The Interference on Sunda Baduy in Language Level
Imam Jahrudin Priyanto, Eri Kurniawan and Chye Retty Isnendes
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jalan Dr. Setiabudi No. 229 Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: Interference, Language, Level, Baduy, Community.
Abstract: The level of language cannot be avoided in human life. It also happens in Baduy’s society life. Moreover, the
Baduy community is quite close to the people of Sunda lulugu, the language that has undak usuk basa, the
real form of the language level itself. This research was conducted through direct communication with Baduy
Dalam residents. Data elicitation is done through recording and writing. Data is processed qualitatively. This
research is based on the belief that the linking of life between Baduy community and Sunda lulugu language
user community in Banten has the potential to generate language interference. It is possible that the Sundanese
language "entered" into the life of the people of Baduy gradually. However, in certain words, the Baduy
community has a distinctly different character from Sundanese lulugu. Evidently also, the level of language
is known in the language of Baduy society because in Baduy is also known for the social class.
1 INTRODUCTION
Amid the plurality of Indonesians and the rapid
development, there is a group of people who
consistently maintain their true identity. As other
people struggle to get ahead and master the
technology, they tend to be comfortable with the
conditions that become their heritage. In the concept
of development, they are grouped into Remote
Indigenous Communities or Komunitas Adat
Terpencil/KAT (Kurnia and Sihabudin, 2010). The
community lives in various parts of the region.
According to the data, Remote Indigenous
Communities (KAT) are present in most of the
archipelago (nusantara), ranging from Sabang in
Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) to Merauke in
Papua Province.
Baduy community is one ethnic that can be
regarded as a community that still holds tradition and
tend to be closed. Socially, in Baduy of course there
is a class or a certain level. Social class certainly has
language implications. The level of language
becomes a necessity. In addition, in the linguistic
process it also occurs language interference from
languages close to environment. Baduy community
often interact with the Sunda lulugu language users.
In fact, in certain lexicons, interference also
occurs from Indonesian or Malay against Sundanese
Baduy. From the process of elicitation is known, the
people of Baduy Dalam do not use the word
"cangkeng", but "pinggang” (waist) as a polite word
for parents or people who are elder or considered
character. The word "pundak” (shoulder) was already
very familiar among the people of Baduy rather than
"taktak" used by the Sunda lulugu user community.
According to Kurniawan (2017), interference can
occur word by word (lexicon level) or can also occur
at the structural level. In addition, interference can
also occur in sentences, intersentences, or discourse.
There are many expert opinions about the
meaning of interference. Skiba (1997) stresses that
interference is the transfer of elements from one
language to another. The element may be
phonological, grammatical, lexical, or orthographic.
According to Skiba, interference is the transfer of
elements of one language into the learning of another.
Elements may include phonological, grammatical,
lexical, and orthographical (Skiba, 1997).
Lott (1983), for example, argues that interference
concerns errors in foreign language learners who can
be traced back to his mother tongue. Weinreich did
not emphasize any error in interference. The term
interference was first used by Weinreich (1953) to
refer to the change of a language system in connection
with the presence of contact with other languages
spoken by the speech community.
382
Priyanto, I., Kurniawan, E. and Isnendes, C.
The Interference on Sunda Baduy in Language Level.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education (ICSE 2017) - Volume 1, pages 382-386
ISBN: 978-989-758-316-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

Jendra (1991: 109) states that interference
includes various aspects of language, can absorb in
the field of sound (phonology), word formation
(morphology), sentence (syntax), vocabulary
(lexicon), and meaning (semantic). While
Watcharapunyawong and Usaha (2012) argued,
errors in the first language interference occurred in 16
categories, namely verb tense, word choice, sentence
structure, article, preposition, modal/auxiliary,
singular/plural form, fragment, verb form, pronoun,
run-on sentence, infinitive/gerund, transition,
subject-verb agreement, parallel structure, and
comparison structure.
Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008) look at the history of
language change studies from the side of
interlanguage contacts. So far, some researchers have
used the word "interference", "code-copying"
(Johanson, 2002), "cross-linguistic influence”,
"transfer" and "convergence", but they are still
discussing more or less the same topic, how morpho
synthetic similarity between the two bilingual
systems develops. Jarvis and Pavlenko recognize that
the term has a different terminology capacity, but
both experts emphasize morpho synthetic
interference, morpho synthetic transfer, and so on.
