IMPRESSION IN “I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD” e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 80 e-Journal of Linguistics The Bakayat SpokenText Tradition The Articulation of Religious Value and Social Discourse of Sasak Community in Lombok I Made Suyasa e-mail: kadeksuyasa@gmail.com Muhammadiyah University of Mataram I NyomanWedaKusuma e-mail: wedakusuma@yahoo.com Study Program of Linguistics, School of Postgraduate Studies, Udayana University I NyomanSuarka e-mail: tuarik4@yahoo.com Study Program of Linguistics, School of Postgraduate Studies, Udayana University I NyomanDarma Putra e-mail: idarmaputra@yahoo.com Study Program of Linguistics, School of Postgraduate Studies, Udayana University Abstract This study explored the bakayat spoken-text tradition of the Sasak people in Lombok. The tradition was used as media for preaching on Islamic day, customs and ceremonies, as well as appreciating the folk literature. Malay literary texts that contained religious values were articulated continuously in various social discourses by the community that owned this tradition. The impact of the globalization and the inclusion of various Islamic doctrines in Lombok have threatened the existence of the bakayat tradition and now most Sasak people especially the younger ones are not interested in this tradition. The background explained above has become the main reason why this study was conducted. Moreover, there were still a few studies which had investigated the bakayat tradition in-depth. This present study was focused on the history, structure, function, meaning, and articulation of the religious values and social discourse of the bakayat tradition bySasak people. This research used the descriptive analytical method. The data were analyzed using the interpretive qualitative method. The theories used in this study were the theory narratology proposed by Gerard e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 81 Genette (1986), the theory of articulation proposed by Stuart Hall (1986), the theory of functions, and the theory of semiotics. The results of this study showed that the historical development ofthe Sasakbakayat tradition was characterized by the emergence of Islam in Lombok. It significantly contributed to the existence of bakayat. It was followed by the Islamic Malay literature which was used as the reading material in the bakayat tradition and the media for learning Islam. The historical development of the bakayat Sasak was explained in various aspects such as religious, cultural, political, and social aspects. The structure of the bakayat text was a form of the articulation in spoken style which involved the characteristics of the narrative structure, which was seen from the narrative, rhythmic, and storytelling style. The bakayat tradition had two functions, namelythe manifest function and latent function, and there was a shifting function. The manifest function of the Sasak bakayat tradition was that it was used as the Islamic preaching media, while the latent function was that it was used as the educational, social, economic, and customs media. The shifting function of the tradition was that it was used as an entertainment that described the function of social identity, local knowledge, and competition activity. Based on the cultural and social context, the tradition implied that the bakayat tradition had historical, political, aesthetic, and social significances. The translation during the performance of the tradition was accompanied with the meaning interpretation or review conveyed in Sasak language. Each performance had new meaning interpretation of the text; the dominant meaning of the text was about the singleness of God, negotiation, ambiguity, and rejection. The articulation of the Sasak bakayat text was a form of new meaning. The articulation of the religious value and social discourse of the bakayat text was about the story of Prophet Joseph made up of the spoken-text form using the typical Sasak song. Keywords: text, oral traditions, articulation, bakayat, Sasak community. I. INTRODUCTION Bakayat is a tradition of Sasak people in Lombok in a form of reading the saga/poetry by singing (menembangkan), translating and interpreting the text in Sasak language alternately by the singer (pemace) and interpreter (bujangge). This tradition has a long history. From the data, it could be identified that this tradition started approximately in 16th century or in early 17th century and it still continues today (Jamaluddin, 2011: 63-88). The demand to perform this tradition was scarce;the demand was usually made by the e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 82 parents living in rural areas as well as in the specific communities of urban areas, which still adhere to the past traditions and customs. Bakayat was originally used as a medium for converting people to be Islam by mubaliq that came to the Lombok island. Bakayat tradition was originally performed on the anniversary of Islamic holidays (PHBI) as the Prophet's Birthday and Isra 'Mi'raj to remind people of God almighty as well as to introduce the prophet’s contribution to the spread of Islam. As time passed by, bakayatwas used in some of religiousrituals