Traditional Expressions of Social Harmony in Manggarai Society: A Cultural Linguistic Analysis

Abstract

This study explores traditional expressions (go’et) in the Manggarai speech community as linguistic manifestations of social harmony. Using the framework of Cultural Linguistics (Sharifian, 2011; 2017), this research investigates how these oral expressions encode collective cultural conceptualizations such as cultural schemas, metaphors, and categories. The data were collected from Pinggang Village, Cibal District, through interviews, observation, and documentation, involving ten traditional expressions commonly used in social interactions. The findings show that these go’et reflect deeply rooted values of unity, mutual respect within kinship, peaceful conflict resolution, and collective identity. Each expression exhibits rich linguistic forms including parallelism, metaphor, and symbolic imagery, while also functioning as tools for moral instruction, cultural preservation, and social regulation. The analysis reveals that language in Manggarai society is not only a medium of communication but also a repository of communal ethics and social harmony. This research contributes to the understanding of how traditional linguistic expressions function as carriers of cultural knowledge and moral guidance in indigenous communities.