Expressing Condolences to Obituaries in a Whatsapp Group of Lecturers

EXPRESSING CONDOLENCES TO OBITUARIES IN A WHATSAPP GROUP OF LECTURERS

EKSPRESI BELASUNGKAWA TERHADAP BERITA DUKA PADA SATU GRUP WHATSAPP DOSEN

Yuliani Kusuma Putri, Asep Achmad Muhlisian Sekolah Tinggi Bahasa Asing Yapari-ABA, Jalan Cihampelas No. 194 [email protected]

ABSTRACT This study is aimed to investigate condolence strategies used by a group of Indonesians lecturers to obituaries announced in a WhatsApp group. The study seeks to answer kind of condolence strategies used by the members and the condolence sequences expressed by the members. Since data are gathered from a computer mediated communication, i.e. instant messaging, this study uses a netnopragmatic approach, an approach to studying the use of language in online communities, coined from netnography research method, an ethnographic research done in online communities. The study shows that the members mostly recite Quranic verses and pray for God’s mercy and forgiveness for the deceased in expressing their condolences. The result is due to the faith that most members have, i.e. Islam, which teaches them to pray when they first hear bad news. It can be clearly seen that expressing condolences is influenced by the faith of the condolence giver; not the religion that the deceased held. Keywords: Computer Mediated Communication, Condolence, Netnography, Netnopragmatics, Pragmatics

ABSTRAK Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis strategi dalam mengekspresikan belasungkawa yang diungkapkan anggota dari satu grup dosen di Indonesia sebagai respons terhadap berita duka yang diumumkan melalui grup WhatsApp. Penelitian ini mengkaji jenis dan urutan strategi belasungkawa tersebut. Karena data diambil dari komunikasi bermedia komputer, yaitu pesan instan, pendekatan netnopragmatik digunakan dalam kajian ini. Netnopragmatik yang diambil dari metode netnografi merupakan pendekatan yang menganalisis penggunaan bahasa pada komunitas daring. Studi ini menunjukkan anggota grup WhatsApp sering mengekspresikan belasungkawa dengan mengucapkan ayat Al-Quran yang dilanjutkan dengan mendoakan almarhum agar dosanya diampuni Tuhan YME. Hal ini terjadi karena agama yang dianut mayoritas anggota grup tersebut adalah agama Islam yang mengajarkan pemeluknya untuk berdoa saat mendengar kabar buruk. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan ekspresi belasungkawa dipengaruhi oleh agama yang dianut pemberi belasungkawa, bukan dipengaruhi agama yang dianut almarhum. Kata kunci: Komunikasi bermedia komputer, Belasungkawa, Netnografi, Netnopragmatik, Pragmatik

INTRODUCTION phones, making what is called ‘smart- Technological advancement has phones’. brought about changes in communi- This distant communication us- cation. Those changes include distant ing smartphones is named computer me- communication replacing and/or preced- diated communication or CMC. CMC ing face-to-face communication. Sev- is a type of communication taking place eral tools used for distant communica- using a computer or network (Kozinets, tion include, but not limited to, corded 2010). CMC can be conducted using not phones, mobile phones, and computers. only smartphones, but also personal com- With technological inventions, comput- puters or laptops. However, smartphones ers have even been integrated to mobile are preferred because of their simplicity,