performed by the Sasak people such as ngurisang (haircut baby), nyiwa (The 9th day of death celebration), marriage, beretes (7th month celebration of firstborn ), Hajj celebration, and circumcision ritual. Later on, this tradition continueddeveloping along with the dynamismof the community in various aspects of life. The bakayat spoken-text tradition in its development was used as the media for appreciatingthe Sasak literature in the spoken-text form. The performer of the bakayat tradition articulated the text in various forms, from the delivery, the translation which was accompanied with interpretation, utilization, as well as the response to and the attitude towards bakayat. The phenomenon of bakayat is significant to be explored in order to describe its existence in the Sasak community where the majority of the people are Muslims. Nowadays, the bakayat tradition as the spoken-text has not been studied in the form of research. Today, the bakayat tradition of Sasak faces the effect of globalization and the influence of the new ideology and doctrine (Islam). Such impacts decreased the support given by the community and the regeneration of the bakayatSasak tradition. The negative view from the Islamic puritanical groups toward the bakayat was that tradition it was consideredbid’ah andkhurafat, causing the people who performed this tradition to decrease. According to Ikram (1998: 7) art hikayat bakayat passing is less attractive to the young and no visible effort is made to preserve it. The condition is still going on and no rescue effort has been made by the stakeholders. Such reasons made most of its community abandon the bakayat tradition. Therefore, it was necessary to explore the attitude of the e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 83 community in accordance with the ideology they hold of the existence of the bakayat tradition today. Bakayat , as a cultural practice performed by the Sasak people, is derived from Malay literature, and can still be found to exist in spite of the decrease in the audience in the community of Sasak Muslim majority. Nowadays, the Islam religion learning has been replaced by other media; it has been learnedthrough the electronic media, as well as through the formal and non-formal educational institutions. Therefore, before the bakayat Sasak tradition loses its function and value, it was necessary to undertake research on this tradition. Moreover, few studies have been conducted about this tradition. Based on several reasons explained above, the problems in this study were about thebakayat historical development, the structure of the bakayat text, the function of bakayat, the meaning of bakayat, and the articulation of the religious value and social discourse in the bakayat tradition of the Sasak people in Lombok. The aim of this study was to analyze the spoken-text of bakayat in the form of performances performed by the Sasak community in order to solve the problem and inspire the community to preserve and economically use this tradition to contribute to the reinforcement of the Indonesian people’s character. II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE, CONCEPT AND THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK The Bakayat tradition has been in existence since a long time ago, but the research related with this tradition was still limited. Some studies have been conducted on this oral- text of bakayat tradition. There were three researchers who hadexplored this tradition. They are Ikram (1989), Sapiin (2010), and Acim and Ahyar (2011). However, there had been no specific study which investigated bakayat in the form of the oral-text. In addition, there are several studies and writings that discussed the development of the Sasak written literature that can be used as references in this present study. Such studies include some works done by Suastika (1997), Adrian Vickers (2009), and Jamaluddin (2011). Although the results of thestudies which had been conducted on the oral-text tradition are not the same, there is a related study conducted by Darma Putra (2013). e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 84 As there were stilla few studies which had been conducted to explore the bakayatspoken-text tradition and the dynamism of the bakayat tradition of the Sasak people, the researcher was encouraged to conduct this present study. It is important to undertake this research as the data and information obtained were more comprehensive in various aspects of the bakayat Sasak tradition development in Lombok as the material of the study. The term spoken-text tradition should be distinguished from the term the oral literature. According toHutomo in Sudikan (2001: 14) and Sibarani (2012: 36), the spoken- text tradition can be expressed as the oral tradition from oral literature if it contains aesthetic elements and is delivered with performances. Based on the opinion above, it can be stated that the Sasak bakayat tradition is an oral-text tradition. The word “bakayat” is derived from the word Kayat with prefix ba- which means “to do”, the word Kayat in-Sasak language has the same meaning ashikayat (saga). Bakayat means an activity of reading the saga. In addition, the other terms