Kopertis Wilayah X 219 MINANGKABAU WOMEN IN JAKARTA: THEIR PERCEPTIONS OF MINANG LANGUAGE, INDONESIAN LANGUAGE, AND MINANG CULTURE Katharina Endriati Sukamto 1 , * Eunike Sri Tyas Suci 2 1 Fakultas Pendidikan dan Bahasa, Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya, Jl. Jend. Sudirman 51, Jakarta 12930 email: katharina.sukamto@atmajaya.ac.id 2 Fakultas Psikologi, Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya, Jl. Jend. Sudirman 51, Jakarta 12930 * email: eunike.suci@atmajaya.ac.id Abstract Of the so many ethnic groups in Indonesia, the Minangkabau-or Minang-people have the strongest tradition of migration. This ethnic group is also known as the largest matrilineal society in the world (Wikipedia). This qualitative study looks at how the Minang women who live in the surrounding areas of Jakarta perceive the Minang language, Indonesian language, and Minang culture in their daily lives. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with four adult female Minang informants, aged between 39 to 55 years old. This study reveals that the four women no longer perceive the Minang language as important to be maintained. They prefer to use Indonesian in their daily communication, both in the family domain as well as the public domain. In relation to the Minang culture, the four women tend to maintain the egalitarian and democratic principles of the Minang tradition. In fact, the quality of maintaining and passing on the Minang culture to their children depends on the attachment of the women to the culture itself. Keywords: Culture, Language, Minang Women, Perception, INTRODUCTION Minangkabau people, also known as Minang, are the indigenous ethnic group in West Sumatera Indonesia who has a long history to migrate to larger cities all over Indonesia. Of the so many ethnic groups in Indonesia, people from the Minangkabau ethnic background tend to migrate with greater frequency than the other ethnic groups in the country. For men, generally, it is believed that the tradition of marantau ‘migrate’ will give them the opportunity to seek for a better life and future. They believe that success in the “new place” is because they follow the concept of life reflected in their well-known proverbs Alam takambang jadi guru ‘Nature becomes your teacher’ and Dima bumi dipijak, disinan langik dijunjuang “Wherever you stand (on the land), that is when you should hold up the sky.” This means that Minang people are very adaptable to the local custom or situation, and they think that migrating is an important process for them to open their views and to achieve a better life. Arguably, in his study Kato (1982) noted that the number of women who migrated had increased since the middle of the twentieth century. One of the reasons was that more and more women wanted to pursue for higher education in the tanah rantau. Apart from the tradition of marantau, the Minangkabau is also known as one of the largest matrilineal societies in the world. In this system, women play a very important role in the family and the society. A mother is considered as the leader of the family, and she is supposed to be responsible for important matters such as inheritance, rumah gadang ‘traditional communal house’, and many other things. Land and valuable properties are supposed to be passed down from a mother to her daughter(s). A man, on the other hand, is commonly encouraged to go out of the community to seek success, experience, and wealth.