342 Yuliani Kusuma Puti, dkk.| Expressing Condolences to..... 343 practicality, and compactness. culture, each culture might express the Smartphones have intrigued in- condolences differently. In Indonesia, ventors to create smartphone applica- with the vast majority of Muslims, con- tions to even ease users to communicate. dolences may be given to the relatives of There are abundant applications for users the deceased ones, or simply expressed to use for communication, ranging from on the media that the obituaries are an- mobile version social media apps to in- nounced. The expression of condolences, stant messengers. Some of these apps in a pragmatic point of view, is catego- even allow users to create online groups rised into the speech act of expressive, so that they can broadcast information because it is used to explain psychologi- fast and easily. These online groups, also cal behaviour of the speaker towards one known as virtual communities, do not occasion (Searle, 1969). depend upon time, place, physical or ma- In offering condolences, there are terial environments (Dijk, 2006). certain strategies used such as praying for When people join online groups God’s mercy and forgiveness (Al-Shboul on their instant messengers, they can re- & Maros, 2013). Upon hearing death an- ceive and send information right away. nouncements, most Indonesian speakers They can even forward the information will automatically pray that God forgive they receive to other online groups which the deceased to express their condolence. they participate in. Information which This research seeks to find out the speech people broadcast through messenger act of expressive in a WhatsApp group, groups varies from news to announce- focusing on Indonesian condolences ments. Nowadays, people choose to given by the members of the WhatsApp broadcast announcements via messenger group as responses to obituaries, with the groups instead of social media groups, simply because people open their instant following research questions. messengers more often than their social 1. What kind of condolence strategies media accounts. In Indonesia, giving an- do group members use? nouncements through messenger group 2. What strategy sequence do group broadcast such as obituaries has become members give in expressing their a common activity. Moreover, giving re- condolences? sponses to such obituaries via the same 3. What other classifications of speech messenger group is as usual as broadcast- acts given within the condolence ing the obituaries. Indonesians favour strategies? giving both obituaries and the responses through messenger groups because it is There are several studies on obit- faster than putting the obituaries on the uaries and condolences to respond to obit- newspapers and/or social networking uaries. One of the studies on obituaries sites such as Facebook. As Indonesians conducted by Aremu (2011) was aimed are majority Muslims, it is recommend- to find out the socio-pragmatic usage of ed that they spread death announcements language in obituaries in Nigerian En- to people who are close to the deceased. glish (NE). Aremu concluded that obit- Those who hear the announcement usu- uaries of NE are mostly characterised by ally respond to them immediately. idioms, hedges, euphemisms, code-mix- The responses given to obituaries ing, code-switching, metaphors, and lex- are known as condolences. Condolences ical borrowings. Studies on condolences, are expressed in response to death anon the other hand, are mostly aimed to nouncements. Although offering condo- find out the interjections and intensifiers lences is common in every language and used in expressing condolences (Mogh- 344 Jurnal Sosioteknologi | Vol. 18, No 3, Desember 2019 addam, 2012) and analyse the strategies used to study “people’s linguistic prac- in giving condolences (Al-Shboul & Ma- tices online –the ways they are actually ros, 2013; Farnia, 2008; Lotfollahi & Es- interacting and conversing with each lami-Rasekh, 2011). Different from the other” (Thurlow et al. 2004, p. 120)(the- three previous research mentioned, this ory, the most suitable approach to use study investigates the sequence of strate- is netnopragmatics, short from netno- gies used by Indonesians whose profes- graphic pragmatics (Putri, 2016). This sion is lecturer in expressing condolences approach is opted because it is in line in response to obituaries published in with Kozinet’s pragmatic interactionist their WhatsApp group. This study takes approach in which the unit of analysis condolence strategies proposed by Al- includes the speech act or utterance. Net- Shboul and Maros (2013). Moreover, nopragmatics adapts Kozinet’s research this study explores the other classifica- steps, they are 1) planning and entree, 2) tions of speech acts consisting within the condolence strategies, which belong to data collection, 3) data analysis, 4) re- the speech act of expressive. search ethics, and 5) representation and This research contributes to the evaluation. Netnopragmatics also relates field of pragmatics, especially interac- participants’ utterances to their types of tions conducted on the network. The participation and the ties between mem- study is beneficial in enriching the variety bers. of analyses of speech acts on the Inter- Data were collected from a net and stimulating interest among lan- WhatsApp group consisting of 38 partic- guage observers to continue conducting ipants. All members are lecturers at Se- similar study. In addition, this research kolah Tinggi Bahasa Asing Yapari-ABA is also practically useful in familiaris- whose religions are Islam, Protestantism, ing Indonesian condolences to learners and Catholicism, with majority Muslim of Indonesian language and proposing a participants (33 Muslims, 3 Protestants, new approach of data collection through and 2 Catholics). The members’ religions interactions, which is more reliable than affect the choice of strategies they use to DCTs, role plays, and/or questionnaires. express condolences. There are 6 obituaries collected within five months and 68 METHOD responses in total. In order to keep the Since this study examines an ex- confidentiality of participants’ identi- isting phenomenon, i.e. the language use ties, WhatsApp numbers are hidden and between participants of an online group names are written in initials. through CMC, the best method to use Observation and screen capture is ethnography. Some terms on ethno- were used to collect the data. Data are graphic studies conducted to online par- named orderly from the dates the conver- ticipants are, but not limited to, ‘virtual sation took place. They were then cod- ethnography’ (Hine, 2000), ‘Computer ed using the coding manual proposed by Mediated Discourse’ or CMD (Her- Saldaña (2009), which consist of three ring 2001), and netnography (Kozinets, steps: 1) open coding, 2) axial coding, 2010). Meanwhile, the term used in this and 3) selective coding. Condolence data study is Kozinet’s netnography or net- are openly coded based on the research work ethnography because it is the most questions to find out the patterns in the relevant with this research. utterances. Afterward, the coded data are Since netnography can also be elaborated using explanatory paragraphs referred to theories. Yuliani Kusuma Puti, dkk.| Expressing Condolences to..... 345

