COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN INDIGENOUS RITUAL NEGOTIATION: EVIDENCE FROM NIAS BRIDEWEALTH DISCOURSE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21009/ishel.v2i1.69132Keywords:
communicative competence, bridewealth negotiation, Nias discourse, ethnography of communication, indigenous speech community, ritual language, Li NihaAbstract
This study examines bridewealth negotiation; Nias discourse; ethnography of communication; indigenous speech community; ritual language; Li Niha Island, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Despite its linguistic richness, no previous study has analyzed böwö through communicative competence or ethnographic communication theory, leaving a significant gap in applied linguistics. This study employs a qualitative ethnographic design grounded in Hymes’ (1974) Ethnography of Communication and Canale and Swain's (1980) communicative competence framework. Data were collected through participant observation across five ritual ceremonies, eight hours of Li Niha discourse recordings, and semi-structured interviews with twenty community members, including ere (ritual spokespersons), family heads, and customary elders. Analysis proceeded through three layers: the SPEAKING model to map speech event structure, the Canale-Swain four-component framework to identify competence manifestations, and thematic analysis to interpret cultural patterns. Findings reveal that amadola (Nias proverbs) function as primary strategic tools encoding collective solidarity, conflict avoidance, and social hierarchy. All four competence components — grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic — are manifested in böwö, with sociolinguistic and strategic competence emerging as most salient. Crucially, the analysis identifies a fifth dimension absent from existing models: ritual-cultural competence, defined as the capacity to deploy genealogical knowledge, ceremonial register, and adat norms as communicative resources. This study extends communicative competence theory into indigenous ritual contexts, contributes primary data from an understudied Austronesian community, and supports documentation and revitalization of Li Niha as living cultural heritage.
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