such as ngayat, Kayat, nyaer, Koran Kayat are frequently used which is interpreted as reading the bible (the Koran) by singing it. The word bakayat in Sasak language was initially used in the eastern part of Lombok in the beginning of its development. But in the other parts of Lombok bakayat is pronounced bekayat. It is a combination of the morphemebe- andthe morpheme –kayat. The morphemebe- likely tended to change in the Sasak language into the morpheme ng-; therefore, the term bakayat is also commonly pronounced as ngayat which means reading the saga (Saharudin , 2012: 252). The term articulation has double meaning, 'articulate' means to say, speaking toward, speech, expression, and so on; while 'be articulated' means to connect the front (cab) with the rear end (trailer). The two parts are connected to each other, but through a special connection it can be disconnected. Therefore, the articulation is a form of connection that can unite two different elements on certain circumstances. It is a relationship that does not need to be determined; it is not absolute and essential all the time (Hall, 1986: 141). Bakayat Sasak, asa text, contains religious values; it cannot be denied that the text has divinity and spiritual values. The religious value of the text of bakayat was traced through its relation to the social discourse of the practice of the bakayatspoken-text tradition. e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 85 The terms 'discourse' and 'text' are often confusedly used. Some people think that both terms are the same and are used interchangeably. Discourse and text are used to refer two different orientations of the language. Text is considered the application of some parts of the language which are concerned with the linguistic aspect without being concerned with the communicative situation. Discourse refers to a language use which is analyzed from the perspective of communicative situation (Nunan, 1992: 19). From that perspective, the text is oriented towards the language itself while discourse is concerned with spoken language. From the definition, it can be seen that there is implicit relationship between the writing and the text. If the work of writing is a spoken language (in written form), then the text willbe a discourse (oral) which is transformed into a text form as in bakayat. The word 'Sasak' is a term for the original name of the tribe or ethnic group that inhabits the Lombok Island. The majority of Sasak people are Muslims. From the anthropological perspective, it is known that there are Islam waktulima andislamwaktutelu. The difference is in the implementation of the Shari'ah. The Sasak people in this research are the community of Islamwaktulima at MapakDasan village, West Lombok andand BelatungMataram. In research theories are needed as the requirement to solve some issues in the research. In this present study the theory of articulation, the theory of discourse, the theory of function, and the semiotic theory were used. These theories were used to analyze all the existing problems in the study. The theoryof Articulation developed by Stuart Hall (1986) was used to reveal the form and meaning made bythe performer of Bakayatwho interpreted the text that contain religious values and social discourse. The theory of discourse was used to examine the structure of the text as presented by Gerard Genette (1986: 47). There are five key points namely; order, duration, frequency, mode, and speech. The analysis in this study was focused on speech or the narrative sound. The text of bakayat tended to utilize several aspects beyond languages, such as: song and how it was translated which affected the storytelling. The function and change in function of thebakayat text were analyzed using the function theory developed by Merton (in Kaplan and Manner 1999: 79), which states that there are manifest and latent functions. In addition, the theory of functions proposed by Bascom was also used to analyze the latent function as well as to see a change in its function. To e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 86 analyze the meaning of the bakayat text, the semiotic theory proposed by Umberto Eco (2009) was used. It is stated that aesthetics is related to non-semiotic aspects of art, such as: the psychology of artistic creativity, the relation between artistic and natural forms, definitions, physical-psychological of aesthetic satisfaction, analysis on the relationship between art and society (Eco, 2009: 40-41 ). Eco also explains that each code has elements which are not possibly used aesthetically. Semiotics can be used to interpret several signs including thebakayatSasak as a cultural practice. III RESEARCH METHOD This present study is a qualitative one, which is intended to understand the phenomenon of what is experienced by the research subject. This research was conducted at several locations in the island of Lombok, especially atMapak village. The data source was the performance of bakayat by the performer of bakayat and Sasak people. The data were in the form of audio recordings completed with photos, audio and interviews from the informants (actor) and the viewers / listeners. The data in this study were collected through