Rhetorical Expressions in Banyuwangi Folk Songs as a Reflection of Osing Cultural Identity

Imam Suyitno; Ary Fawzi; Dwi Sulistyorini; Heni Dwi Arista

doi:10.18290/rh257312.19

Published : 2026-01-14

Vol. 73 No. 12 (2025)

Rhetorical Expressions in Banyuwangi Folk Songs as a Reflection of Osing Cultural Identity

Imam Suyitno

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7733-3637

Ary

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9617-1258

Dwi

https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7267-1609

Heni

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3840-8581

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rh257312.19

Abstract

This study examined rhetorical expressions in Banyuwangi’s folk songs as reflections of Osing cultural identity. The study used a qualitative descriptive approach with an interpretive paradigm. Data were collected through document studies, interviews, and observations. Findings revealed that older song lyrics use rhetorical and figurative language to depict Osing’s daily life, heroism, and moral values. Meanwhile, newer songs employ direct and colloquial language to discuss romance, heartbreak, and social issues while reinforcing norms. The rhetorical style includes metaphors and layered expressions to convey cultural pride, social critiques, and emotions. Banyuwangi folk songs use rhetorical strategies, such as symbolism and allegory, to preserve Osing cultural identity, values, and social commentary through direct and indirect expressions. The study highlights generational shifts, contrasting traditional indirect speech, which fosters harmony, with the direct language favored by younger generations. This evolution in rhetorical forms reflects the tension between cultural preservation and adaptation in response to modern influences.

Keywords:

Banyuwangi folk songs, old song, new song, rhetorical expressions, cultural identity, Osing people, direct speech, indirect speech, generational shifts, cultural preservation

Details

References

Statistics

Authors

Download files

pdf

Altmetric indicators

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

Asaqli, Eisam, and Mariam Masalha. “Folk Songs and How Amal Dunqul Uses Them in His Poetry.” Advances in Literary Study 8, no. 2 (2020): 78–105. https://doi.org/10.4236/als.2020.82008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/als.2020.82008

Asshidiqi, Gilang H., and Irma Agustiana. “Suku Osing, Bentuk Perlawanan Budaya Masyarakat Blambangan terhadap Mataram Islam [The Osing tribe, a form of cultural resistance of the Blambangan community against Islamic Mataram].” Jurnal Penelitian Sejarah Dan Budaya 8, no. 1 (2022): 87–104. https://doi.org/10.36424/jpsb.v8i1.290. DOI: https://doi.org/10.36424/jpsb.v8i1.290

Atalay, Selin, and Gaye Solmazer. “The Relationship Between Cultural Value Orientations and the Changes in Mobility During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A National-Level Analysis.” Frontiers in Psychology, no. 12 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.578190. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.578190

Cipta, Samudra E. “Musik Koplo Sebagai Identitas Kelokalan Baru pada Penggunaan Bahasa Osing Banyuwangi (Berdasarkan Tinjauan Sosio Kultural-Historis) [Koplo music as a new local identity in the use of the Osing language in Banyuwangi (based on a socio-cultural-historical review)].” CERMIN: Jurnal Penelitian 4, no. 1 (2020): 78. https://doi.org/10.36841/cermin_unars.v4i1.517. DOI: https://doi.org/10.36841/cermin_unars.v4i1.517

Creswell, John W. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. 3rd ed. London: Sage, 2013.

Denac, Olga, and Jerneja Žnidaršič. “The Use of Folk Music in Kindergartens and Family Settings.” Creative Education 9, no. 16 (2018): 2856–62. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2018.916214. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2018.916214

Endrayadi, Eko C., and Nawiyanto. “Berjuang dengan Melodi: Musik Banyuwangian sebagai Media Revitalisasi Identitas Using [Struggling with melody: Banyuwangi music as a medium for revitalizing Using identity].” Patra Widya: Seri Penerbitan Penelitian Sejarah Dan Budaya 20, no. 3 (2019): 229–40.

Finnegan, Ruth. Oral Literature in Africa. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2012. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0025

Frisicaro-Pawlowski, Erica. “Rhetorical Ethics and the Language of Virtue: Problems of Agency and Action.” College English 81, no. 2 (2018): 110–132. DOI: https://doi.org/10.58680/ce201829859

Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (Repr.). New York: Basic Books, 2009.

Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora [1990].” In Selected Writings on Race and Difference, edited by Paul Gilroy and Ruth W. Gilmore, 257–71. Durham: Duke University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478021223-016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478021223-016

Hammond, Chad, Wendy Gifford, Roanne Thomas, Seham Rabaa, Ovini Thomas and Marie-Cécile Domecq. “Arts-based Research Methods with Indigenous Peoples: An International Scoping Review.” AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 14, no. 3 (2018), 260–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/1177180118796870. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1177180118796870

Hawk, Hannah. “The Musical Rhetoric of Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone and the Civil Rights Movement.” Master of Arts in Media and Communication Plan II Graduate Projects 14 (2022). https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/ms_smc/14.

Hendar, Jihan T. Ashila, Camelia C. Natalia, Aura Raudhatunnisa, Winda P. Nurastuti, and Muhammad G.N.R. Gumilar. “Pragmatics Analysis on the Classification and Types of Directive Speech Acts in Raya and the Last Dragon Movie.” Review of International Geographical Education Online 11, no. 3 (2021).

