JTV’s Program “NGAJI BLUSUKAN” in Sociolinguistic Perspective

Prof. Dr. Alex Alwina

Introduction 

When I start to write this paper, I felt that it is very interesting for me to write about something that I like. There are many things came to my mind when the assignment was announced. In this paper I want to write about Ngaji Blusukan, one of JTV’s programs, in sociolinguistics perspective. Ngaji Blusukan is a program broad casted By JTV every the Monday to Friday at 5 pm. It is a religious monologue show and some time it is broadcasted lively at night. The speaker is KH. Aad Ainurussalam who lives on Jl. Sambi  Arum  Tandes  Manukan  23 Surabaya. I choose this program to discuss simply because it is very interesting show/program. Beside, this program does not only give the audience knowledge or information but also entertainment as well. This program also aroused the the popularity of KH. Aad Ainurussalam (people usually call him Yai Aat). Because of this program, more people know Yai Aat and the rank of this program is also rising. We can see in DVD or VCD retailers that there are many of Ngaji Blusukan or Yai Aat’s Pengajian sold there. That is why in this opportunity I want to discuss it in sociological perspective. And since it is a paper to accomplish the final assignment, hopefully I can get god mark and enjoy writing this paper.

First of all I would like to write about the speaker, in this case KH. Aat Ainurussalam. KH. (KH. Means Kyai: the degree given to someone who leads Pesantre and Haji: the tittle or degree given to anyone who has done the pilgrimage) Aad Ainurussalam was born in pesantren (Islamic boarding school) environment in November 27th, 1964 in Jombang Kencong Jember, his father is KH. Imam Suja'I, the caretakers of Roudlotul Ulum boarding school Kencong Jember the son of KH. Amirun and Nyai (the address for the wife of Kyai/Yai)  Hj. Kastiah. His mother is Nyai Hj. Mardliyah.

As we know, Majority people in east java are Muslim. Most of the people send their children to pesantren at that time including Yai Aat’s family. Moreover, his father is the care taker of a pesantren.  As the culture of Pesantren, Ngaji is one of the most important activities. Beside, in pesantren the students (usually called santri) are supposed to do whatever the Kyai asks them to do and they must listen to whatever their Kyai told them. There are actually many kinds of Ngaji in pesantren. For example, Ngaji Qur’an, Ngaji kitab kuning/ kitab gundul etc, but in this paper I will not explain about those kinds of  Ngaji, but another kind of Ngaji. It is Ngaji Blusukan.

From the name of the program, Ngaji Blusukan, Indonesian people understand that this program is a kind of program addressed for Muslims viewers. The word “ngaji” means learning or reading the holy Quran or other Kitab (Islamic books) and Ngaji can also means learning Islam itself by listening to the preacher who gives religious speech in one way communication (the audience are not supposed to ask any question) or some time it is a kind of discussion. People change and the term of ngaji itself also changes and now there are many kinds the way people do the activity of ngaji including Ngaji Blusukan. Now let us pay attention to the word “Blusukan” this word means going through the deeper part of a certain area or a remote area. It means that it is not done in a big city. The word “ngaji” is well understood in Indonesia since it is also has the same term in Indonesian language. However, the world “Blusukan” is a special term used by Javanese people. It deals with the language as an identity of a society.

If we go back to the past, the awareness of the close links between language and society appears in the middle of this century where linguists began to realize that the study of the language without any link with the community will put some aspects of important and interesting, perhaps even narrow our view to the discipline of language itself. This argument has been developed among others by Labov (1972) and Halliday (1973), which revealed that the speech had a social function, both as a communication tool and as a means of identifying social group and when we study the speech without referring to the people who use it similar to rule out the possibility of social explanation for the discovery of the structure of the speech. So in this case the word ”Blusukan” is used by jtv instead of “Pengajian di Pedalaman” to show that this program is Javanese program where Javanese language is used most of the time during the show. 

The various functions of language in society, should begin with some attempt to define each of these terms. Let us say that a society is any group of people who are drawn together for a certain purpose or purposes. By such a definition ‘society’ becomes a very comprehensive concept, but we will soon see how useful such a comprehensive view is because of the very different kinds of societies we must consider in the course of the various discussions that follow. We may attempt an equally comprehensive definition of language: a language is what the members of a particular society speak.  However, as we will see, speech in almost any society can take many very different forms, and just what forms we should choose to discuss when we attempt to describe the language of a society. The show

First of all the host of this program Nilam Najwa opened the show by introducing herself and the speaker who is KH. Aad ainurussalam and after that she asked some questions to the owner of the place (Hj. Umi Salamah) where the program was done. It was in Sawiji Jogorogo Jombang an area in East Java.

