Mandailing Language Change among the Younger Generation: A Study of Linguistic Factors and Intergenerational Communication Gaps

Abstract

This study examines how the Mandailing language is changing among the younger generation, the linguistic factors that drive these changes, and their consequences for intergenerational communication. Employing a qualitative descriptive design, the study was conducted in Lorong 2, Pintu Padang Julu Village, Siabu District, Mandailing Natal Regency, North Sumatra, with informants from the younger (17–25 years) and older (45–70 years) generations. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, questionnaires, and document analysis, and were triangulated across sources. The findings show that change is most visible in vocabulary, pronunciation, and sentence structure: traditional words, greetings, and customary expressions are being replaced by Indonesian or mixed Mandailing–Indonesian forms; pronunciation increasingly follows Indonesian sound patterns; complex Mandailing sentences are simplified along Indonesian syntactic patterns; and code-mixing is frequent. Mandailing is increasingly confined to family, customary, and intergenerational domains, whereas Indonesian dominates education, social media, and peer interaction. Five interrelated factors drive these changes: education, media and technology, urbanization, internal simplification of the language, and the social prestige of Indonesian. These shifts create intergenerational communication gaps, as younger speakers no longer understand many traditional terms, weakening emotional closeness and cultural transmission and underscoring the need for family- and community-based preservation efforts.