Then Jarvis and Pavlenko quoted Weinreich as
saying, "interference" has the meaning of those
instances of deviation from the norms of either
language which occur in the speech of bilinguals as a
result of their familiarity with more than one
language. The term interference will not be separated
from the integration of language and is part of
sociolinguistic studies. All that happens due to the use
of two or more different languages in multilingual
society. In interference it is possible to err on the
structure and linguistic rules due to lack of
understanding of a particular lexicon or phrase.
However, the better understanding of the two
languages, the less the error rate is because the user
can apply them according to the situation and
condition.
When viewed from that understanding, in the
interference is not necessarily an error in the rules or
structures as Weinreich hinted. He only associates
interference with a system's change of language in
connection with contact with another language. Dulay
et al. (1982) defines interference as an automatic,
habitual, transfer of the first surface structure of the
language to the surface of the target language. Ellis
(1997: 51) calls interference a "transfer" and he
mentions that the first language of the learner
influences the acquisition of a second language.
Of the interference theories that have been put
forward, no one has specifically examined the
interference between two regional languages whose
speakers live not too far away so often interact in
everyday life. Therein lies the research gap so that
researchers feel motivated to examine the topic of
Sundanese lulugu (standard) language interference to
the language of Sunda Baduy.
This study aims to reveal the vocabulary of Sunda
Baduy which is the result of interference from
Sundanese lulugu.
1.1 Language Level
Meanwhile, in Baduy, in equal linguistic
relationships or with younger or lower people, many
words are of the same variety, such as nginum
'drinking'. However, the same word cannot be used
against someone who is (very) respected, such as a
parent, jaro, let alone a puun. For the respected
person, the word "papairan" is used. Undak usuk basa
is part of the language system that plays a dominant
role in language development. As stated
Djadjasudarma (1994), it can be said that language is
a system. Language consists of regular or systemic
elements. It shows that language has rules so that the
elements of language can be foreseen if they are
known. Language is also systematic and systemic.
Systemic means it can be described on limited units
in combination with predictable rules, whereas
systematic means language is not a single system, but
consists of subsystems, i.e. phonological subsystems,
grammatical subsystems, and lexicon subsystems.
This study deepens the Sundanese language in the
perspective of variations and language levels that
occur in the daily life of Baduy community.
Edward Sapir, a linguistic anthropologist who is
also a lecturer at Yale University USA, argues that
language and culture cannot be separated, such as
coins that cannot be separated between the two
images.
1.2 Language Culture
While Benjamin L. Whorf was an expert known to
Sapir through his lecture followed by Whorf. Due to
his enormous interest in the language, Whorf
undertook research, among others, of the Hopi Indian
language. The Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis states that the
world we know is primarily determined by the
language in our culture. People speak in different
ways because they think differently. They think in
different ways because their language offers a way of
expressing (the meaning) of the outside world around
them in different ways."
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1.3 Implications of the Sapir-Whorf
Language provides a perceptual view and
simultaneously imposes certain conceptual views.
Language is also a glasses to see the reality of culture.
So the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has implications for
the current culture, including:
If a cultural community uses a lot of vocabulary
for a thing or an activity, then that thing or activity is
important in that cultural communication.
For example: the word snow in Eskimo culture
such as, Qana (snow falling, snowflake), Akilukak
(soft snow), Aput (snow on the ground), Kaguklaich
(snow blown into the ranks) and Qinuqsuq
(snowdrifts).
In a simple context, as Keraf (1997) points out,
language is a means of communication between
members of the public in the form of symbols of
sound produced by human speech utensils. While the
word culture comes from Sanskrit, buddhayah which
is the plural form of buddhi (mind or reason). Culture
is a way of life that developed and shared by groups
of people, and passed down from generation to
generation.
Koentjaraningrat (1985) see language as part of
culture (subordinate). However, many also who argue
that language and culture have an equal
(coordinative) relationship. According to Isnendes
(2017), the changed element of culture is man or man-
people who are physical and his personality is not
fixed. Sundanese man is a characteristic human being
that become the identity attached to him.
