Strategies in Balinese Communication

Abstract

Communicating in Balinese language needs some strategies. Not all Balinese people can speak Balinese in a polite way because the Balinese language is one of the languages having a level system. The problem is mostly faced by young speakers of the Balinese language. This research focuses on strategies for communicating politely in Balinese without having to use the upper level of the Balinese language. This is important to be considered that nowadays, due to the development of tourism, globalization, and rapid advances in information technology, the young generation of Balinese often finds big obstacles in using the Balinese language appropriately according to their situation and conditions. Data of this research were collected by observation and interview methods completed with their appropriate techniques. The collected data was first analysed by grouping method based on the forms of the utterances of the language levels. Then the grouping was conducted based on strategies applied to create polite utterances in Balinese communication. This research found that, first, speakers want the communication to run smoothly and harmoniously. Second, most of young speakers have problem and difficulty to use the upper-level in Balinese communication. Additionally, when speaking in Balinese, it can be considered polite to use indirect speech, the polite forms of imperative, appropriate deixis and to apply other strategies.