Plantation Language as a Collective Identity: An Ethnolinguistic Study of a Multiethnic Community at PTPN IV Regional II Berangir Estate, North Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

This study examines language practices within a multiethnic community at PTPN IV Regional II Berangir Estate, North Labuhanbatu Regency, North Sumatra, with a particular focus on the emergence of plantation language as a collective identity. The study adopts a qualitative ethnolinguistic approach through participant observation, in-depth interviews, and field documentation. The findings show that the plantation community has developed a shared communicative repertoire characterized by plantation-specific lexicon, code-switching, code-mixing, and forms of address that are understood across ethnic groups. Terms such as afdeling, ancak, brondolan, piringan, and gawangan function not only as technical vocabulary but also as local knowledge and part of everyday social practice. The findings indicate that language in the plantation setting serves not merely as a tool for occupational communication, but also as a medium of social solidarity and a marker of community membership. The identity of “plantation people” emerges as the result of social negotiation built through shared life experiences, cross-ethnic interaction, and continuous language habituation. This study demonstrates that oil palm plantation communities constitute productive social spaces for the formation of new linguistic identities.