture’

because its existence becomes a part of living

character, system of knowledge, and system of

behavior which are all expressed together with the

language. It is said as ‘identity’ because the

language can make one ethnic group to be identified

as the one that is different from other groups and in

this case the language serves as a distinctive sign for

that ethnic group when it is among other groups.

Even the name of certain language functions as the

name of the ethnic group. For instance, people who

speak Sasak language will be easily identified to be

members of Sasak ethnic group when they are

among Javanese, Sundanese, or Balinese people.

The language automatically tells people that the

speakers are Sasak people who are natives in

Lombok island. In other words, an identity of certain

ethnic group goes hand in hand with the language

used by the group. It then posits in a very central and

crucial for one ethnic group’s existence. It serves a

firm sign for the group.

The language used as culture and identity for the

existence of one ethnic group is actually mostly

taking a role as mother-tongue for that group. It is

embedded, according to Sairin (2010), in the vein of

the real users and functions as a determinant

wherever and whenever they are. Mother tongue

can be said as a language which is naturally

introduced, taught, transferred, and used firstly by

parents, especially a mother, to their children. The

language is then used dominantly in one family as a

daily communicative medium. Here, the language

usage is supported by other members of family, and

it can also be developed with the help of the

surrounding or social community where the family is

living. The process goes very naturally as like

people do their lives without any designs as what we

mostly find in teaching-learning process in formal

education.

In that context, the learning process of mother

tongue can happen due to three actors involved

actively, namely: (1) learning by mother, (2)

learning by father and other members of family, and

(3) learning by communal people where the family

is living. These three actors can do the natural

learning of language to the children all at once in

simultaneously and continuously process as well as

in long term of time. All have important roles for

that natural learning process of mother tongue

918

Nuriadi, .

Folklore as a Tool to Naturally Learn and Maintain Sasak Language as Mother Tongue.

DOI: 10.5220/0007554009180926

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference Postgraduate School (ICPS 2018), pages 918-926

ISBN: 978-989-758-348-3

language. Once the process is going on, the language

is really planting naturally. The process is therefore

said also as a natural cultivation of language to

young generation. In this regard, all values

embedded in the language are included to be

cultivated or planted so that the language together

with the values serves as a foundation for the

children’s knowledge systems in their thoughts and

mentality. According to me, the natural learning

process described above is occurred and going on in

all ethnic groups throughout the world as a

formulaic model. This model serves as natural

process for human beings’ lives in sense of language

acquisition.

This fact is therefore also happening in Sasak

ethnic group living dominantly in Lombok island, a

small island in the east of Bali island, in Indonesia.

The process mostly happens in rural people, in

particular. Interestingly, the natural learning process

of Sasak language as mother tongue for the children

is done through specific way and/or media, that is,

through the involvement of folklores. The three

actors, metioned above, involve in the process by

introducing any suitable kinds of folklores. To

mention some, those are like indigenous songs,

riddles, and or folktales using Sasak language. Those

folklores appear very apperent when a mother is

lullabying a baby or when group of children are

playing together (Nuriadi, 2016).

Therefore, this paper is going to propose some

facts of the natural learning and maintainance of

Sasak language as mother tongue. In this case, it is

going to be performed what kinds of folklores are

dominantly used as medium of the natural learning

for Sasak children. Besides, this paper intends to

discuss significances of using those folklores in

terms of supporting the learning and strengthening

process of Sasak language as mother tongue of

Sasak people in Lombok. It is really assumed that

those folklores serve as a very effective medium for

cultivating and maintaining the language as mother

tongue, besides serving as real identity for Sasak

people after they are grown up regardless of the fact

wherever and whenever they are living..

2 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDY

Folklore is looked as literature and or literary work

(Abrams, 1988; Nuriadi, 2016). Folklore is

etymologically coming from the word ‘folk’ and

‘lore’ (Dundes,1965; Danandjaja, 2002). Both words

are interdependent one another in giving a united

meaning in terms of folklore. ‘Folk’ refers to a

group of population and means ‘collective’ as well.

