Hutinta - Simalungun’s Riddle: Types, Functions, And Cultural Values Contents Oleh:

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe: (1) the type of Simalungunese riddles (hutinta), (2) the function of the hutinta and (3) the cultural values Simalungun of community contained in hutinta. The type of the study is a qualitative with descriptive method. The primary data was hutinta speech thatwas collected from Simalungun community. Data collection was conducted in two stages. The first stages arranged the interviews with informants and records the hutinta speeched by the informants. The second stage was transcribing the recording into the written form, and the transcription results are translated from Simalungunese into Indonesian and English. The findings revealed that there are two types of Simalungun’s riddles, namely (1) oppositional hutinta and (2) non-oppositional hutinta. Those hutintas also classified into five categories based on its similarities, namely: (a) similarities to humans, (b) similarities to animals, (c) similarities to objects, (d) similarities to plants. Hutinta functioned to practice one’s agility to Simalungunese culture, to strengthen the feeling of collective solidarity, for fun, to identify surrounding environment, and to practice the speaking ability. Concerning the human relation, hutinta also contains some cultural values, such as human relations to God, nature, cultural society, others and oneself.