Sundanese culture means the result of Sundanese
human creativity in environmental engineering,
bodies and souls, with respect to the changed and
fixed elements of Sundanese culture itself. While
Sundanese language is a communication tool used by
the tribe of Sundanese who passed on from generation
to generation.
1.4 Undak Usuk Bahasa Sunda
According to Djajasudarma (1994), the undak usuk
'speech level' concerns the field sociolinguistics. The
element refers to the idea that Sundanese is familiar
with the level social conversation (the person to talk
to) and the social level of the person being discussed.
This system tends to affect the Indonesian
vocabulary, for example beliau and berkenan.
Pragmatically, the level of speech has a rough
vocabulary for the speaker (persona I), listener
(persona II), and the person in question (persona III);
as well as vocabulary fine (lemes) for persona I,
persona II, and persona III (figure 1).
Figure 1: The level of speech has a rough vocabulary.
1.5 Research Questions
This research was conducted to answer the research
question: What vocabulary they use to indicate
interference in the undak usuk ’level language?
1.6 Research Objectives
The objectives to be achieved in this research are:
 To describe the linguistic contact in the
communication of Baduy people using the
Sundanese language steps in their daily
language.
 To describe what vocabulary they use to mark
the interference on the language level.
This research is expected to provide benefits for
some parties. Linguists are expected to obtain
materials to complement the results of their research.
For fellow students, it is expected to be a driving force
for other linguistic studies. For local government, the
results of this research can be input for the subsequent
social development programs in Baduy society.
2 RESEARCH METHOD
This research uses qualitative approach. It was
conducted directly in the middle of Baduy community
so that the researcher made direct observation to
Baduy community. Because it involves language data
in cultural terms, this study is an ethnographic study
and the data are analyzed qualitatively. The elicitation
process uses recording and writing by devices
manually.
In the process of elicitation, descriptive data are
generated in the form of written and oral words of the
observed persons. This study focused on language
ICSE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education
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data collection related to the language level, i.e. the
language usage steps, as well as observing the
interference of the Sundanese lulugu (standard) used
by the surrounding community against the Sundanese
Buhun language used by Baduy residents.
A number of questions in the research instrument
were submitted to a number of Baduy inhabitants
during the elicitation process in Kampung Ciboleger,
Ciboleger Village, Lebak District, Banten. The
research instrument is designed to reveal the level of
language in words related to daily life, some of which
may indicate language interference or not.
The data collected is a valid data because it is
obtained directly from Baduy residents. The data is
the primary data. To support the deepening of this
research, researchers also collected secondary data,
e.g. data from books related to life and language used
by Baduy people. Thus, the data obtained becomes
more complete.
Bowern (1977) resolved to make the field data
well-managed. Researchers should be able to
organize the data obtained in the field. The researcher
should be able to determine whether the data is
categorized as a track or episode in research
recording. In essence, the field data should be
managed as well as possible.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The sociolinguistic study was applied to analyze the
results of this study because the undak usuk basa were
in the realm. Language level is a representation of
social studies language. Citizens use different words
to equal colleagues, younger people, or to someone
older, respected, or elder.
The pattern of language communication is not
only about diction related to politeness, but also
intonation. Against peers or younger communicants,
the conversation can be done more freely, but when
communicating to the elder, communication is
equipped with a politer attitude to support the smooth
communication itself. Figure 2 is the findings of
language level in baduy.
Figure 2: Findings of language level in Baduy.
4 CONCLUSIONS
From this research revealed that the interaction of
Baduy community with the surrounding community
has led to the touch of language that ultimately lead
to language interference. As experts have pointed out,
interference is colored by the transfer of language
elements from one language (in this study Sundanese
lulugu) to other languages (in this study the language
of Sunda Baduy), especially in the language level
(undak usuk basa). The most prevalent interference is
in terms of pronunciation and diction. Interference is
not always marked as an error in language use,
especially when Baduy people understand the lexicon
(or at the phrase level) well.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is related to subject of culture in
linguistic perspective as compulsory subject at
doctoral lecture at postgraduate school of Universitas
Pendidikan Indonesia. Therefore, the researcher
would like to express sincere thanks to the lecturer,
Eri Kurniawan, Ph.D. and Dr. Chye Retty Isnendes
The Interference on Sunda Baduy in Language Level
385

who has given direction during research and data
analysis of this article.
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