It therefore means a collection of individuals or

society which are initially assumed as savages or

uncivilized ones. In the meantime, the term ‘lore’

refers to a tradition belong to that group of people or

individuals (folk). In this regard, lore can be like

any kinds of tradition, literatures, arts, laws,

behaviors, and any things that are resulted in by the

group of people as long as they come out as

collective belongings.

More concretely, according to Brunvand (1978:

29) and Danandjaja (2002), folklore can be

categorized into three forms, namely: (1) oral or

verbal folklore, (2) partly verbal folklore, and

nonverbal folklore. These three forms of folklore

can be manifesting themselves into three kinds, that

are: (1) in the form of oral and verbal ones

(mentifacts), (2) in the form of kinesiologic ones like

tradition and sociofacts, and (3) in the form of

materials or artefacts. Related to this catagory, the

form or kind of folklores that are discussed in this

paper is the first one, the oral or verbal folklore. This

folklore can be like folk speech such as dialect,

nickname, phrase, traditional sentence, legend, myth

(in Sasak it is known as waran), folk song,

traditional playing songs, riddles, and so forth.

Besides, there are several studies which have had

focuses on the folklores as the material objects of

study. The studies really see that Sasak folklores are

positioned as local literary works of Sasak people.

To mention some of those studies are (1) Nuriadi

(2016) through his paper entitled A Study of Sasak

Folklore: An Effort to Define Sasak Ethnic Group

Being Close to Nature; (2) Nursehan’s thesis (2014)

entitled Texts of Lullabying Songs in Sasak Society:

A Study of the Form, Function, and Relevance to the

Learning of Elementary Students (Teks Lagu

Bedede dalam Masyarakat Sasak: Analisis Bentuk,

Fungsi, Makna, dan Relevansinya terhadap

Pembelajaran Sastra di Sekolah Dasar); (3) Lale

Zahrotul Warthy’s thesis (2014) entitling Texts of

Sasak Traditional Playing Songs: A Study of Form,

function, and Meaning as Development medium for

Character Education on Early Year Chidren (Teks

Nyanyian Permainan Tradisional Sasak: Kajian

Bentuk, Fungsi, dan Makna sebagai Pengembangan

dalam Pendidikan Karakter Anak Usia Dini di

Taman Kanak-Kanak); and (4) Ahmad Fauzan’s

thesis (2013) entitled Mytology of Sasak Originality,

Structural Analysis on Sasak Thoughts (Mitologi

Asal Usul Orang Sasak, Analisis Struktural

Pemikiran Orang Sasak dalam Tembang Doyan

Neda).

Folklore as a Tool to Naturally Learn and Maintain Sasak Language as Mother Tongue

919

Four of the works are dealing with Sasak local

literary works or Sasak folklores such as song lyrics

or texts, Doyan Neda story, and children’s playing

songs by means of literary critical theories and

teaching-learning theories. Nuriadi’s paper, for

instance, talks much about Sasak folklore in context

of how Sasak folklores can be a mimetic tool toward

the Sasak culture and/or tradition, and interestingly

those folklores confirm that Sasak people are very

close and dependent on nature in their lives.

Nursehan’s thesis then studies song texts in relation

to its form and function in Sasak society so that it

can be used as lullabying songs for babies. Lale

Zahrotul Warthy’s thesis analyzes the texts of

traditional playing songs as its major material object

and tries to find out the form and function of the

songs in Sasak society. Both studies then try to

relate their analyses with whether or not there are

relevances with teaching learning material projects

in formal educational institutions, particularly for

playgroup students or elementary students.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Fauzan’s thesis endeavors to

seek out the originality of Sasak people by using

theory of Levi Strauss structuralism. In this study,

Fauzan finally braves to say that Sasak people, in

fact, come from various ethnic groups. Sasak people

are actually in the form of assimilation of many

ethnic groups who once imigrated and lived in

Lombok island. Those groups, to mention some, are

Javanese, Bugis Makassar, Madura, Bali, Malayan,

and so on. However, in spite of their original

ancestors, Sasak people have unique traditon and

language, different from their springs.

