Family as a crucial factor in language maintenance: A case study of banten javanese

Considered a critical institution for maintaining language, family has a significant role in preserving one's mother tongue because it is the first environment where it is learned and the last in which it is spoken. When people are still using their mother tongue among family, it can be said that the language is being maintained; however, the loss of such usage in this environment leads to shifts in identity. This study aims to describe the use of the Banten Javanese language in the family domain in homogenous and heterogeneous societies. The latter is represented by people who live in administrative centers and in the industrial sector, whereas the former is represented by people who live in rural sectors. This study compared language use in the three sectors and limited its examination of use of Banten Javanese to the family domain with social factors including age, sex, level of education, and occupation. The total population included all Banten Javanese speakers; however, the sample was limited to respondents living in the govern-ment/administrative, industry, and village sectors. Quantitative data were taken from questionnaire results, which were analyzed by cross tabulation to calculate the percentage of Banten Javanese speakers based on age, sex, education, and occupation, as well as a Mann Whitney U test to compare differences in language use across sectors. The results show that Banten Javanese is still used at home by the respondents, among whom the most frequent users were females over 40 years of age with an elementary education and who worked in the informal sector. Among the three different sectors, the language was maintained at the highest rates among respondents living in villages. This study has empirically demonstrated the maintenance of language among families, and its findings can help local governments establish policies for preserving the Banten Javanese language as an important element of its speakers' social identity.