Implementation of the speech levels 487
Tandha Serrat to a cock fight to determine who will actually wed Sare Bate, the
fiancee of Tandha Anggre'. The kasar specific words are underscored.
TS: Tao dha' iya, Tandha Anggre’. Mara ajam-ma ba'eng addu bi’
know like.this Tandha Anggre’ HORT chicken-DEF you compete with
tang ajam.
my chicken
‘It will be like this, Tandha Anggre’. Let’s have your cock fight my
cock.’
TA: Tarona apa?
stake what
‘What’s the wager?’
TS: Sare Bate. Se mennang olle nga-bine Sare Bate. Mon ba’eng
Sare Bate REL win get AV.KA-wife Sare Bate if you
ajam-ma se mennang, kala’ Sare Bate ka-bine kake. Mon tang
chicken-DEF REL win take Sare Bate KA-wife you if my
ajam se mennang, Sare Bate bakal daddi-ya tang bine.
chicken REL win Sare Bate will become-IRR my wife
‘Sare Bate. Whoever wins gets to marry Sare Bate. If your cock wins,
take Sare Bate to marry you. If my cock wins, Sare Bate will become my
wife.’
TA: O, jiya se e-ka-karep kake, Tandha Serrat. Mara pa-ka-lowar
oh this REL OV-KA-want you Tandha Serrat HORT CS-to-out
ajam-ma.
chicken-DEF
‘Oh, so that’s what you want, Tandha Serrat. Come on, let’s let them out.’
4. Implementation of the speech levels
Though the foregoing discussion has depicted the language level system as rela-
tively stable or ‘consistent’, as stated above, this is an idealization. The actual
use of the system of status vocabularies was executed to varying degrees among
different social classes in different settings. Today this is true more so than ever.
In many instances among those of lower social status, mastery of the vo-
cabularies was incomplete at best and inconsistently applied. Poedjosoedarmo
(2006) reports for this for Javanese as well. The higher one’s social rank and
level of education, the more likely one was to have mastered the respect voca-
bularies and the situations in which each would be considered appropriate. Ad-