In lieu of the four studies proposed above, this

paper certainly has different focus when compared

to the previous ones. If those studies analyze Sasak

local literary works or folklores in several

perspectives by using different theories, this paper

tends to focus its analysis in terms of how those

folklores can be a medium for “cultivating” and

“maintaining” (natural learning) the Sasak language

as well as the embbeded values within it as mother

tongue for Sasak people, especially in Sasak

children. In other words, this paper really assumes

that the folklores have a significant role in providing

understanding and learning for Sasak people so that

Sasak language can grow up and develop as mother

tongue for Sasak people, although the Indonesian

language and foreign languages have already grown

up very fastly in Sasak people. Here, Sasak language

can be maintained due to the pride owned by Sasak

people. This happens due to the initial process done

by Sasak people, that is, cultivating it naturally

through many kinds of indigenous folklores.

3 FINDING AND DISCUSSION

There are many kinds of folklores, especially the

verbal folklores, that can be found in Sasak

communities. To mention some, the Sasak folklores

are like pinje panje, children’s traditional playing

songs (ngelate/elate), lawas, sesenggak, and myth or

waran. Those verbal foklores have been developing

from one generation to other generation, since a very

long time ago. They mostly function as parts of

Sasak tradition as well as “intertaining media” for

Sasak people. Nobody knows for sure, including me

myself as an indegenous person of Sasak, who and

when those verbal foklores were made. It can be an

imitation from other ethnic group. It can be purely

made by Sasak people. Nobody really knows for

sure. However, since those folklores use Sasak

language as a medium of expression, they can finally

be owned and ditermined as Sasak folklores. Also,

the embbeded values contained within the folklores

are compatible with Sasak tradition and philosophy.

Therefore, these verbal folklores are found to be

very useful in “cultivating” Sasak language as well

as the values for all Sasak people, especially the

Sasak young generation.

The learning and/or cultivating process for Sasak

language as mother tongue is in fact conducted

through natural process. It means that it is done

without plan and design as what we often find in

teaching process at a formal educational institution.

It happens spontaneously. It is done then with

‘hearts’, or with the enjoyment. It means that the

people who use those verbal folklores are doing a

kind of folk game. They are playing together or in a

group in full of laughs and shrieks of joyment. They

really know each other. They are in intimate

friendship. Above all, they are all speaking Sasak

language as their native language. It means the

content of one verbal folklore is definitely

understood. Even, they all have been familiar with

that folklore. This fact is quite occurred when the

folk songs, pinje panje (riddles), waran, or

traditional plyaing songs, lelakaq, are played

together by the Sasak children. In fact, the process of

natural learning is going on without any restriction

and obstraction in terms of the lackness of

knowledge among members. If say one member

does not really master one verbal folklore, other

children will help them to learn and master it very

fastly. Beyond the performance, the Sasak language

is then automatically inserted to mind and hearts of

the doers. It comes more deeply into the mental

world of the Sasak children together with all kinds

of folklores and the plays. Therefore, Sasak

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language is really and really mastered, or it has

become a part of their fleshes. The fact of natural

learning described above is the natural learning

conducted in open area or communal place.

Besides, the natural learning can also happens in

domestic or indoor place and being conducted by

limited people. Sasak people doing this kind of

process is mostly between parents (mother or father)

to their children or between one older brother to

younger brothers or sisters. This process goes very

naturally, mostly happened in leasure times. The

verbal folklores that mostly used when the process is

done in a domestic place are Sasak folk songs,

pewaranan (story telling a story), singing lullabying

songs (bedede songs), and so on. They do this

process by using Sasak language. The language that

they commonly use in their daily communication

process and activity.

In consequence, the language becomes the Sasak

children’s episteme and pride. It means, beyond the

Sasak language used as mother tongue, they also

show their own construct of thought, pride, and

culture. Therefore, after Sasak people are grown up

and even old, they interestingly still remember any

terms and expressions used and appeared when they

had and played those folklores. They even long for

those moments to be happened again. Beyond this

fact, their Sasak language is still maintained very

strongly. It means that the natural learning of Sasak

language as mother tongue is definitely successful.

