Language encounters in the workplace of Banci community

Banci (transvestites) language is used among the transvestite-hairdressers which functions as a secret language to hide personal information and internal salons’ issues from the customers. This research investigates Banci language in the transvestites’ business-oriented course of action as hairdressers in three selected salons in Banda Aceh by analyzing the salient features involved from the three broad types of talks in close-service encounters from McCarthy’s models (2000): 1) transactional, 2) transactional-plus-relational and 3) relational talks. It is discovered that there are similarities between the hairdressers and the customers’ interactions to the three elements of talks, thus the differences are found from the interactions between the hairdressers which are only understood among them. Consequently, this research presents the genre of language encounters managed by the transvestites’ community in their workplace to further comprehend their discourse as a part of the society.