Ekspresi Verbal Masyarakat Bali terhadap Kelahiran Bayi: Kajian Linguistik Kebudayaan

The birth of a baby is universally always accompanied by a joyful and touching expressions. This article aims to describe the verbal expression of Balinese people to the birth of a baby. The data was taken from social media Whatsapp and Facebook which is collecting using the observation method assisted by saving techniques. The data were analyzed by discovering the essence of the expressions and correlating it to Balinese culture. The analysis results discovered that there are differences in the verbal expressions toward baby boys and baby girls. The expressions toward baby boys contained more positive meanings like hopes, happiness, and gratitude; meanwhile, for baby girls, in addition to positive meanings such as prayers and hopes, it also comprised negative meanings, such as disappointment and less grateful. This implied the gender inequality since Balinese community still give preference of men. Variations of these verbal expression were not merely accidental, yet it ideologically demonstrated how the community perceives the existing realities.