Minangkabau Proverbs: Values and Functions

摘要

'Pepatah Pepitih' or Minang Kabau (MK) proverb is one of the representations of local wisdoms in supporting nation identity as it contains important values to create better society. This paper aims to analyze character education values proposed by Ministry of Education and Culture of RI (2011) and the functions of MK proverbs by applying descriptive qualitative method focused on content analysis. The text of 249 MK proverbs from the original book, 'Keajaiban Pepatah Minang' written by Saydam (2008) was chosen as the data and 204 of them related to education character was selected as the sample in order to classify Character Education (CE) values in MK proverbs meanwhile Hermeneutics theory was used to analyze the data. Based on the research, it was found that MK Pepatah contains most of education character values; religiosity and democracy are the most dominant values found. In addition, there are also other values found in MK proverbs which can be regarded as local wisdoms; leadership, wisdom, being humble and fair, thriftiness, prudence, and truth. Moreover, MK proverbs has 3 (three) functions; linguistically, educationally, and culturally. Therefore, all values inside surely must be sustained, especially at the education institution as a building block to improve young generations' characters in order to overcome any problems or issues happened in Indonesia.