Speech Acts and Politeness ing the utterance varies, since the speak- An action carried out through an er wants to maintain a good relationship utterance is called speech act. The term between him and the hearer. Politeness ‘speech act’ was first introduced by Aus- phenomena are put into practice because tin (1962) who claimed that there was a they are the “exercise of language choice specific purpose or act beyond an utter- to create a context intended to match ance given by the speaker. Austin pro- the addressee’s notion of how he or she posed three levels of speech acts: (1) should be addressed” (Grundy, 2000, locutionary act, which is the actual utter- p. 145). Brown and Levinson add that ance made up of syntactic and semantic speech acts potentially threaten both the features; (2) illocutionary act, which is speaker and the hearer’s faces because the true meaning of the utterance consist- somehow they violate either the speaker ing of acts performed via that utterance; or the hearer’s deference (in Ogiermann and (3) perlocutionary act, which is the 2009, p. 11). It is therefore important to utterance’s actual effect on the hearer. know what kind of politeness and what Nevertheless, the study of speech acts kind of face implemented in one culture. basically focuses on the second level, i.e. Indonesian culture is one of many illocutionary act. others applying negative politeness in in- There are five classifications of teractions, which can be shown from the speech acts proposed by Searle (1969) length of an utterance given by a speaker. which are the improvements of Austin’s: Indonesians use different addressing sys- (1) representatives, which commit the tems to people who are older or younger, speaker to what he believes to be true or in a higher or lower level, and closer or false such as concluding and suggesting; more distant level of solidarity. Address- (2) directives, which expect the hearer ing systems such as Bapak ‘Mr.’, and Ibu to perform an action such as ordering, ‘Ms.’ are still expected to use despite the requesting, and questioning; (3) com- use of first name. The addressing sys- missives, which commit the speaker to tems are still mostly used even though some future actions such as promising, the speakers have known each other for inviting, and offering; (4) expressives, some time. There are two types of polite- which express an attitude like thank- ness implementation in Indonesian speech ing, welcoming, congratulating; and (5) acts: linguistic politeness and pragmatic declaratives, which change the world by politeness. Linguistic politeness is real- declaring that it is changed such as bless- ised from the length of an utterance, the ing, marrying, and firing (p. 240). Those order of an utterance, the intonation or performative acts mean nothing when kinaesthetic signs of an utterance, and they are not uttered or performed at the the use of politeness markers such as right time, at the right moment, with the tolong ‘please’, coba ‘why not...’, ayo right contexts, by the right speaker, and ‘let’s’ etc. (Rahardi 2005, pp. 118-125). to the right hearer. Moreover, speech acts On the other hand, Rahardi adds that in are inseparable from politeness, owing to pragmatic politeness, different sentence the cultural values of the community the forms are given in the realisation of im- speech acts are performed. perative utterances. For instance, the Speech act strategies are deter- speech act of command may be realised mined by the relationship between the in an interrogative form of utterance. speaker and the hearer. The language Over the past 30 years, stud- choice the speaker uses prior to express- ies on speech acts and politeness have 346 Jurnal Sosioteknologi | Vol. 18, No 3, Desember 2019 been conducted on various kinds, in On the other hand, when the deceased numerous languages, communities and was a Christian or Catholic, the obituary cultures, and on many communication frequently starts with Telah berpulang media. However, only a few have stud- ke rumah Bapa di surga which means ies on speech acts of obituaries and ‘Returning safely to Heavenly Father’, condolences been done; whereas in or simply with ‘Rest in Peace’. The three fact, obituary announcements and giv- beginnings of an obituary show that there ing condolences are culturally different is a religious influence in giving a death and made up of complex linguistic fea- notice, aimed to show the religion of the tures. In Indonesian culture itself, giving deceased. This is in line with Aremu who condolences is one of the most awkward states that obituaries consist of shared moment the speakers and hearers en- religious, socio-cultural, and linguistic counter. It is even more awkward when background knowledge (2011, p. 133). the condolences are expressed through a Nevertheless, today’s obituaries text message; because most of the time, in Indonesia are not only broadcasted when the death announcement is broad- on newspaper, radio, or television; but casted especially through a mailing list they are also announced on social media or group, people tend to give their con- and instant messenger groups in order to dolences to the mailing list or group, not spread the news immediately. Announc- directly to the bereaved. ing death news through instant messengers are preferred because it is faster and Speech Act of Obituaries cheaper than putting it on a newspaper. For approximately a decade, the Besides, it usually takes less than a day definition of obituaries has expanded to for the deceased to be buried. Thus, his not only a notice of a person’s death pub- death needs spreading right away so that lished in a newspaper, but also a death his friends and relatives can say their last announcement in general. Hence, obituaries goodbyes. may be broadcasted in any media, including social media and instant mes- Speech Act of Condolences sengers. As a country which citizens are It is customarily expected that majority Muslims, it is obligatory that whoever hears death news express their Indonesians announce someone’s death grief through condolences. The word to others fast. ‘condolence’ is derived from Latin com, Since obituaries are aimed to an- which means ‘together’; and dolere, nounce someone’s death, changing the which means ‘to grieve’ (Zunin & Zunin state of the world immediately, it is then 2007, p. 4). As previously mentioned that categorised into Searle’s declaratives condolences belonged to Searle’s expres- speech act (Searle, 1969). There are cer- sive speech act, there is an emotion car- tain linguistic features used in declaring ried by the utterance. death news, which are influenced by the Condolences, from social point cultural beliefs of one community. In In- of view, are given to maintain the rela- donesia, when the deceased was a Mus- tionship with the bereaved. Expressing lim, the obituary announcement typically sympathy to the bereaved may be given starts with Inna lillahi wainnailaihi ra- both verbally and non-verbally. Giving jiun which means ‘Indeed we belong to condolences can make the situation awk- Allah, and indeed to Him we will return’, ward because the giver might not prepare followed by the announcement of death. Yuliani Kusuma Puti, dkk.| Expressing Condolences to..... 347