If fact, there are 20 old Sasak people (Table 1)

(more or less between 50 until 60 years old) being

interviewed in this case (see the Table below), and

based on that interview, there are 98% of those

informants saying that they really love the moments

and want the moment back again, and only 0.02%

that have forgotten the folklores though they really

wish to have that moment again. And interestingly,

in spite of being fluent in speaking Indonesian

language or even foreign languages, they still speak

Sasak language very fluently and most of terms or

verbal expressions of folklores are still remembered

well. And interestingly again, they also teach ‘the

same moment’ to their son or daughter even to their

grandchildren. They acknowledge it as an inheritage

of their ancestors.

Henceforth, most of the Sasak verbal folklores

that are mostly and commonly used and played or

performed and still well remembered by the

informants are folk songs (lawas), myth (waran),

traditional playing songs, and riddles (pinje panje).

Those three verbal are as follows:

Table 1: Data of informants and opinions on childhood

situation and folklores.

3.1 Folk Song (Lawas)

Here are the examples of the riddles (pinje panje)

that are commonly played or sung by the Sasak

people.

a. Ado anakku mas mirah

Buaq ate kembang mate

Mule tulenku bantelin

Sintung jari salon angin

Berembe bae side dinde side jangke ngene

Kembang mate kelepangne isiq angin

Laguq temah side dende

Bau bedait malik

Translation:

Gosh my beloved son

My sweet heart flower of my eyes

It is true I care of

Only becomes rest of wind

How come you dear become like this

Flower of eyes is blown up by wind

But luckly you are my son

Can meet again.

b. Sai rengga jeruk manis

Jeruk manis ataslah langan

Sai nangis kanak melelah mangan

Sai weda lah kanak nangis

Kanak nangis melelah mangan

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Translation:

Who is mowing the orange tree

The sweet orange on the road

Who is insulting the crying child

The crying child who wants to eat

Who is insulting the crying child

The crying child who wants to eat

c. Siwaq bulan leq dalem tian inaq

Betaun taun atas iwakna

Elek kodeq jangka beleq tadengah

Dengah batur ndak girang pade lupaq

Pade inget eleq semu dana inaq

Pade bakti pada patiq pengajahna

Adenta selamat eleq duia jangka akhirat

Mula jati surga leq lampak naen inaq

Translation:

It’s nine months in mother’s stomache

It’s years on her lap

From small until big he is cared

Listen friends do not forget

Remember the mother’s cares

Obey and notic her advices

In order to get safe in the world and the hereafter

It is true that heaven is on the sole of mother’s

feet

Those lawas are often found and sung in many

kinds of moments. It means that they are not used in

a very specific moment. Due to being sung, this sort

of folklore is sometimes called Lelakaq or Lelakak

(HD, 2017). Interestingly, the lawas, presented

above, are often used by Sasak ladies when they are

lullabying their babies (bedede). Lullabying means

presenting them verbally along with melody. Even

though the babies do not understand the meanings of

the lawas, they can finally sleep and enjoy the songs.

This happens because the songs are sung in very

sweet sounds by involving sincere caring and love

there.

As commonly known, the lawas, as verbal

folklore, spreads orally, which develops from one

district to other districts in Sasak society throughout

Lombok. In this case, it spreads in sense of the color

of Sasak dialect where the lawas develops. However,

interestingly, the content of the lawas does not

decrease. Besides, in sense of the form, the Sasak

folk songs commonly consists of eight (8) lines

within which the amount of words are different in

one line to another. Some even use model of

‘pantun’ (traditional Malayan verse) in sense of its

form, the first two line serving as illustration

(sampiran), and the last two lines as content (isi). In

terms of its content, most of the folk songs contain

an expression of a mother’s love to her child and her

advices as well.

3.2 First Section

Here are the examples of the traditional playing

songs commonly used by the Sasak people:

a. Bulan lanteq teregong awang-awang

Suke raden pateq tanggap gong bawaq alang

Translation:

The full moon which is covered by clouds in the

sky

(How) happy Raden Patih is when he invites a

music group playing it under building of a rice

storage.

b. Copring ket ket

Kebango contloq

Aji pire teloq bebek

Aji telu sopoq

Kanggo tanggah

Endiq kanggo endq tebajah

Translation:

Copring sound of a ket ket (sparrow) bird

Then the heron bird comes up

How much the dug egg

Its price is three hundred

It can be indebted

But it must be paid

c. Ci ci puci’

Enjang-enjang bidedari

Jelelet jelempung

Kau minta kembang apa

Translation:

Ci ci puci (sound of cat)

The sound of beautiful princess walking

Jelelet jelempung

What flower do ask for?

d. Toq togem

Sai bedok ye nongkem

Kecucik kecoces

Sai muriq ye montes

Translation:

Toq togem

Who has goiter the one who covers his/her face?

