Ecolexicon of Kaghati Shape in Muna Speech Community

This article describes the ecolexicon of kaghati shapes in Muna Speech Community (MSC) through ecolinguistic perspective. The kite ‘kaghati’ is one of the traditional games and a tribal cultural product in MSC. The aims of this article are to: 1) find and describe the ecolexicon of kaghati shape; and 2) analyze the dynamics of intergenerational understanding of ecolexicon. The method used in this research is qualitative and supported by quantitative method. The data needed were obtained by observation, interview, and questionnaire methods. Thereafter, the data is reduced and classified based on its ecolexicon. Then, the questionnaire test is conducted upon 150 respondents who were born and lived in Muna regency, Lia Ngkobori and Wali villages. The range of the respondents’ ages was from 15 to 65 years (young, middle, and old generation). Based on data analysis, there were two findings found: (1) the ecolexicon of kaghati shape consist of ten lexicons as nominal and abiotic category, such as bhate gusi, sala bhate, bhate burungo/kura-kura fotu, bhate dhangkonu, bhate dhalebha, bhate tombolai, bhate mboreranga, bhate kamanu-manu, bhate kaensewoka and bhate todo pani. Those lexicons are dilated by the three dimensions of social praxis. (2) There is a different level of understanding about the ecolexicon of kaghati shape. The old generation (46-65 years) has high level of understanding with an average of 88% (very good); the middle generation (25-45 years) with an average of 48% (less); and the young generation (15-24 years) with an average of 11% (very less).