Tembang Macapat (Macapat Song) is one type of Javanese art that combine poetry with music, advice, counsel, wisdom and a variety of Javanese philosophy of life. In addition, this song has another uniqueness, namely to be decorated with various symbols within which its meaning has to be interpreted. This statement was made by Drs. Dwi Bambang Putut Setiyadi, M. Hum., When implementing an open examination of Linguistic Study Program, Department of Humanities Sciences, Thursday (20/10) in the UGM Faculty of Cultural Sciences.
Setiyadi mentions the discourse of macapat song has special characteristics compared with other types of discourse. Therefore, Setiyadi conducted the research on macapat song for its uniqueness, and specific nature of macapat discourse becomes important for further investigation because it contains phrases which form a cognition system and local wisdom passed by older generation to younger generations of Javanese ethnic. Research on macapat song performed on the former Surakarta Javanese ethnic particularly in the form of education and teaching (piwulang).
From the research results it was revealed that the structure of Tripama, Wulangreh, and Kalatida macapat song discourse have distinctive characteristics. In general, all three have common functions and very useful language functions. "Common functions on the three song as saviors of cultural values, encouragement of hero soul, didactic, historical, and religious. While the function of language in macapat song discourse is as instrumental, representational, interactional, personal, heuristic, and imaginative," said lecturer at the Department of Language, Indonesian and Regional Literature Education (PBS) Widya Dharma University, Klaten.
In his dissertation entitled Macapat Song Discourse as a Discloser of Cognition System and Local Wisdom of Javanese Ethnic Group, Setiyadi said in the Tripama discourse implies exemplary mean in terms of nationalism. Next, Wulangreh implies didactic meaning of ethics and morality teaching in society. While the Kalatidha implies soul uproar of the song composer because of dissatisfaction with the government which has to endure calamity.
"From the semantic meaning, it is also known the implicature/sasmita obtained from three discourses namely the form of the relationship between man and god, country, and another man in the life of Javanese ethnic group as well as to include the human relationship with the environment," the man born in Klaten, this 12 April 1960, explained.
Furthermore, Setiyadi conveys, Tripama, Wulangreh, and Kalathida macapat song discourse can be regarded as discloser of cognition system, because within the discourses there are the concept of Javanese ethnic community’s perception of god, country, man, and nature and the environment. The knowledge system is expressed through song and absorbed into the Java communities’ hearts because it always is hummed in every chance.
"The way to express messages in relations to the man’s three relationship to the other is to insert these phrases containing the positive teachings and negative prohibition in the song’s lines. The expressions later become the local wisdom of Javanese ethnic group,” he concluded.