Kecucik kecoces

Who is in behind?

e. Dudunsek dudansak

Pelapoq unin nao

Embe lain inaq amaq

Inaq amaq lalo ngaro

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Ceroring manggis

Inaq boling kereng nangis

Translation:

Dudunsek dudansak

Th sound of palm’s leaves are hitting

Where the mother father are going

They are going to rice fields

The fruits of ceroring and mongosteen

The Boling’s mother often cries

In sense of its form, the traditional Sasak playing

songs consist of: the first part serves as Sampiran

(illustration) and the second as Isi (content). In other

words, these folklores are in the form of Pantun, the

traditional Malayan verse, which at end of each line

is ended by rhymic sounds. Besides, the Sasak

playing songs also apply the onomatopoeic sounds,

the ones that have no meaning but trying to follow

the sounds of certain animals or things such as:

copring cet cet, toq togem, kuciq kecoces, dudunsek,

and so on. This fact implies that the doers of the

folklores are really inspired from nature. They really

learn and read the natural phenomena. This fact also

leads the audience, most of them are children, to

remember, memorize, and notice them more easily.

This also implies the practicality when those are

practiced by the children.

3.3 Riddles (Pinje Panje)

Here are the examples of riddles that are

remembered by the informants and still played by

Sasak people up to the present time:

a. Terong tereres semanggi tolah

The answer is:

Senong kememesn nani kesolahn

b. Kot kesang kun lambah

The answer is:

Jero gendang paling nadahn

c. Dedaun ape saq endiq tao basaq?

The answer is:

Daun tojang (daun talas).

d. Apek eto, buwun raje saq endiq rosep?

The answer is:

Aiq nyiur (coconut water)

e. Apek eto, maten raje saq endq wah engkejap?

The answer is:

Jelo (the sun).

The riddles or Pinje Panje are transferred always

by using Sasak language. This is in practice

involoving two people who takes a role as a

questioner and other as the answerer. This folklore is

done not only by children but also, sometimes, by

the grown up people, certainly when they have free

and leisure times. One thing, if we look at it more

detailed, is the use of dictions. Most of the dictions

are related to the nature. Again, the Sasak people are

really inspired from nature such as coconut water,

the sun, bamboo tree, etc. In this regard, they get

closely with the nature.

3.4 Folktale or Myth (Waran)

One of the most popular folktale that has always

been taught by Sasak people from a generation to

other generation is a story of Doyan Neda. This

story was mostly mentioned by the informants. They

knew much about the story. Here is the synopsis of

Doyan Neda Story (the Person who Eats Much):

“Yang mengisahkan tentang hadirnya

seorang tokoh bernama Doyan Neda yang sejak

kecil diketahui suka makan banyak sekali,

sehingga orang tuanya sampai malu karena

anaknya demikian. Doyan Neda kemudian diusir

dari rumahnya, lalu mengembara di tengah

hutan sendirian. Manariknya, di balik

kesukaannya yang makan banyak ini dia justru

mempunyai kesaktian tinggi. Dalam

pengembarannya dia bertemu dengan Sigar

Penjalin dan Tameng Muter. Dua orang ini

ditemukan Doyan Neda pada saat mereka

sedang bertapa untuk mendapat kedigdayaan.

Meskipun mereka sudah lama bertapa, mereka

ternyata tidak bisa mengalahkan kesaktian

Doyan Neda, sehingga keduanya harus tunduk

pada Doyan Neda. Mereka bersedia menjadi

adik Doyan Neda. Mereka bertiga akhirnya

melakukan pengembaraan dan benar-benar

menjadi saudara. Mereka bertiga berjuang

mengalahkan para raksasa dan bentuk

kejahatan-kejahatan lainnya di Gumi Sasak

Lombok. Hingga akhirnya mereka mendirikan

kerajaan, yaitu Kerajaan Selaparang. Ketiga

tokoh ini kemudian dipercayai sebagai leluhur

awal orang Sasak di Lombok.”