what to say or do. Kuang (2015) Reciting certain Quranic verses for points out that expressing condolences the deceased verbally are private and personal, there- c. Enumerating the fore it is vital to properly opt the words goodness of the deceased (p. 3). Should the condolences be given Expressing the deceased’s positive verbally, Zunin & Zunin (2007) suggest virtues, qualities, traits, and works that the utterance must contain COM- d. Expressing shock and grief FORT, which stands for: Using expressions of regret, grief, a. Comments on the loss and mention shock over the loss of the deceased the name of the deceased e. Offering condolences b. Offering sympathy Using words to express condolences c. Mentioning one or two significant and sympathy traits of the deceased (eulogise) f. Realising that death d. Finding a favourite memory of the is a natural part of life person Using expressions indicating that e. Offering help or provide company to death is inevitable the bereaved g. Using proverbs and saying f. Reminding the bereaved of the Using proverbs and sayings in outstanding qualities and strong expressing the condolences personalities of the deceased g. Thoughtfully closing with some final The closeness of the person with comforting words (in Kuang 2015, the deceased determines the use of con- p. 3) dolence strategies. Similarly, the power that the deceased had over the person One of Zunin & Zunin’s COM- also influences the choice of strategies. FORT strategies, offering help or provide This is actually in line with Brown & companionship, can only be given di- Levinson’s (1987) degree of solidarity, rectly to the bereaved; the rest might also relative power, and/or absolute ranking be expressed without the presence of the of impositions as influencing aspects in bereaved. In response to obituaries post- opting out the strategies. ed on social media or instant messengers, most condolences are not directly given RESULTS AND DISCUSSION to the grieving; on the other hand, people Data analysis is categorised into reflexively express their sympathy on the four sections: 1) obituaries, 2) condo- same place the obituaries are notified. As lence strategies, 3) sequence of condo- a follow up, those who are notified may lence strategies, and 4) speech act clas- send a personal message to the person sifications within condolence strategies. who is mourning. The indirect condo- The first section discusses obituary- an lences, according to Al-Shboul & Maros nouncements and how many people re- (2013), are expressed using seven major sponded to those obituaries. The second different strategies. section analyses condolence strategies a. Praying for God’s used by group participants in responding mercy and forgiveness to the obituaries. The third section elabo- Giving expressions to pray for rates the orders of condolence strategies God’s mercy and forgiveness for the given by participants. Finally, the last deceased section explains non-expressive speech b. Reciting Quranic verses acts contained in condolences. 348 Jurnal Sosioteknologi | Vol. 18, No 3, Desember 2019

TABLE I OBITUARY AND NUMBER OF RESPONS OBITUARY RESPONSES Obituary 1 17 Obituary 2 4 Obituary 3 7 Obituary 4 11 Obituary 5 5 Obituary 6 11 Obituary 7 2 Obituary 6 and 7 5 Total 62

