Hate Speech against the Bima Tribe: A Semantic Study in Perspective for Forensic Linguistics

Abstract

Language is one of the legal evidence tools that requires the field of linguistics to dissect disputed languages. The disputed language is inseparable from its ambiguous nature. Therefore, it is important that the language in question be analysed linguistically to help provide evidence in the judicial process. This paper aims to analyse speech as legal evidence. The study uses the methods of listening, recording, and using semantic approaches and forensic linguistics. The use of the listen-and-record method is necessary because the data is sourced from Saifudin Ibrahim's audio-visual video on Facebook and YouTube. The results of this study show that speech that has lexical meaning, such as people, humans, nations, or Bima, is speech that is directly intended by SI for its interlocutors. While the interlocutor referred to by SI is mentioned with words that are included in the referential meaning, such as the regent, his inferiority, Bima people, and brain, he is unable to express words or phrases referred to by SI as objects of discussion about his interlocutors. First, SI speech falls into several categories, primarily speech that attacks the honour of the Bima community by giving a negative assessment of the Bima community leader. Second, spreading fake news related to Bima society in the context of family and social psychology. Three utterances contain insults to the Bima tribe by degrading the ability or competence of the Bima people.