Language Hegemony in

Talang Mamak tribal

Febby Febryan
1101013/2011

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
UNIVERSITAS NEGERI PADANG
2015
CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Problem
Globalization and technological developments force people to
eliminate the dividing line with one another. The world was made
without distance by globalization supported by outstanding
technological developments. Information and communication
exchange without knowing place and time make globalization
increasingly felt its presence in public life. Each behavior caused or
created by human beings would bring up the effect or impact on
human life itself. As with globalization also have positive and
negative impacts.
Globalization and development of science and technology also
makes an unfair power competition. Many of the techniques used by
a group of people to dominate another group, while still maintaining
control over other groups. One of the easiest ways to use with a
fairly large predictive success is using culture as a tool for power.
Culture has many elements that are wide enough, one of the most
dangerous elements that are used for power, namely language.
The concept of hegemony is simply a system of political
dominance or power. This term became extraordinary, when
Marxists try to define another concept of hegemony that has a
sense of power among social classes, especially those of the ruling
class. Hegemony is derived from the Greek word hegeisthai,
egemonia (to lead or shidouken) that have meaning to lead,
leadership. In other words, hegemony is how a group influences
other groups to accept moral values, politics, and culture of the
ruling group.

Indonesia is a pluralistic nation as consisting of various tribes,

customs, the local language, as well as different religions. The
diversity found in different areas spread from Sabang to Merauke.
Every tribe in Indonesia has different habits of life. Those living
habits become their culture and characteristic of certain ethnic
groups. There are several characteristics that can be used to
recognize a tribe, one of which is language.
One of the tribes in Indonesia is Talang Mamak, who still lives
traditionally in Indragiri River downstream, Riau. This community
group, classified as Proto-Malays (Melayu Tua) which is indigenous
of Indragiri Hulu, as tribe Tuha which means the first tribe to come
and be entitled to the natural resources in Indragiri Hulu. In
addition, they include Old Malay. Talang Mamak people divided into
two groups based on the views of the origin and leadership as well
as local traditions. The first is a group of Talang Mamak Sungai
Limau who live around the area of Sungai Limau and Sungai
Cenaku. Secondly, the group of Talang Mamak Sungai Gangsal, who
live around Sungai Gangsal and Sungai Akar in Taman Nasional
Bukit Tigapuluh.
The language used by Talang Mamak tribe known as Bahasa
Sakai or bahasa Talang Mamak. Most of the Talang Mamak language
is a mixture between Minangkabau and Malay language. But over
the course of time, many Talang Mamak people begin to use
Indonesian language. This is because they begin to interact with
people from outside their tribe. They also have an education; this is
evidenced by the existence of a school in Dusun Tuo Datai, Taman
Nasional Bukit Tigapuluh.