Translation:

The story tells about one person named

Doyan Neda that since he was a child he ate very

much. As a result, his parents, especially his

father, are very shame looking at that situation.

Doyan Neda is then expelled or driven away

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923

form his home and his village. The boy then

becomes a scavenger and wandering alone from

one village to another, from one forrest to

another. He stays alone, in bravery, in forrests.

Interestingly, beyond his abnormality, he has

automatically a magic power. In his wander, he

meets with Sigar Panjalin and Tameng Muter.

Ndoyan Neda finds these two people in forrest

when they are becoming hermits to find out a

magic power as what Doyan Neda has. Although

they are doing a strong rituality as hermits, they

cannot catch the magic power owned by Doyan

Neda. They are defeated. Therefore, they

acknowledge Doyan Neda as their older brother,

and are always loyal to him. They become

brothers. Wherever they go, they are always

together. They struggles for defending the poor

people. They even fight against demons and any

evelish obstruction in society. Finally, they agree

to found kingdoms. Doyan Neda is then known

as the founder of Selaparang Kingdom, a big

kingdom in Lombok. Doyan Neda and his

brothers are believed as the ancestors of all Sasak

people).

Doyan Neda is a story of myth or folktale. It

means that the truth or not is not the concern. The

point is that the message beyond the story itself.

Namely: (1) the story proposes that there has been a

kingdom in Lombok island, which was a very big

kingdom in that island. Then this fact is really true

when traced historically. All Sasak people

acknowledge this point. (2) The story is presenting

a message about a patriotism and kindness of Doyan

Neda. In spite of his abnormaility, he has kindness

and vision to build and save Sasak people from any

suffering and obstruction. This message can be

learnt and transferred to the audience, espcially to

the Sasak generation, in order thay thay can do the

same thing in their future. Therefore, up to the

present time, this story is then still developed and

told in any moment in Sasak people, especially in

rural areas. The last but not least, (3) the story

implies that Sasak people’s ancestors are actually

coming from many etnic groups. They are not single

origins. Some of them are coming from Java, Sunda,

Melayu, Madura, Bali, Bugis, and so on. Sasak

people are assimilating people from many ethnic

groups.

When seeing the Table 1 above, it can be then

inferred that the verbal folklores are very effective in

‘planting’ the basic knowledge about Sasak

language and Sasak culture, aware or not, to the

children. As the proof for this notion, here are some

facts:

Firstly, almost all children who live in villages or

rural areas in Lombok are very familiar with and

getting along intensively with those folklores. As a

result, the Sasak language can be more a part of their

daily lives, since those folklores are performed in

Sasak language. At least, the folklores strengthen the

uses of Sasak language. This notion is in line with

what Asmuni (now living in Yogyakarta) and

Mustajib (now living in Bali) commented, as

follows:

▪ Asmuni’s statement:

Tidak ada yang paling menyenangkan ketika

kita masih anak-anak adalah bermain lepas

dengan teman-teman di sawah atau di ladang.

Saat itu kita bernyanyi sembari tertawa.

Sungguh, meskipun tidak ada televisi, kita tidak

perduli. Yang kita lakukan hanyalah bermain

belelakaq. Itu hal yang sering kita lakukan

secara spontan. Dan saya masih ingat beberapa

baitnya).

(There was no other thing than that of playing

freely with friends at paddy rice fields or some

other places. We sang while playing away. There

was no television, but we did not care. We filled

our times with playing and singing lelakaq. We

sag some lelakaq spontenously. And I still

remember well some stanzas of the

lelakaq/songs)

▪ Mustajib’s statement:

Lagu cupring ket ket itu selalu saya dan

teman-teman nnyanyikan ketika malam hari. Di

kampung tidak ada listrik, hanya terang bulan

yang menjadi lampu. Entah kenapa kami sangat

menikmati ketika tengah bulan purnama. Kami

isi suasana malam dengan berpinje panje dan

tertawa lepas, kadang di bawah alang, kadang

juga di halaman rumah. Luar biasa, masa kecil

di kampung itu. Iya saya setuju, permaianan

anak-anak itu mengikat saya sebagai anak Sasak

tulen.