participatory observation, in-depth interview, group discussion which was held before and after the performance as well as documentation. After the data were collected, the data were transcribed and translated into Indonesian before being analyzed interpretatively and qualitatively. The main data included the text of bakayat discourse performed at the village and its relationship with the context as well as customary and religious rituals performed by the Sasak community as a whole as a nonverbal environmentunderpinning the bakayat meaning. The data were analyzed inductively. The results of the analysis were presented formally and informally. IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Based on the analysis in this study, it can be described as follows. First, the historical development of bakayat Sasak was characterized by the emergence of Islam in Lombok which contributed to the significant meaning of the bakayat existence. The development of Islam in Lombok was followed by the work of Islamic literature such as e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 87 Javanese and Malay literary works as the medium for learning Islam in order to strengthen the people’s faith. Bakayat as a spoken-text tradition was created by utilizing the Islamic Malay literature accepted in the Sasak community. It spread through many aspects such as the religious, cultural, political, and social aspects. Such aspectscould not be separated from the historical record of the Sasak people in the time of the existence of bakayat spoken- text tradition. The development of bakayat tradition contributed to the rise of the community fanaticism of the importance of Islamic nuanced art. Bakayat was not only used as a medium for learning Islam and preaching in mosques or schools, but it was used as the ritual in some customs and religious of the Sasak people. Thebakayat tradition was not available in the forms of cassette tape, video cassette, VCD / DVD documented by the local government and was not commercially sold. There was no official group or organized group of performers of this tradition that had permanent members. They gathered before the performance began. The ideology which is intended to purify Islam assumes that this tradition contains old belief and syncretism such as bid’ahand khurafat. The practice of bakayat tradition which was considered the spoken-text tradition was no longer relevant to the Islamic teaching in kafahway. Bakayat in its development had entered the realm beyond tradition; starting from when the local government held bakayat competition in the anniversary of a district or a particular national commemoration day. Second, the structure of the bakayat text, as a spoken text, had a form of presentation and narrative structure. The form of the presentation of the Bakayat text was classified based on the usage, reference, and communication channels. The bakayat text structure, as a narrative text, was the story, as shown by KNY, which consisted of several episodes. In the story, the bakayat text was delivered orally in a narrative way as proposed by Gerard Genette (1988: 13-20). The rhythm of the narrative text of bakayat was delivered through typical song rhythmof bakayat and translated intosasakbypemace, followed by cerek and nyarup which described the mood of the performer or readers. The telling style of the story of bakayat text could be seen from the reader’s mood which was illustrated by the storytelling style as a form of the articulation of the bakayat text. e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 88 Dateng dateng malaekat Jibrail tipaq leq nabi Allah Yusuf terus iye bebase malaekat Jibrail to leq nabi Allah Yusuf ee Yusuf ni kudatengan kunyampeang salam deside Allah Ta’ala tipaq leq side iye unin malaekat Jibrail saq to leq nabi Allah Yusuf. (Come ... come the angel Gabriel to meet prophet Joseph, then Gabriel talk to the prophet Joseph, "O .. Joseph my arrival is to convey the message of Allah Ta'ala to you," said the Gabriel to the prophet Joseph). Iye unin firman deside Allah Ta’ala lalo bait sambut Zuleha no bait ye jok bale iye ling pe ling malaekat Jibrail saq matur tipaq leq nabi Allah Yusuf malaekat Jabrail no. (Allah Ta'ala said, "Take SitiZulaeha and Fetch Zulaeha at home" said Gabriel to the Prophet Yusuf). Source: quoted from the text of 09.10, the performance of bakayat in Mapak village, Mataram. Both the texts above explain that the figure represents the performer acting as the Gabriel the angel who delivered the message of Allah Ta'ala. The reader of the story told Prophet Joseph that Gabriel came to see him to speak the word of Allah to order Joseph to pick up Siti Zulaeha and marry her immediately because God had blessed them both in marriage in the sky. Third, bakayat as one of the spoken-text traditions of the Sasak people has several functions, both manifest and latent functions. The Bakayat Sasak manifest function is the function as the media for preaching Islam, while the latent function is the function as educational media, social media, economic media, and as media for preserving the customs. Such functions were decreasing lately. The change in function was caused by the emergence of new