Children and the Interpretation of the Gugon Tuhon: The Age Factor

Gugon tuhon is a speech used by Javanese parents to give advice and teach good behaviors to their children. This paper deals with the children’s age factor which influences on their comprehension of gugon tuhons concerning eating etiquette. The data were collected through a questionnaire on children’s comprehension, belief, and obedience to gugon tuhons, which targeted children of 1st graders (7–8 years old), 3rd graders (9–10 years old), and 5th graders (11–12 years old) in Kediri city, East Java. Using a qualitative method, the data were analyzed and described based on Austin and Searle’s speech act theory. The results show that in today’s modern era, gugon tuhons concerning eating etiquette are still used as a means for character building in Javanese families, so as for parents to introduce social and cultural norms of eating etiquette to their children. It is found that there are different understandings of this kind of speech. Children’s different understanding of gugon tuhons provides an insight into the language phenomenon in modern society, particularly as to how children’s age influences their illocutionary speech acts in comprehending gugon tuhons.