Maturnuwun in Javanese people

Analyzing The Implicature: does matur suwun word exactly reject an offering?

Zeezah_ieqoh@yahoo.co.id

Introduction

When people have conversation, they exactly want to convey what they thought. However, in the middle of conversation, sometimes there are some intentions which cannot be implied directly to the interlocutor. According to Gazdar, a statement or idea which is not conveyed by the speaker’s utterance is called implicature (P. 38). From this opinion, the researcher wants to analyze one of the Javanese words through the implicature. The word that will be analyzed by the researcher is matur nuwun which is used by Javanese people to convey or show their grateful for something. The meaning of matur nuwun itself is ‘thank you’. However, in reality Javanese people use matur nuwun not only to show the grateful for something but also to reject an offering.

The question is now, whether matur nuwun is used to reject an offering or carry another function. The analysis will further be extended to see whether the term is consistently used as additional in rejecting an offering or brings other meaning. This paper is companied with the result of investigating some people who said matur nuwun word. This investigation is done when the participants are offered by someone in the different places and situations. To get some views of thanks, it is first necessary to discuss and relate the references which have been used to describe the case, and the most importantly to understand the meaning and remedial of concepts of thanks.

Content

To show the grateful for something, people use thanks to reflect that feeling. That expression conveys what the speaker thought straightly. Furthermore, Nazzal claims that language is context-bound, someone’s utterance should be treated in which is produced (2005, p. 254). From this statement, Nazzal claims that the meaning of the word must be similar with the words which are produced. 

However, in Javanese people, they do not only use thanks word to convey the grateful feeling but also to reject the offering. When people use this term to reject an offering, sometimes they do not truly reject it. This act is influenced by the Javanese culture which is identical with politeness and shy feeling. Therefore, some of the Javanese people do not convey what is in their idea straightly. In addition, Chaika concludes that one of the things that determines meaning of the language is the social-cultural and physical environment (1982, p. 10).

As the data which are collected from the Javanese people’s conversation, the researcher finds the different results in the word thanks usage. The data analyzing are taken from some of the Javanese people when they use matur nuwun word. In addition, the researcher does not use the questionnaires to get the information, but she investigates the conversation secretly. Therefore, the results of the data is based on natural conversation. The investigation of the conversation is begun on 11^th up to 27^th of November 2013. From that length of time, the researcher collects more than five people who said matur nuwun. Most of the participants are the Javanese university students which have different age and gender. The researcher investigates the usage of matur nuwun when the participants are offered any foods or services by someone.

            As the result of investigating in matur nuwun word, there are some participants who use matur nuwun word to reject the offering and there is no meaning which is implied. This usage shows what the speakers think is truly conveyed by that term. In other words, they exactly do not imply what they want to utter.

            On the contrary, despite there are some participants who reject the offering with matur nuwun word, there are many participants who imply what they thought inside of matur nuwun usage. Actually, they want to receive and accept the food and services that are offered, but most of them are shy to say what exactly in their mind. Moreover, Searle (1975 as cited in Pishghadam, 2012) states that the speaker utterance has multiple meaning.

At the first, the participants who imply what they thought by matur nuwun are to reject the offering. However, when they are offered by twice or three times, they suddenly accept or receive the offering. Therefore, the usage of matur nuwun word does not only to reject the offering but also to cover the shy feeling of the Javanese people. “Both as an instrument of communication and as a symbol of group identity, language is accompanied by attitudes and values held by it users and also by persons who do not know the language” (Grosjean, 1982, p. 117).

From all of data which have been analyzed, it indicates that Nazzal’s statement above cannot show that an utterance should be treated in which is produced. Finally, the word which is said does not always convey the intention of the speaker. As Searle states above, the word also has multiple meaning.

Conclusion:

As the result of investigation the conversation, the researcher finds the differences in the usage of matur nuwun. Matur nuwun word is not only used to reject the offering, but also to cover the shy feeling of Javanese people. This is the impact of the Javanese culture itself which is identical with politeness and shy feeling. In conclusion, the words are not always can convey what the speaker thought straightly. Yet, the meaning of the word will be changed depends on its context.

Reference lists:

Chaika, E., (1982). Language the social mirror. Rowley: Newbury house publisher, INC.

Gazdar, G. Pragmatic: Implicature, presupposition, and logical form, New York: Academic press. Retrieved form: http://ling.umd.edu/~alxndrw/Readings/Implicature/gazdar79.pdf

Grosjean, F., (1982). Life with two languages. Harvard, United States of America: Harvard University Press.

Nazzal, A., (2005). The pragmatic functions of the recitation of qur’anic verses by muslims in their oral genre: The case of insha’ Allah, ‘God’s willing’. International Pragmatics Association, 15:2/3, 251-273. Retrieved from:  http://elanguage.net/journals/pragmatics/article/view/493/421.

Pishghadam, R., and Norouz, K., P. (2012). Insha’ Allah (God’s Williing) and its function in Persian. Studies in Literature and Language, 1(4), 6-11. DOI: 10.3968/j s11. 1923156320120401.273. Retrieved from: http://www.cscanada.org.