Javanese Master of Ceremony (Pranatacara)

INTRODUUCTION

it is traditionally applicable to javanese people whether or not they live in Javanese island to hold formal events, such as weddings for their douthter or son, corcumcision of their son , or even neighborhood meeting in javanesse. furthermore, in Tanjung Pinang , Riau isles and some other islands outside Java, ther is usually a Kampung Jawa (Javanese Comunity) in which  Javanese is still used as lingua france though only limited to ther elders. javanese young generation most often use indonesian as it facilitates their studies at schools. youngsters normally use javanese of ngoko (lowest) level for their informal chats. 

in central Java and East Java ngoko javanese is still very much used among peers, nothing however, that their javanese varieties differ geographically. normally, Surakarta/ Yogyakarata variety is considered the standard javanese, since tht two cities represent significant regions for Javanese cultural heritage. the farer a region geographically is from Surakarta and Yogyakarta, the more sub-standard varieties of javanese the people use. the differences among Javanese varieties lie at phonological and lexical levels. 

misunderstandings usually occur at lexical rather than phonological levels, characterizing the geographical origin of the people who speak a particular variety of Javanese. Most interestingly, those who originally speak 'sub-standard' varieties of javanese, when living in surakarta or yogyakarta or any regiaon which is nearer the centre of javanese cultural heritage ,will attempt very hard to speak the standard variety of javanese though still maintaining the regionally distinctive geographical differences. this, of course, does not apply to people of high language awareness (linguistics, experts on culture, artists, comedians).

in javanese wedding event or receptino regardless of the geographical location, the following excerpt of a speech by a Pranatacara (javanese master of ceremony), accompanied by a javanese song called 'kebogiro' my be heard.

                                Upacara kirabing penganten saya tambah adi kawuryan  karana sri penganten wus ngagem busana kasatrian  candraane kadya raden dhanang sutawijaya atamajane ki pemanahan, haganti garwanira Dewi Samangkin , ptra putrinipun Sunan Bagus Prawata ing Kalinyamat ameng ind udyana pataman mirsani pustpito ingkang nedeng-nedhengipun ambabar ganda arum (panuntun 2002:22)

the gree or dynamic translation goes as follows: 

                                  the wedding processino is becoming more and more glamorous due to the knight costumes of the newly wedded couple, resembling those of Knight Radhen Dhanang Sutawijaya, the son of Ki Pemanahan, coupled with his wife,m Dewi Samangkin , the doughter of Sunan Bagus Prawata from Kalinyamat, sightseeing in the palace park full of glooming flowers emitting fragant smells. 

javanese people soon recognize that the (part of the) thext above is javanese  even  though they may not be able to fully understand the meaning of the text nor to produce such a text in spoken or written form. this is simply because such a javanese language style is not used in daily communication . even it has been branded 'archaic' or 'frozen' due to its limited uses, such as in wedding receptions or any other formal context of situation. however , it is rich in javanese cultural heritage which should be preseved by  indonesian people as part of their diverse characteristic, particularly of course by the javanese generation as a typical identity.

in this respect, a number of   Pranatacara courses have been established for anyone interseted in the study and practice of such highly invaluable langauge style of javanese. textbooks on this subject have also been written for self reference and guide to how a Pranatacara performs his duty. the use of Javanese traditions in wedding receptions-including the langauge, costumes and rituals-have been practice throughout Java. 

one thing that most of the old generation of javanese people may worry is that such a high literary  style of langauge is not understood by the majority of the javanese people. it is really problematic since there is no obligation whatsoever for the wedding attendatnts (guests) to understand the langauge spoken by the Pranatacara. it is considered as the flowery part of a wedding reception . the audience can simply ignore it even though actually all the beautifull   descriptions of the wedding receptions are designed in such a way as a means of audio medium accompanying the visual activities in a wedding reception . 

in practice, the Pranastacara normally tries to use complicated lexicogrammar (gramatical methapor) with strange archaic words to describe the wedding activities without worrying about the meaning of the message, in his mind-possibly-the more complicated it is, the better since it  resembles the langauge used along time ago in Royal Family contexts. only by few people, such as Dalangs (traditional javanese shadow pupet performers), students of the javanese departement and students of a pranatacara course can such a langauge style of javanese be understood and mastered

rewrite from a book entitled  "SYMBOLISM IN JAVANESE WEDDING"