Host : Ibu Hj Umi Salamah, ada acara apa ya malam ini sebenarnya?

Host : Mrs umi salamah, what event is it tonigh actually?

Hj umi : Ada acara khol bersama keluarga Bapak H. Imam khasani dan israo’ mi’roj mbak…di tambah lagi khitanan masal…itu acara kami malam ini terima kasih

Hj Umi : It is haul (remembering the dead) family of Mr. Imam Khasani and isro’mi’roj (the ceremony remembering propeth Muhammad’s trip from Mekah to Madinah) … plus mass circumcisions…those are our programs tonight    

Host : Iya pemirsa…begitulah…malam ini adalah acara khaul, isro’ mi’roj dan khitanan masal 

Host : Alright Viewers…that’ is…the programs for tonight are haul, isro’ mi’roj and mass circumcisions

From their very short conversation we notice that the ceremony was for remembering the dead family, celebrating isro’ mi’roj and mass circumcisions. This tradition exists among Javanese. Javanese h      The another characteristic is custom of Javanese people. The Javanese people have many kinds of cultural that are very strong. For example when the rich harvest season arrives, they held a celebration event. The last characteristic is about personality of Javanese people.J       it can be seen that they used a very different dialect of Indonesian language in their conversation. The dialect of the host is completely different from the dialect used by Choky Sitohang or Ully Herdinansyah when they were the host of Mario Teguh Golden Way on Metro TV. 

There are actually several possible relationships between language and society. One is that social structure may either influence or determine linguistic structure and behavior (Wardhaugh, 2006). Certain evidence may be adduced to support this view: the age-grading phenomenon whereby young children speak differently from older children and, in turn, children speak differently from mature adults; studies which show that the varieties of language that speakers use reflect such matters as their regional, social, or ethnic origin and possibly even their gender; and other studies which show  that  particular  ways  of  speaking,  choices  of  words,  and  even  rules  for conversing are in fact highly determined by certain social requirements. The second possible relationship is directly opposed to the first: linguistic structure and behavior may either influence or determine social structure. 

The third possible relationship is that the influence is bi-directional: language and society may influence each other. One variant of this approach is that this influence is dialectical in nature. The fourth possibility is to assume that there is no relationship at all between linguistic  structure  and  social  structure  and  that  each  is  independent  of  the other. In the case of the different dialect used by Nilam Najwa and the one which is used by choky Sitohang and Ully Herdiansyah. Could be categorized as the first one, the social structure influence the linguistics structure. It was not like the common host who give a bit longer opening for the show, after the short opening by only asking what ceremony it was to the owner of the house, Nilam Najwa directly invite the audience to watch the show. And after that the show began.  

The Show 

Like other pengajian in general the language use to greet the audiences is Arabic language. Arabic language is used in the opening of this kind of pengajian. The Arabic language in the opening contains thanking and praising God and praying to God for the prophet Muhammad. Those two things hamdalah (thanking God) and sholawat (praying to God for prophet Muhammad) are always pronounced in every occasion in Muslims society.  Hamdalah and sholawat are not only pronounced in pengajian but also in other formal speech like the speech of the leader of villages, head masters, or even in small occasion such as kenduren (a kind of small thanks giving ceremony) the leaders always used hamdalah and sholawat. Some people sometime precede those two things by saying basmalah (mentioning “by the name of God”) first. 

In greeting the audiences and addressing them, K. H. Aat Ainurssala used Indonesian language. For this part, there are two language usually used in most pengajian in east java. The languages are Javanese and Indonesian language. It depends on the speakers they can use both language since most of East Javanese people understand both language. (www.bps.go.id)

Historically, Javanese social organization varied in structure from relatively egalitarian rural communities to the highly stratified society of the cities, with their complex court life. These differences found linguistic expression in distinct styles of speech that shifted according to status differences between the persons speaking. Today the most commonly used styles are ngoko (informal), krama (polite or deferential), and madya (between informal and polite), although there are also several others

And after that K. H. Ainurussalam (the speaker) quoted some sentences from the holy Quran.

