The Courtesy of Bugis: A Systematic Scoping Review of Forms, Social Meanings, And Cultural Values
Abstract
Bugis politeness represents a culturally grounded system through which speakers negotiate respect, dignity, solidarity, and social relationships. However, scholarship remains dispersed across linguistic, pragmatic, educational, and cultural studies. This systematic scoping review synthesizes evidence concerning the linguistic forms, social meanings, contextual variation, and cultural values of Bugis politeness. Google Scholar was used as the sole database, and study selection and reporting followed the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Three bilingual search strings combined Bugis or Buginese with terms concerning politeness, honorifics, social deixis, address, speech acts, and cultural values. After duplicate removal and eligibility screening, 19 studies were included and thematically analyzed. Bugis politeness was realized through deferential forms, including idi’, ta-, -ta’, -ki’, and -ni’; familiar forms, including iko, mu-, -mu, -ko, and -no; address and kinship terms; honorifics; particles such as iye’ and tabe’; indirectness; mitigation; and context-sensitive speech-act strategies. These resources expressed deference, familiarity, solidarity, and interpersonal distance, while their appropriateness depended on age, status, kinship, gender, familiarity, communicative purpose, and setting. The synthesis further showed that sipakatau, sipakalebbi’, sipakainge’, siri’, pesse, and pangngaderreng connected linguistic conduct with human recognition, respect, responsible correction, dignity, compassion, and customary order. Bugis politeness is therefore best understood as a moral-relational practice rather than a fixed inventory of courteous expressions. Although culturally marked forms remain significant, their use is being reinterpreted through generational change, Bugis–Indonesian contact, education, mobility, and changing hierarchies. Evidence concerning migration and digitally mediated interaction remains limited, requiring research across communities, generations, and communicative environments.
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