Hobsbawm, Eric, and Terence Ranger, eds. The Invention of Tradition (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107295636. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107295636

Jie, Zhang. “Language Mirrors Culture With Speech Styles.” Sino-US English Teaching 12, no. 6 (2015): 464–70. https://doi.org/10.17265/1539-8072/2015.06.008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17265/1539-8072/2015.06.008

Keniger, Lucy E., Kevin J. Gaston, Katherine N. Irvine, and Richard A. Fuller. “What Are the Benefits of Interacting with Nature?” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 10, no. 3 (2013): 913–35. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10030913. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10030913

Khan, Shamus R., and Colin Jerolmack, eds. Approaches to Ethnography: Analysis and Representation in Participant Observation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Kitchenham, Andrew. “The Preservation of Canadian Indigenous Language and Culture through Educational Technology.” AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 9, no. 4 (2013): 351–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/117718011300900406. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/117718011300900406

Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By: With a New Afterword. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226470993.001.0001

Lampe, Ilyas. “Identitas Etnik dalam Komunikasi Politik [Ethnic identity in political communication].” Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi 8, no. 3 (2010): 299–313.

Lissitsa, Sabina, and Tal Laor. “Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y: Identifying Generational Differences in Effects of Personality Traits in On-Demand Radio Use.” Technology in Society 64, (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101526. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101526

Mandel, Anne, and Anu Realo. “Across-Time Change and Variation in Cultural Tightness-Looseness.” PLOS ONE 10, no. 12 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145213. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145213

Martha, I Nengah. “Retorika dan Penggunaannya dalam Berbagai Bidang” [Rhetoric and its use in various fields]. Prasi: Jurnal Bahasa, Seni, dan Pengajarannya 6, no. 12 (2010): 61–71. https://doi.org/10.23887/prasi.v6i12.6828.

Miles, Matthew B., A. Michael Huberman, and Johnny Saldaña. Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook. 3rd ed. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, 2018.

National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). “Beyond Words: The Power of Native Language Revitalization.” Accessed July 1, 2024. https://ncai.org/news/beyond-words-the-power-of-native-language-revitalization.

Omar, Yousiff Z. “The Challenges of Denotative and Connotative Meaning for Second-Language Learners.” ETC: A Review of General Semantics 69, no. 3 (2012): 324–351.

Parada-Cabaleiro, Emilia, Maximilian Mayerl, Stefan Brandl, Marcin Skowron, Markus Schedl, Elisabeth Lex, and Eva Zangerle. “Song Lyrics Have Become Simpler and More Repetitive Over the Last Five Decades.” Scientific Reports 14, no. 1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55742-x. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55742-x

Phipps, E. Brooke. “Culturally Speaking: The Rhetoric of Voice and Identity in a Mediated Culture: by Amanda Nell Edgar, Columbus, The Ohio State University Press, 2019, vii + 212 pp., $29.95 (softcover).” Quarterly Journal of Speech 106, no. 3 (2020): 365–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/00335630.2020.1786630. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00335630.2020.1786630

Pinker, Steven, Martin A. Nowak, and James J. Lee. “The Logic of Indirect Speech.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105, no. 3 (2008): 833–38. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0707192105. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0707192105

Rao, Chandra Sekhar. “A Brief Study of Words Used in Denotation and Connotation.” Journal for Research Scholars and Professionals of English Language Teaching 1, no. 1 (2017).

Roudometof, Victor. “Theorizing Glocalization: Three Interpretations.” European Journal of Social Theory 19, no. 3 (2015): 391–408. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431015605443. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431015605443

Ryabova, Marina. “Politeness Strategy in Everyday Communication.” Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 206 (2015): 90–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.10.033. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.10.033

Savage, Patrick E. “Cultural evolution of music.” Palgrave Communications 5, no. 1 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0221-1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0221-1

Skinner, Andrew S. “Language, Rhetoric, and the Communication of Ideas.” In A System of Social Science: Papers Relating to Adam Smith, edited by Andrew S. Skinner, 7–24. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198233343.003.0002. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198233343.003.0002

Sugiyono. Metode Penelitian Pendidikan [Educational research methods]. Bandung: Penerbit Alfabeta, 2017.

Tariq, Javaria, Nabiha Ishtiaq, Kiran Khalid, Adnan Yousaf, and Naseer Ahmed. “Sociocultural Implications of Language: An Investigation of the Hindrances Caused by Sociocultural Factors on Expressive Discourse.” International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research 10, no. 2 (2019): 1152–78.

Thwala, J. J. “The Significance of the Traditional Ceremony Ummemo, among Swazi.” Studies of Tribes and Tribals 15, no. 1 (2017): 23–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/0972639X.2017.1305234 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0972639X.2017.1305234

Tocalo, Abdul W. I. “Move Structures and their Rhetorical Verbs of Research Article Abstracts across Englishes.” Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics 11, no. 1 (2021): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v11i1.34593. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v11i1.34593

Usman, Jarjani, and Yunisrina Q. Yusuf. “The Dehumanizing Metaphors in the Culture of Acehnese in Indonesia.” Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics 10, no. 2 (2020): 397–405. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v10i2.28611. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v10i2.28611

Varnum, Michael E. W., Jaimie A. Krems, Colin Morris, Alexandra Wormley, and Igor Grossmann. “Why Are Song Lyrics Becoming Simpler? A Time Series Analysis of Lyrical Complexity in Six Decades of American Popular Music.” PLOS ONE 16, no. 1 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244576. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244576

Zulfa, Alfiatus. “Variasi Suku dan Bahasa Osing, Jawa, Madura di Kabupaten Banyuwangi Sebagai Sumber Referensi Pembelajaran Geografi Budaya Berbasis Kearifan Lokal [Variations of the Osing, Javanese, and Madurese tribes and languages in Banyuwangi regency as a reference source for cultural geography learning based on local wisdom].” SENDIKA: Seminar Pendidikan 1, no. 2 (2018): 169–75.