Communication Patterns in the Ageman Keris Making Process in Besalen Buwana Aji Kalingga: an Ethnography of Communication Study

¹ School of International Letters and Cultures, Arizona State University, Tempe ̶ Arizona
² Master Program of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University, Semarang ̶ Indonesia
³ Master Program of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University, Semarang ̶ Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: nurhayati@lecturer.undip.ac.id

Abstract

Keris is one of the cultural products in the form of a dagger originating from Java. Keris is still made today as can be seen in Besalen Buwana Aji Kalingga which is owned by Empu Afrizal Fadli Azizi, S.Kom.I. He uses various processions including uttering mantras containing cultural meaning that form a series of verbal and non-verbal communication patterns. This attracts researchers to examine the patterns more deeply through an ethnography of communication approach to analyze the forms and patterns of communication that occur in the ageman kerises making process in Besalen Buwana Aji Kalingga. The descriptive qualitative study was conducted using the theory of communication patterns from Dell Hymes. The researcher found that prayers and mantras in the ageman kerises making process have a distinctive communication pattern, greeting-thankful-begging for a prayer at the wiwitan stage and greeting-declaration at the pembabaran stage. Furthermore, there is assimilation between Arabic and Javanese, a characteristic of the register of spelling language in Javanese culture. This happened because of the efforts to spread and introduce Islam in the past. Now, it has become a tradition in Javanese culture.