The Naming of Subdistricts in Lamongan Regency Indonesia: A Linguistic Anthropology Study
Place-name research has been the interest of researchers in sociolinguistics, semantics, anthropology, and linguistic anthropology for many years. Through place-names, we can find various socio-cultural meanings, historical contextualization, and moral values. Applying linguistic anthropology perspective which emphasizes the significance of language expressions and practices to reveal cultural values and interests, this paper discusses the socio-cultural meaning and historical contextualization of some districts’ names in Lamongan Regency, East Java, Indonesia. For collecting primary data, interviews with community leaders were conducted to explore the oral tradition related to the names of the sub-districts: Sugio, Kembangbahu, Ngimbang, and Sukorame. We also conducted field observations in the sub-districts to identify their recent condition, especially their economic, social, and cultural life. The results of the study show that the socio-cultural meanings of the sub-districts’ names in Lamongan are related to (i) economic and environmental condition; (ii) geographical condition; (iii) historical event; and, (iv) cultural event. However, the process of naming a sub-district is always accompanied by the hope that in the future the sub-district can become a place that provides goodness to its residents.
Keywords: linguistic anthropology, place-name, oral tradition, socio-cultural meaning, Lamongan.