articulation in society towards the cultural practices such as the entertaining function that was related to the social identity, local knowledge, and competition. The change in function which is associated with the local knowledge is shown in the following text. Two or three days after that Na jari na iye saq te turut isiq ite saq jari te, pertame-tame te paran gawe dai, siq kedue gawe beleq siq ke telu rebaq jangkih sangkaq telu jelo pegawe nabi Allah Yusuf oleq gawe dai keriapan ling teparan gawe beleq jelon gawe ling teparna ne rebaq jangkeh pedaq abu ne base lauq na iye ntan nabi Allah Yusuf ampoq te turut isiq iye sebegawean te sampe dateng lengan gawe daiq gawe beleq terus jok rebaq jangkeh, semeno ntan nabi Yusuf saq te turut isiq ita ne. (That is our tradition that we have inherited until now, firstly it is a small party (gawe dai), the second one is gawe beleq, the third one is perebaqjangkih. That’s e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 89 why it is held in three days as prophet Joseph did in the past. The initial procession is a small party followed with big parties then it is ended with rebaqjangkih; in South Lombok language it is referred to as pedaqashes. That is the Prophet Joseph’s heritage. All of these traditions were inherited from Prophet Joseph when He held marriage). Source: quoted from the text 27 and 28, bakayat performance in Mapak village, Mataram. The quoted text above articulates the saga text from the view of Sasak culture and customs in order to maintain harmony and continuity of the marriage customs which are implemented by the Sasak community. The story teller deliberately conveyed the text in order to makethe good habit in the community implemented continuously to preserve the indigenous culture as a form of local wisdom. Fourth, referring to the function of bakayat in Sasak people fromthe sociocultural context, it implies several meanings. They are religious meaning, social, historical, political, and aesthetic meaning. The religious meaning is concerned with the greatness of Allah SWT and as the supreme ruler of the universe and as the source of moral and spiritual strength to preserve the community’s life. The conceptualization of religious preaching in bakayat has developed into several meanings among theSasak people. All of these are described in the bakayat text of Prophet Joseph through the religious customs and behavior of the character. The character in the story taught social aspects, the history of prophet, how to become a leader from the political aspect, and aesthetic atmosphere when bakayat was delivered. Fifth, the articulation of the religious values and social discourse in bakayat Sasak was integrated into the story of Prophet Joseph which is told in various texts as in the Qur'an, the Old Testament, Takepan Sasak, Qissas al Anbiya, and some books which contain different descriptions. In bakayat Sasak, the source of the written text was created from Qissas al anbiya book. This book is an adapted book. The verbalization of the bakayat text is the way of articulating the saga Malay texts. In the verbalization of the bakayat text, the concepts used by the performer of bakayat in its presentation are the song, cerek, nyarup, translation and interpretation / review. The form of its delivery was formed as a unity with the meaning of the text. Every performance gavenew meaning to the text e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 90 presented, including the dominant meaning of the singleness of God, the meaning of the text bakayat negotiations, bakayat text ambiguity and the meaning of the bakayat text rejection. The existence of Sasak bakayat led to some perspectives in society. It was claimed that the existence Sasak religious rituals deviated from the Quran and Hadith. Therefore, the tradition was stated to be bid’ah hasanah. If this opinion grows among the young generation without any attempt to find a solution to it from the stakeholders, sooner or later this bakayat tradition will get extinct. V CONCLUSION, FINDING AND SUGGESTION Based on the analysis of the historical development, structure, function, meaning, and text articulation of the bakayat Sasak, it can be concluded that bakayat is the literary spoken-text tradition; it is delivered narratively and becomes the aesthetic media for articulating various social discourses. Bakayat as a spoken-text tradition has a long history. In its development the tradition was influenced by the dynamic change taking place in society. The emergence of Islam in Lombok significantly contributed to the meaning for the existence of bakayat. Bakayat Sasakwas widely recognized by society, especially the Muslims waktulima and was used in several traditional and religious rituals. However, the impact of globalization and new Islamic ideologies caused bakayat to become a marginalized tradition and to get extinct in the future. Bakayat text structures can be classified based on the usage, reference, communicative channels, and the narrative structure. Bakayat text structure, as a narrative text, consisted of some episodes. The episodes were presented in accordance with the purposes of the implementation of bakayat. The structure of the text was seen from