Electronic Theses and Dissertation

Keywords: acehnese dialect, dialect shifting, west acehnese speakers the diversity of people speaks a language is interesting to observe. acehnese has four main dialects; north aceh dialect, pidie dialect, greater aceh dialect, and west aceh dialect. the aims of this study are to find out whether the west acehnese speakers shift the dialect into other dialects when they speak acehnese outside west aceh area. the study also investigated the reasons of dialect shifting by speakers from west aceh when they speak acehnese outside west aceh area. a qualitative method was applied in this research. the data were collected by using observation sheet and interview guide. based on the result of observation and interview, the researcher found that west acehnese speakers shifted their dialect into other dialects when they spoke with other acehnese speakers outside west aceh areas. the dialect was shifted by the speakers because of five reasons, they were feeling unconfident to use their own dialect, avoiding embarrassment circumstance or ridiculed by other speakers, making the interlocutors easier to understand, obtaining the acceptance and respect from that community where they are socialized, and they are influenced unconsciously by other dialects. according to those reasons, it proved that west acehnese dialect is stigmatized rather than other dialects. in conclusion, west acehnese speakers had the reason for dialect shifting. then, it was caused by other factors such as geographical or social factors.