Language Choice As The Way How The Local Diaspora In Bali Maintain Their Social Identity

Maintaining the use of mother tongue in interacting, switching to using the word of the host, or using ethnic languages side by side with the host language in a new place are basic issues that are faced by migrants as a diaspora community. This research is intended to provide evidence of the phenomena of communication and social identity in order to find the right accommodation model that must be carried out by the diaspora and ethnic Balinese communities in interacting that can overcome various disharmonies. It is sociocultural using a qualitative approach conducted at two locations of Muslim diaspora communities in Bali. The result of the analysis is presented through interpretive descriptive explanations. The research findings show that language choice turned out to be evidence of how that most diaspora communities see mother tongue as an essential means of maintaining their social identity and always try to use mother tongue in various domains of activity. The vitality of mother language is reflected from the language choice and attitude of the diaspora communities in the daily life. As social beings, as speakers in a prominent communicative interaction, they generally try to adapt themselves to their interlocutors both verbally and non-verbally, in other words carrying out linguistic accommodation and social accommodation