Obituaries after he read obituary 6. There were 5 There are seven obituaries an- condolences given to both obituaries. nounced in WhatsApp group of lectur- This is not impossible to happen because ers in three months. The first obituary, instant messaging is both interactive and a death announcement of one colleague, instantaneous, which means the message invited 17 responses from participants. is read right after it is written (Bodomo The second obituary which announced 2010, p. 200). a celebrity’s death had 4 responses from Most obituaries were announced members of the WhatsApp group. The preceded or followed by Arabic expres- third obituary announces the death of an sion Inna lillahi wainnailaihi rajiun ‘In- art tutor, one of the members’ colleagues. deed we belong to Allah, and indeed to 7 condolences are given as responses to Him we will return’. From the expres- the obituary. Next obituary about the sion, it can be clearly seen that either the death of a participant’s relative had 11 re- deceased or the participant announcing sponses and 5 condolences are expressed the news was of Islamic faith. However, in response to a death announcement of from the utterance, there is a slight differ- an Indonesian senior celebrity. The sixth ence between the preceding position of death news got 11 responses. It was the the Arabic expression and the expression death of a member’s grandfather. Last- that follows the announcement. When ly, obituary on the wife of a colleague the expression is given before the news, invited 2 responses. Obituaries and the it actually anticipates other members that numbers of their responses can be seen an announcement of death is going to be in Table I. told. On the contrary, the announcer’s The data collected also show that condolence is shown when the Arabic condolences were given to two obituar- phrase Inna lillahi wainnailaihi rajiun ies, i.e. obituary 6 and 7 all at once. It is or simple Innalillahi is uttered after the because both obituaries were broadcast- news. The followings are the 7 obituaries ed almost at the same time; more precise- announced in the WhatsApp group. ly, obituary 7 was given by a participant Yuliani Kusuma Puti, dkk.| Expressing Condolences to..... 349

Obituary I Berita duka: Ibu N. meninggal dunia. INNA LILLAHI Obituary: Ms. N. passed away. INNA LILLAHI ‘An obituary: Ms. N passed away. Inna lillahi.’

Obituary II Selamat jalan, Olga Syahputra.. INNA LILLAHI WAIN- ALLAHUMAGFIRLAHU NAILAIHI RAJIUUN… WARHAMHU WAAFIHI WA’FU ANHU… Goodbye, Olga Syahputra.. Indeed, we belong to O Allah! Forgive him, Allah, and indeed to bestow mercy upon him, Him we will return… pardon him, accord him a noble provision… ‘Goodbye, Olga Syahputra. Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return. Allah! Forgive him, bestow mercy upon him, pardon him, accord him a noble provision.’

Obituary III Baru dari salah pelatih kesenian STBA: Aris Supena, meninggal… baca FB, seorang Just from one of coach art and STBA: Aris Supena passed away… read FB music

Saya merasa kehilangan sekali. INNA LILLAHI. I feel loss terrible INNA LILLAHI.

Dulu waktu saya di GS selalu bareng + ngobrol. past infl. when I in GS always together and talk. ‘I just read from Facebook that one of art and music coaches of STBA, Aris Supena, passed away. I feel a terrible loss. Inna lillahi. When I was in GS, we were always together and talk.’

Obituary IV Adik almarhum ayah nya Pak T. meninggal. Brother Late father possessive pronoun Mr. T passed away. ‘The brother of Mr. T’s late father passed away.

Obituary V Inna lillahi wainnailaihi rajiun… TELAH BERPULANG KE Rahmatullah Indeed, we belong to Allah, and present perfect returning To Allah indeed to Him we will return…

INSAN FILM… GURU BESAR, SENIMAN INDONESIA, AKTOR SENIOR, worker film industry Professor, artist Indonesian actor Senior 350 Jurnal Sosioteknologi | Vol. 18, No 3, Desember 2019

Didi “Emon” Petet… HARI JUMAT PUKUL 5 PAGI SETELAH SALAT SUBUH. Didi “Emon” Petet… Day Friday time 5 a.m. after prayer Fajr. RENCANA PEMAKAMAN ba’da JUMATAN Inshallah Khusnul Khatimah. plan Funeral after Friday if Allah wills it die in peace. prayer Aamiin Ya Rabb.

Ameen O Allah.

‘Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return. Returning to Allah, a film industry worker... A professor, an Indonesian artist, a senior actor, Didi “Emon” Petet on Friday at 5 a.m. after Fajr prayer. The funeral is planned to be held after Friday Prayer. If Allah wills it, he died in peace. Ameen, O Allah.’

