KAJIAN BASA-BASI DALAM PERSPEKTIF SOSIOLINGUISTIK

ABSTRACT

In sociolinguistic viewpoints, basa-basi (phatic communication) is argued as a social and cultural phenomenon. Based on this viewpoint, basa-basi occurs in several variations such as elaborated code variation versus restricted code variation, and formal variation versus informal variation. Such variations build a strong corelation as follows (a) the more elaborated the form of utterances the more formal the basa-basi is, (b) the more restricted the form of utterances the more informal the basa-basi is, (c) the more intimate the relation between the participants the more informal the basa-basi is. This paper shows that the forms and styles of basa-basi as a symbol of verbal social acts for greetings, courtesy, politeness, and chit-chats or sweet nothings in order to create solidarity and harmony between the participants may not adequately be understood without taking extralinguistic features such as speech situation, and socio-cultural aspects into consideration.

(key words: basa-basi (phatic communication), forms and styles of basa-basi, styles,social phenomenon, and cultural phenomenon)