the written text of speech or the narrative voice. The storytelling style used a song followed with translation. The structure of the text form such as narrative, the rhythm of the storytelling, e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 91 and storytelling style described the mood of the bakayat performer. The reader described the text through the rhythm of the song accompanied with cerek and nyarup, while the storyteller translated and interpreted the text with his style as a narrator and the character at the same time. In the bakayat Sasak the text and characteristics of the Sasak culture social context got mingled and had several functions. The functions included the function as media for religious preaching as manifest function and educational function including the projection system, social media, economic media, media for preserving traditions and customs as thelatent function. The development of the owner of the tradition and external influencescaused bakayat to be articulated. This led to change in the function of bakayat, such as the entertaining function which described the social identity, local knowledge, and competition. The function of bakayat Sasak in the social and cultural context as well as the study of texts, cultural code, and aesthetics implied that the meaning of the text bakayatcannot be separated fromthe story of Prophet Joseph. This involved religious meaning, social, historical, political, and aesthetic meanings. The religious meaning revealed the greatness of Allah, the Almighty God with all His commandments. The conceptualization of the religious preaching in bakayat changed into social, historical, political and aesthetic meanings among the Sasak people. The articulation of the religious value and social discourse of the bakayat text took place through the understanding of the text which was associated with the ritual performed and gave new meaning to the text. The text was interpreted by showing the dominant meaning of the singleness of God, the meaning of the text bakayat negotiations, the bakayat text ambiguity and the meaning of the text bakayat rejection. In addition, there were several pro and cons responses from the Sasak people toward the bakayat tradition with different arguments. This study presents the findings which are formulated as follows. 1) There was change in the practice of reading bakayat in the last three decades. By using the articulation theory in the analysis, it was found that bakayat tradition was originally performed for religious preaching, and was used to articulate social problems. The socio- e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 92 cultural aspects articulated in bakayat made this tradition more contextual with the religious life of the community. 2) The novelty ofbakayat function is that it focused more on the change in function that occurred as the articulation of the owner of this tradition. In this present study, it was found that the manifest function was no longer used. The latent function changed because there was rearticulation of the bakayat text. The function that changed resulted from the political aspect such as the emergence of entertaining function, competition, local knowledge, and social identity. The function was not based on the original function of this tradition as implied by Bascom and Alan Dundes. Therefore, the analysis on the functions in this study is more comprehensive. 3) Empirically, it was found that the development of bakayat was not fully using the typical Malay song. Since the 1990s, the song began to use the sasak song and macapatan which was commonly used as a form of creativity in pepaosan by the bakayat performer. It made bakayat more creative, preserve the local song, closer to its community and young people. Furthermore, bakayat was also performed in mosques but now the presentation can be found in various places, such as at the houses of Sasak people and on the stage of competition. Some suggestions related to the present study areas follows. First, the researcher and culture observer should help preserve the spoken-text tradition of Sasak people through various studies. It is gettingextinct. It is expected thatthere is a solution to synchronizing the tradition with globalization and technologyin order to anticipate the extinction. Second,educational institutions as one of the institutions should be responsible for maintaining the continuity of the several cultural practices of Sasak people; they are expected to preserve it through teaching and learning activities at various levels of education. Third, the government and society are expected to participate in preserving the bakayat Sasak spoken-text tradition through the implementation of religious customs, competition and parade of spoken-text art. The government can periodically e-Journal of Linguistics Support DOAJ Directory Open Access Journal http://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol Vol. 11. Na. 1. January 2017 ISSN: 2442-7586 (Online) ISSN: 2541-5514 (Print) Page: 80--93 Accreditation:-- 93 organizesome competitions and it is suggested that Sasak people should preserve the traditional religious rituals by organizing bakayat as a complementary ritual. .