A Semantic Analysis of Person, Place, Time and Social Deixis in the English Version of the Indonesian Folktale “ The Legend of Malin Kundang”

Abstract

This study examines the types and functions of deixis in the English version of the Indonesian folktale, The Legend of Malin Kundang. Deixis refers to words or phrases whose meaning depends on the situational context, such as person, place, and time. While deixis has been extensively studied across various discourse types, research on Indonesian folktales remains limited. This study aims to identify the types of deixis found in The Legend of Malin Kundang and to explain how each type functions in constructing the story and conveying moral values. A descriptive qualitative method was employed, with data collected from the English version of the folktale published by TIMES Indonesia in 2020. The analysis was conducted using the deixis theory of Levinson (1983) and Yule (1996), and the Miles and Huberman (1994) interactive model for data analysis. The findings revealed four types of deixis: person deixis (74 occurrences, 55.22%), time deixis (22 occurrences, 16.42%), place deixis (19 occurrences, 14.18%), and social deixis (19 occurrences, 14.18%). Person deixis was the most dominant due to abundant dialogues between Malin and his mother. In terms of functions, person deixis builds characters through pronoun selection; place deixis constructs setting through spatial contrast; time deixis structures plot through temporal irony; and social deixis conveys the moral message of filial disobedience, marked by Malin's shift from respectful "Mother" to complete denial "You are not my mother." In conclusion, deixis in Malin Kundang is not merely a grammatical feature but a strategic narrative device that builds story elements and encodes moral values