A Pragmatic study on Kawinese terms used in Wayang Kulit “Karna Tandhing” by Ki Anom Soeroto

ABSTRACTS

This study begins from the writer’s apprehensiveness for the lack of peoples’ appreciation to the original literary works of the. nations which are regarded as the ancestor’s inheritances. Culturally, the more the time goes by, the more the wonderful arts that have been the images and characteristics of Javanese communities disappear.

Wayang Kulit is an expression of ancient Javanese literature that is artistically adopted from classic Indian stories of Vyasa’s Mahabharata and Valkimi’s Ramayana. However, on the other side, the writer continuously embittered; what language used in wayang kulit is. This question is reasonable, since the writer finds some Javanese who don’t know the meaning of Kawinese language, an important language to understand in Wayang Kulit. This phenomena encourage the writer to find out the meaning of Kawinese terms in wayang kulit especially one with the title “kama tandhing”.

Based on those statements, this research is focused on finding out the Kawinese terms in *،Kama Tandhing” and describes their meaning according to the pragmatic approach. Data sources of this research are gained from the cassette of Wayang Kulit ،‘Kama Tandhing” that has been transcribed into written sentences. In analyzing and presenting these research findings, researcher uses qualitative methods.

The results of this research lead to the conclusion as follows: (1) the use of Kawinese terms in “Kama Tandhing” mostly spoken in passive voice rather than active one. Soeroto prefers to choose this style for it is considered more polite in Javanese speech communities. He also often uses imageries and figurative language to show the resemblances/comparisons. (2) The meanings of those terms, in accordance to pragmatic approach, implicitly refer to social norms and religious teachings, as clearly described in cassette III about Bhagavad-Gita.

Some suggestions for the continuations and completions of these research findings are proposed to the next researchers who would like to conduct their research especially about Wayang Kulit. They are suggested to conduct their research in: (1) different topics such as its speech style, characters, and so on; (2) different title such as Wahyu Topeng Waja, Pandhawa Manages, and so on; (3) different narrator/dhalang such as Ki Narta Sabda, Ki Hadisugita, Ki Manteb Sudarsono and so on. All aspects related to this study that are not analyzed yet are researchabie.