Obituary VI Inna lillahi wainnailaihi rajiun… TELAH BERPULANG KE Rahmatullah Indeed, we belong to Allah, and present perfect returning to Allah indeed to Him we will return…

KAKEK DARI IBU I. TADI SIANG PUKUL 12:10. grandfather Of Ms. I. past afternoon time 12:10.

MUDAH-MUDAHAN DITERIMA IMAN ISLAM NYA, Hopefully (passive) accepted faith Islamic his

DIBERI KESABARAN UNTUK KELUARGA (passive) given forbearance to Family

YANG DITINGGALKAN NYA AAMIIN. who (passive) left him Amin. ‘Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return. Returning to Allah, Ms. I’s grandfather this afternoon at 12:10. Hopefully, Allah accepts his Islamic faith, and gives forbearance to the bereaved. Amin.’

Obituary VII

Inna lillahi wainnailaihi rajiun… TELAH BERPULANG KE Rahmatullah Indeed, we belong to Allah, and present perfect returning to Allah indeed to Him we will return…

IBU ERNI ISTRI Prof. Fakri MANTAN REKTOR UPI. Mrs. Erni Wife Prof. Fakri former rector UPI. Yuliani Kusuma Puti, dkk.| Expressing Condolences to..... 351

Allahumagfirlaha warhamha waafiha wa’fu anha. O Allah! Forgive him, bestow mercy upon him, pardon him, accord him a noble provision. ‘Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return. Returning to Allah Mrs. Erni, Prof. Fakri’s wife, a former rector of UPI. O Allah! Forgive her, bestow mercy upon her, pardon her, accord her a noble provision.’

Of all the 7 obituaries, only one strategies found within those responses. obituary was announced without being Not one was ‘using proverbs and saying’ preceded nor followed by the phrase condolence strategy found in the data. Inna lillahi wainnailaihi rajiun, that is The total number of condolence strate- Obituary 4. The other 6 actually show gies can be seen in the following figure. that both the deceased persons and the It can be clearly seen from the figure obituary givers were Muslims. Except that ‘reciting Quranic verses’ condolence Obituary 4, participants who broadcasted strategy (e.g. Inna lillahi wainnailaihi the obituaries in the WhatsApp group rajiun ‘Surely we belong to Allah and to also expressed their condolences Him shall we return’) is the most used by within their announcements. The the participants of the WhatsApp group, most common condolence strategy with a total of 48. The second most com- given by the participants in their death mon strategy used by the group members announcements is ‘praying for God’s for 27 times is ‘praying for God’s mer- mercy and forgiveness for the deceased’. cy and forgiveness’ (e.g. Semoga amal In Indonesia, it is not uncommon for ibadahnya diterima Allah SWT ‘May the people who broadcast an obituary to give good deeds be accepted by Allah SWT’ their condolence as they announce the and ALLAHUMAGFIRLAHU WARHAMHU death. WAAFIHI WA’FU ANHU ‘O Allah! Forgive him, bestow mercy upon him, pardon Condolence Strategies him, accord him a noble provision’), fol- From 65 responses to 7 obituar- lowed by the third most frequent strat- ies, there are as many as 101 condolence egy ‘offering condolences’ (e.g. Turut

