Syntactic patterns of Balinese verbal clause in polite utterances among Generation Z

Abstract

This study investigates syntactic patterns of Balinese verbal clauses found in polite utterances produced by Generation Z students at Warmadewa University. A descriptive qualitative method was employed for this research. The data consisted of 100 Balinese verbal clauses obtained from interviews with 20 Generation Z students at Warmadewa University. Data were collected through interviews, recording, transcription, and note-taking techniques. The clauses were analyzed by identifying their syntactic functions, categories, semantic roles, and structural patterns. There are found that Balinese verbal clauses are characterized by verbal predicates and occur in the form of transitive, intransitive, active, passive, reciprocal, and reflexive clauses. The findings show that transitive verbal clauses (28%) were the most dominant type, followed by intransitive verbal clause (22%), and active verbal clause (20%). The least frequently types were passive verbal clause (12%), reciprocal verbal clause (10%) and reflexive verbal clause (8%). The analysis also reveals several recurring syntactic patterns, including S–V, S–V–M, S–V–O, and S–V–O–M. The results also show that Generation Z students commonly use verbal predicates involving the relationship between agent, action, object or participants. These findings indicate that Generation Z students continue to employ varied Balinese verbal clause constructions in polite communication with transitive constructions.