Measuring Vitality of Oral Tradition: A Study of Cigawiran

Abstract

Cigawiran is an Indonesian oral tradition that has Islamic religious values and messages. It is only found and developed in a limited location, namely Cigawir village. Regarding the limitation of Cigawiran spreading, this article examined its vitality and cultural values. Oral tradition and vitality research methodologies were utilized in this study. The concept of oral tradition vitality was derived from the theoretical frameworks proposed by Grimes, which shares similarities with the notion of language vitality and encompasses six distinct categories that assess the vitality level within oral traditions. The data was gathered through a questionnaire. The findings of the vitality study indicated that the Cigawiran is classified as stable yet facing threats. This suggests that the tradition is practiced by the entire local community, albeit selectively among specific generations. The study suggests that there is a need for the revival of the Cigawiran because this practice has been limited to a small number of generations up to the present time.

Keywords

• language vitality
• oral tradition
• cigawiran
• sundanese culture
• indonesia