Figure 1 Total number of condolence strategies 352 Jurnal Sosioteknologi | Vol. 18, No 3, Desember 2019 berduka cita ‘My deepest condolence’) Death can come anytime.’) preceded by which was used 20 times. Majority of the the strategy of ‘praying for God’s mer- participants opted the two most common cy and forgiveness’ (Mugia almarhum strategies because it is of Islamic teach- kenging ampunan sareng rohmat Alloh ing, and one of the Prophet Muhammad’s SWT. ‘May Allah grant the lamented His Sunnahs to express certain Quranic vers- mercy and forgiveness.’). es and recite any prayer for the deceased Since Indonesians are multilingual (Gul, 2013). speakers, it is common to find people in- The ‘enumerating the virtue of the teract with each other using mixed lan- deceased’ strategy is used by one par- guages. In the case of expressing condo- ticipant to express her condolence on lences, Indonesian speakers, especially the death of a celebrity announced in those who are Muslims, frequently use that group. On the other hand, ‘express- Arabic phrases such as Inna lillahi wain- ing shock and grief’ strategy is found nailaihi rajiun and Allahumagfirlahu to be used on the death announcements warhamhu waafihi wa’fu anhu to pray of both a colleague and a celebrity. In a for the deceased mixed with condolence WhatsApp conversation, emoticons can expressions in Indonesian or local dialects. be used to express the writer’s emotions. Thus, people usually assume that Indo- The use of an emoticon in expressing nesian speakers who do not use such sadness or grief is also found in the data. Arabic phrases when expressing their In addition, the condolence strat- condolences do not have Islamic belief. egy ‘offering condolences’ is typically They may be Protestant, Catholic, Bud- given to the bereaved participating in the dhist, Hindu, or other faiths. WhatsApp group. Members of the group sent their condolence to the grieving par- Sequence of Condolence Strategies ticipants through the group conversation, Condolence strategies are not al- not by private chats to the mourning. It is ways expressed on their own; chances also found that one participant expressed are one condolence strategy can be pre- his condolence using a mixing of Sun- ceded or followed by another strategy. danese and Indonesian language with the Of all 101 condolence strategies found in ‘realising death is a natural part of life’ the data, not all strategies stand by them- strategy (Ari dugi tos waktosna dipundut selves. Some are combined with other yuswa. Teu aya anon atanapi sepuh. KE- strategies forming a sequence. The fol- MATIAN BISA DATANG TIBA-TIBA. ‘When lowing table shows sequences of strate- the time comes for us to leave this world. gies given by the participants in their No matter when we’re young or old. condolences.

Figure 2 Emoticon used to express grief Yuliani Kusuma Puti, dkk.| Expressing Condolences to..... 353

TABLE II CONDOLENCE STRATEGY SEQUENCES

No. Strategy Sequence Number 1 Reciting Quranic verses 26 2 Reciting Quranic verses + praying for God’s mercy and forgive- 10 ness 3 Offering condolences + praying for God’s mercy and forgiveness 6 4 Reciting Quranic verses + offering condolences 5 5 Offering condolences 4 6 Reciting Quranic verses + offering condolences + praying for 3 God’s mercy and forgiveness 7 Reciting Quranic verses + praying for God’s mercy and forgive- 2 ness + offering condolences 8 Praying for God’s mercy and forgiveness 2 9 Reciting Quranic verses + expressing shock and grief 1 10 Enumerating the virtue of the deceased + praying for God’s mercy 1 and forgiveness 11 Expressing shock and grief + praying for God’s mercy and for- 1 giveness 12 Praying for God’s mercy and forgiveness + realising death is a 1 natural part in life Total 62

There are 12 condolence strategy Quranic verses’ followed by ‘praying sequences found in 62 responses to 7 for God’s mercy and forgiveness’. As a obituaries. The most frequent sequence group with majority Muslim participants, consists of only one condolence strategy, it is not unusual to find responses to obit- i.e. ‘reciting Quranic verses’. As many as uaries with such strategy sequence. Two 26 responses comprise with the strategy. most common responses using the se- The Quranic verse given is all the same, quence are Inna lillahi wainnailaihi raji- i.e. Inna lillahi wainnailaihi rajiun. De- un. SEMOGA AMALNYA DITERIMA ALLAH spite the meaning of the Quranic verse, SWT. ‘Surely we belong to Allah and to i.e. ‘We belong to Allah and to Him we Him shall we return. May the good deeds shall return’; in Islamic belief, the verse be accepted by Allah SWT’ and Inna lil- can also be used when hearing a tragedy lahi wainnailaihi rajiun. Allahumagfirla- happening to someone that may involve hu warhamhu waafihi wa’fu anhu.‘ Sure- any risks. Therefore, it is customarily ac- ly we belong to Allah and to Him shall cepted to express that only Quranic verse we return. O Allah! Forgive him, bestow upon someone’s death news. mercy upon him, pardon him, accord To add up, it is an expected cus- him a noble provision.’ tom in Islam to say a prayer for God’s From the data on condolence strat- acceptance of the deceased’s good do- egies found, it can be pointed out that ings. Hence, the second most common participants whose religious faith was Is- sequence found in the data is ‘reciting lam commonly indicated their faith 354 Jurnal Sosioteknologi | Vol. 18, No 3, Desember 2019

TABLE III NON-EXPRESSIVE SPEECH ACTS WITHIN CONDOLENCES

No. Utterance Strategy Speech Act 1 Semoga amalnya diterima Allah SWT Praying for Directive God’s mercy May the good deeds be accepted by Allah SWT and forgiveness 2 Allahumagfirlahu warhamhu waafihi wa’fu anhu Praying for Directive God’s mercy O Allah! Forgive him, bestow mercy upon him, and forgive- pardon him, and accord him a noble provision. ness 3 Di Trans TV lagi in memoriam Olga Syahputra,,,, Enumerating Representa- waas sok dibully wae dia teh,,,, dia juga yang the virtue of tive mengangkat derajat keluarganya,,, terus sensiti- the deceased fan Olga teh.