(A song cupring ket ket was the one that my

friends and I sang when evening came. In my

kampong, there was no electricity, it was only

light of the moon. Somehow we really enjoyed

the situation of evening when it was fullmoon.

We filled it with singing, playing riddles and

laughing freely; it was sometimes in rice

storagebuilding, or sometimes in front of the

house. It was an amazing situation in kampong.

Yes I agree, playings make me proud of being

Sasak person).

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Secondly, as proposed earlier, based on

interviews from some old Sasak people, most of

them are still memorizing the folklores very well.

They even acknowledge that the folklores are very

useful for enlarging their views in sense of Sasak

vocabulary as well as Sasak local wisdom. This is

clearly seen, for instance, from the following

quotation, taken from Khadirin

Suranggane’statement:

Meskipun saya sudah tinggal hampir empat

puluh tahun di Semarang, saya masih sangat

ingat begaimana cara-cara kami bermain,

bewaran, bepinje-panje, bersama teman-teman

saya di kampung di Tolot-Tolot Lombok Selatan

dulu. Duuh indahnya saat-saat itu.

(Although I have been almost more or less

forty years living in Semarang (Java), I still

exactly remeber the ways I played cheerfully,

telling stories, playing riddles with my friends at

Kampong Tolot-Tolot, in Southern Lombok.

ouch, what a beautiful time was).

Thirdly, the significance or importance of this

folklore really exists because, according to me, the

folklore can open up the children fantasy and

imagination about the human life and the nature.

They, for instance, start to understand the sounds of

certain animals. This happens because the folklores

provide some Sasak exposures and local

expressions. This notion is also supported by Drs.

Aswandikari S, M. Hum, a lecturer of Literature and

Culture at University of Mataram. He said:

Masyarakat Sasak orangnya sederhana.

Hidup apa adanya. Saya katakan apa adanya,

dikarenakan sumber inspirasinya adalah

keadaan alam dan lingkungan sekitar, selain

suasana hatinya ketika mereka berkreatifitas.

Jadi jangan heran, ketika dalam bait-bait lagu

Sasak itu ada bunyi burung ataupun bunyi,

gunung meletus atau hal-hal lain yang muncul

dari lingkungan sekitar. Itulah orang Sasak. Dan

itu masih ditemukan sekarang di pedesaan.

(Sasak people are modest. Their life goes as it

is. i say so because the main sources of their

inspirations are coming from nature and

environment, besides the condition of their

feelings when they are creatively creating

folklores. It no wonder then if there are some

Sasak songs’ lyrics imitating the sounds of birds,

of volcanoe’s eruptions or other things found in

their surroundings. That is Sasak people. And it

is now commonly found in rural areas).

4 CONCLUSIONS

Folklore, especially verbal folklore, is very effective

in naturally learning or cultivating mother tongue in

Sasak society. This fact is said becasue there are

98% of informants saying that they still well

remember the verbal folklore that had played in their

childhood. The kinds of the folklore which have

been commonly used or played are pinje-panje,

elate, waran, and bedede. Those are all presented in

Sasak language. This happens naturally, no design,

in the social interrelation among the individuals. It

happens within domestic area and public area by

mostly involving two modes of process, namely: (1)

the parents with the children and (2) the children

with the children. The natural learning is mostly

done in leasure, or in other words, the folklores are

performed as their media to find out happiness or

enjoyment or intertainment. In spite of the fact it

goes in that sort of moment, it should be encouraged

to be done because it can strengthen the power of

thought, creativity, and imagination in terms of the

use of Sasak language and any thing related to it.

When this activity goes on, the pride and sense of

belonging to their mother tongue will be strongly

cultivated within the users’ mentality so that, when

they are adult, they will long for that moment. If

possible, the sort of learning process for mother

tongue should be encouraged to happen to all

languages in the world. Even, it should be

considered to be applied in formal educational

institutions.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to the Ministry of Research, Technology

and Higher Education on the support of this

research. Thank you for the University of Mataram

for all supports and facilities provided during the

research.

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