Balinese Hegemonic Politness in Awig-Awig of Desa Pakraman

Abstract

This study is aimed at revealing the linguistic markers used in the awig-awig that have succeeded in generating hegemonic politeness in Balinese society. The data of this research were taken from a number of awig-awig documents collected based on sampling areas, which represent Balinese dialectal variations. The obtained data were triangulated through interviews with a number of prajuru‘leaders’ of desa pakraman. Based on the pragmatic theory it is revealed that the characteristics of awig-awig of the desa pakraman are: (1) using the imposing utterance, (2) using the maxim of wisdom and acceptance of the politeness principle, (3) using modalities, (4) emphasizing on assertive, commissive, and directive illocutionary, and (5) being consistent in applying the maxim of quantity and means of cooperative principles. All these characteristics are manifested by the direct-literal type of act in the Balinese language of alus singgih 'honor-high'. In association, the Balinese variety of alus singgih is used to honor the participants. The use of Balinese language alus singgih is believed to foster awareness of norms and values for every Balinese.