ANALISIS MODALITI ACUAN SEMIOTIK SOSIAL PERTUTURAN MASYARAKAT SELETAR

Research on indigenous languages all over the world are attempts to save these languages from extinction. This paper will discuss one of the indigenous languages in Malaysia which is being threatened with extinction. This language is the Seletar language which is spoken by the Seletar indigenous people, and named after the community. This research uses Social Semiotic theory to discuss speech in the Seletar language. Their speech is discussed by highlighting selected texts based on the Social Semiotics view which regards it as a social process that occurs in situ in daily life. Speech which was recorded was first transcribed and then analysed. The analysis focuses on one aspect of semiotics, that is, modalities. The discussion begins by putting forward several important aspects of modality. Based on Social Semiotics, modality is divided into two parts, which are linguistic modalities and visual modalities. Linguistic modality refers to speech itself (oral), while visual modality refers to non-language aspects (e.g. gestural, kinesics) that accompany speech. In reality, the modalities occur simultaneously and cannot be separated. The division advocated by this theory merely facilitates discussion. The findings of this research show that (1) the assertion of power can occur consciously or otherwise, (2) power is a reality, and, (3) sometimes power is also a fantasy. Based on this premise, Social Semiotics provides a fresh perspective to language research which tends to be confined to a discussion on the oral aspects or le langue. Discussions based on Social semiotics, on the other hand, focuses on non-verbal aspects or le parole.