COLOUR NAMES IN MADURESE THROUGH SEMANTIC AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS FOR LANGUAGE POLICY AND PLANNING

Abstract

Languages divide colour into named categories, yet the Madurese system has received little systematic attention. The only available classification places Madurese at stage IV of the sequence of Berlin and Kay and treats the terms for blue and brown as Dutch loans. This study aimed to document how Madurese speakers name gradations of colour, to identify the Berlin and Kay stage that the system supports, and to consider the implications for corpus planning in schools. A descriptive qualitative design was used. The data came from interviews with Madurese speakers in Bangkalan, Sampang, Pamekasan, Sumenep, and the Tapal Kuda region, from the traditional verse meggha' bhalabbhar, and from the native competence of the author. Each colour name was interpreted through its dictionary meaning and the semantic triangle, ordered by brightness and saturation, and placed on the Berlin and Kay sequence before a sociolinguistic reading was made. The analysis identified 42 colour names built on nine base terms, in which physical terms such as dárá, bucco', and lange' mark differences in brightness and saturation. The overlap of blue and green in bhiru is a pattern found in many languages, and the system is consistent with stage VII and not stage IV. The physical terms come from cooking, planting, fishing, breeding, and crafting, which supports a moderate reading of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. The colour names offer material for dictionaries and teaching materials, and a less familiar term such as eju could be revitalised through corpus planning.