Again, of course, he used Arabic language since the holy Quran itself is written in Arabic language. After he quoted several sentences from the holy Quran, he started to explain what the sentences mean. It was about death suited to the ceremony that night. In this part he used karma. He told about the death of Muhammad’s uncle. 

Dereng sempat pamane pamane kanjeng nabi mlebet islam, sampun dipun pundhut kalaian gusti Alloh. (before prophet Muhammad’s uncle become muslim, he was taken by God (died)). And then he switched to ngoko.

…Durung enthek susahe kanjeng nabi Air mata rosululloh belum kering istri rosulull bu Nyai khodijah melok melok sedho…

K. H. Aat of course speaks more than one language. So in this case bilingual can happen in this pengajian. The simplest definition of bilingual is a person who has some functional ability in a language. This may vary from a limited ability in one or more domain to very strong command of both languages (which is sometimes called balanced bilingualism) (Spolsky, 2010)

Most of the words used in that sentence are ngoko. He also used the word sedho (died) which belongs to karma. In this sequence we can see that the speaker switch and mix the code. The reason of this code switching and code mixing is simply because the speaker needs to comfort himself and the audiences. When two or more people communicate with each other in speech, we can call the system of communication that they employ a code. In most cases that code will be something we may also want to call a language. We should also note that two speakers who are bilingual, that is, who have access to two codes, and who for  one  reason  or  another  shift  back  and  forth  between  the  two  languages  as they converse by code-switching are actually using a third code, one which draws on those two languages.(Wardhaugh, 2006).

In presenting his preach, he has different style on stage. Long time ago, in this kind of pengajian, the speaker is usually mind himself such a way that the audience have good respect and he differ himself from dagelan (Joker). It is change now. There are many of this speakers try to obtain their own style, even far different from the old Kyai. 

Baker (2010) stated that on another level, we can examine diachronic variation in terms of changes in a particular population or location over time.  Language use is in constant flux, and studies of diachronic variation attempt to chart the ways that it is changing, along with positing reasons for these changes. Long time ago Javanese people could be characterized as below.

 Character of the Javanese

1. Java in identical people with different Attitudes polite, shy, maintaining good ethics talk, likes to hide his feelings. Dismiss the heart's desire for an ethics and manners guarded attitude. For example when a guest and treated to a dish. Distinctive character of Javanese people are welcome to wait to taste, and even Sometimes Reluctant attitude is Able to resist the will of heart or desires.

2. Matter of ethics, the Javanese are very uphold this one issue. Both in attitude and speech. To speak to someone younger should use the Java language that is sometimes more subtle polite. Unlike the language used for peer or under age. Similarly, the attitude of younger people should really be able to maintain a good ethical attitude towards people older than himself

3. Overall attitude and Javanese speech very gentle, accommodating, and very friendly with anyone. However, on the other side of the Javanese philosophy of life also has three flowers that often appear in certain conditions, namely relented “ngalah”, (ngalih) and ballistic “ngamuk”.

Each tribe or nation has the stereotype each other in the eyes of the nation. For example, the stereotype of the Javanese (according to people outside of Java) was smooth, calm, and "kemayu" and others. In fact, this stereotype is often a cliché judgment which sometimes does not reflect the actual reality. Judgments were based more on empirical experience of the tribe or nation in which rate is interacting with the tribe or nation is considered, where the assessment was simplified a conclusion only on the nature and character of the tribe or nation is judged.

Today some values have changed. It is because the pluralism of the society. When schools attempt to developing children the ability to manipulate elaborated code, they are really involved in trying  to  change  cultural  patterns,  and  such  involvement  may  have  profound social and psychological consequences for all engaged in the task. (Wardhaugh, 2006)

Conclusion

When the society accepts the change, then it will change. When we look at the Javanese language which also seems to disappear because most people use Indonesian language, Jtv tries to promote Javanese language especially Surabayanese language among the society in East Java. In most of its program, Jtv uses bilingual or even in some program use only Javanese so that there will not be language Imperialism, where as all Javanese use Indonesian language and forgot Javanese language

References 

Baker, P. (2010). Sociolinguistics and Corpus Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd.

Spolsky, B. (2010). Oxford Introduction to Language Study. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wardhaugh, R. (2006). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics Fifth edition (5 ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.