Language as a Status Symbol of Power in Social Interactions at a Multicultural School in the City of Medan

Abstract

One's habit in language use is infl uenced by daily social life structures thereby creating diff erent interaction patt erns both individually or as a group. Sociology of language critically analyzes the use of language as a symbol of power which dominates the arena in a multicultural school. This research utilizes mixed methods as it is considered capable of fi nding and answering the issues and problems under examination. The location of research was Sultan Iskandar Muda High School which is the only multicultural education curriculum based pilot school in the city of Medan. The informants in this study were the principal, teachers, and students while the respondents were samples of high school students totaling 86 individuals. Research results show that one's power in language use is determined by one's interest in using language. School power and individual power has diff erent portions when positioning one's self during interactions. Although power is coercive in nature, the community must submit to rules of the school. The power of the school in determining language emphasizes values of nationalism, which is diff erent to individual or group power which adjusts the language to the situation at hand so that relations of language use has its own portion of interaction in the multicultural school. Keywords:language; status symbol of power; social interaction. Abstrak 265 Ahmed Fernanda Desky, Pujiati, Muba Simanihuruk, Rizabuana Ismail, Ria Manurung, Language as a Status Symbol of Power in Social Interactions at a Multicultural School in the City of Medandistinctive character in demonstrating status symbol of authority in their interaction. The status symbol of language is based on Pierre Bourdieu's idea which is focused on power. Language can be utilized as a means to dominate in the social arena. Bourdieu (in Jenkins, 2004: 237-238) states that language practice is directly positioned in social interaction, the entire theoretical framework is included in understanding discourse: "Language relations are always power relations (rapports de force) hence it is indescribable within the compass of linguistic analysis. Even the most unpretentious linguistic exchange is played into a complex network of historical power relations involving the speaker and supported by social authority and audience that acknowledges the said authority in various human levels".Language has a central role in power mechanism that is dominating, especially in concealing the true intent of a violent action element. The dominant class broadens and forces its habitus over the dominated class. Meaning, the dominant language has been set by those in power in determining the type of language used in the process of interaction to the dominated social class. As an example at the macro level, we take the analogy of the government (upper class) determining the national language of the Republic of Indonesia

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