There is a show ‘In Memoriam Olga Syahputra’ on Trans TV. He was so poor because there were many people bullied him. He was also the one who brought his family up. He was sensitive as well. Insya Alloh sakitnya melunturkan dosa2na, Praying for Directive Aamiin yra God’s mercy and forgive- Inshallah his sickness rids his sins. Amin. ness 5 Mugia almarhum kenging ampunan sareng Praying for Directive rohmat Alloh SWT. God’s mercy and forgive- May Allah grant the lamented His mercy and ness forgiveness. 6 Ari dugi tos waktosna dipundut yuswa. Teu aya Realising death Representa- anon atanapi sepuh. KEMATIAN BISA DATANG is a natural tive TIBA-TIBA. part of life

When the time comes for us to leave this world. No matter when we’re young or old. Death can come anytime. 7 Semoga almarhum KHUSNUL KHATIMAH. Praying for Directive God’s mercy May the deceased rest in peace. and forgiveness 8 Semoga arwahnya diterima oleh Tuhan YME. Praying for Directive God’s mercy May his soul be welcomed by the Almighty God. and forgiveness Yuliani Kusuma Puti, dkk.| Expressing Condolences to..... 355 through the condolence strategy and act within speech act under one speech strategy sequences they expressed. On event commonly occurs in utterances. the other hand, participants who were not Data shows that most condolence strategies of Islamic belief did not use any Quranic do fall into expressive speech act cate- verse recitation to express their condo- gory; however, some strategies can be lences, such as Pak T turut belasungka- categorised into other classifications of wa ya. Semoga arwahnya diterima oleh speech act. Tuhan YME. ‘Mr. T my deepest condo- It is obvious that reciting Quranic lence. May his soul be welcomed by the verses such as Inna lillahi wainnailaihi Almighty God.’ However, not all strategy rajiun is classified into expressive speech sequences which do not consist of Qura- act. Offering condolence as well -as ex nic verse recitation were expressed by pressing shock and grief also belong to the non-Muslim members. Some Muslim expressive speech act. However, praying participants insisted on using Indonesian for God’s mercy and forgiveness falls language in order to show their nega- into the directive speech act. This is due tive politeness to those who mourned. to the request contained in the utterance; For instance, there is a condolence giv- in other words, the speaker requests that en by a Muslim member to a mourning God grant mercy to the deceased. participant using full Indonesian simply Other condolence strategies, enu- to pay respect of the mourner’s position merating the virtue of the deceased and in the workplace (Bu H, saya mengucap- realising death is a natural part in life, are kan turut berdukacita atas berpulangnya categorised into representative speech ibu NH. Mohon maaf tidak bisa melayat. act because they contain a truth-val- ‘Ms. H, please accept my condolence on ue which the speakers believe. Table 3 the death of Ms. NH. I apologise for not shows utterances in condolences which being able to make a visit.’) correspond to speech act other than ex- All in all, there are some con- pressive (table III). dolence strategy sequences which expressed the emotions of the condolence CONCLUSION givers. It can be assumed that majority A condolence is given as a re- of participants who used Quranic verse recitation, sponse to an obituary. Even though ex- prayers, and/or condolence offer in their pressing sympathy on someone’s death sequences simply expressed the sympa- can be a part of everyday interactions, it thies because they felt obliged to do so. is not an easy thing to do. When someone On the contrary, when members added offers his sympathy, it can lead both the the sequence with expression of grief mourner and the condolence giver to an and sadness and also with enumeration awkward moment. It is even more awk- of the deceased’s virtue, they actually ward when the condolence is given via conveyed their emotional feelings on the a text message. Thus, it is expected that deceased. whoever lives in one community be fa- miliar with the customs of responding to Speech Act Classifications within Con- obituaries. dolence Strategies Nowadays, it is a usual thing in Even though condolences belong Indonesia to publish obituaries online to the speech act of expressive, the ut- through a group broadcast. Indonesians terance expressing grief can consist of take part in more than one instant mes- several other speech acts. This speech saging group, hence they tend to send 356 Jurnal Sosioteknologi | Vol. 18, No 3, Desember 2019 death announcements through instant REFERENCES messaging because it is faster and peo- Al-Shboul, Y., & Maros, M. 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