Acehnese’s language attitude

This qualitative study focused on understanding an 85-year-old female and a 16-year-old male's attitudes toward the Acehnese language and Indonesian language and whether youngsters and Acehnese used by elders use a gap between Acehnese. Data collected through interviews were analysed using a framework of three categories: language use, expression of language identity and efforts to revitalize Acehnese. The grandmother has a positive language attitude toward Acehnese, proving that she proudly uses Acehnese in her everyday life. She believes that Acehnese is part of her identity. She said that she has a negative attitude toward the Indonesian language, which seems to change gradually. To revitalize Acehnese, she intentionally uses several forms of language expression, such as idiom and Acehnese term. The grandson also considered himself an Acehnese people even though he rarely speaks Acehnese. He rarely speaks Acehnese because his community, like school and friends, uses Indonesian. However, the younger and elder generations believe they are still Acehnese people. Data from the interview was insufficient to define whether the grandson used a gap between Acehnese and Acehnese used the grandmother. However, a lot of confusion and misunderstanding happens in the conversation.