Self-reference Variations in Indonesian This paper highlights language variations in the use of Indonesian self-referring forms for saying ‘I’. The distributions of the data of self-reference variation are collected from the extract of dialogue transcription from an improvisation comedy broadcast on the Indonesian TV station Trans7 which is known as Opera Van Java. The occurrences of self-reference variation in the program are the pronoun aku, saya and gua (or its variant gue) to refer to oneself. The following table shows the frequency distribution of self-reference pronoun which is produced by the players. Table 1.1 Self-reference distribution Pronoun Frequency Percentage (%) Aku 23 21 Saya 81 75 Gua 4 3 Total 108 100 From the data above, the highest frequency of occurrence is saya which is more than 80 %, 21 % of aku and 4 % of gua. Aku and saya are considered as a standard variation of address term while gua tends to be a non-standard variation. These two standard variations are distinguished by social variables such as formality and politeness (Lolyta, 2017). According to Djenar (2007) aku has been described as an informal form which is used with close friends and younger persons, while saya has been described as a formal variation which can be used when speaking to anyone or person with a high social status. 1. The use of informal “Aku” Example 1 : Sule :“Katakan-katakanlah ada apa yang sebenarnya. Aku pingin tahu apa alasan kamu menangis di depan aku di depan abah kamu? Katakan coba katakan jangan malu malu ayok katakan! Kenapa? “ Please tell what is going on! I am wondering why you are crying in front of your father and me, Please tell and don’t be shy, why! Nunung : Maafin aku sekali lagi ya bang. Forgive me once more, my darling. Sule : nggak papa nggak papa. Ini mungkin kesalahan aku karena mungkin aku tidak memperhatikan kamu. aku seorang pembantu aku orang biasa biasa saja aku tahu semuanya ! awas jangan bunuh diri!! Kenapa kamu yang kawin kamu yang bunuh diri? It’s alright. This might be my fault because I didn’t take care of you. I realized that I am just a maid and an ordinary person. I know everything. Please don’t commit suicide. This is what you want and why do you want to kill your self? The context of this dialogue takes place when Nunung (Sule’s girlfriend) is decided to marry Sule’s boss. At the same time, Sule comes to see and asks her why she cries. Siti’s (Nunung) heart is broken because she has to leave Sule and marry another guy. Aku becomes a marker of a very close relationship between boy and girlfriend. It indicates that the use of aku in an informal situation and a very close relationship seems appropriate in the context. Furthermore, Djenar (2007) claims that aku not only can be used to indicate a close relationship but this form is also generally characterized as an intimate form such as the relationship between adults and children, or between equals who have a close relationship or share a similar social status. 2. The use of Formal “Saya” Saya can be considered to refer to both formal and informal pronoun to speak with a person who has a higher status. In this sense, saya is considered neutral in social connotation when it used as an informal pronoun. Hence, the use of saya is more polite than aku (Lolyta, 2017). Djenar (2007) recommends that learners use pronoun saya as it is also the polite form because this reference is suitable for any situation. In other words, the formality is related to politeness that causes less-offensive. Example 2: Sule : Iya, Pak! Jamnya baru ya Pak Yes, sir. Your watch is new, sir! Andre : Ini mau saya Jual I want to sell this watch Sule : Kok dijual Pak? Why do you want to sell it, sir? The context in example 2, saya becomes a marker to distinguish social status. Sule is a servant who works for Andre. This means the relationship between Andre and Sule is not a close relationship. The former plays as a superior and latter act as inferior. Hence, the language variations created among the situations seem more formal. The expression ini mau saya jual (I want to sell this watch)indicates that Ande has power and authority to buy any watch. Hence, saya not only can be used to show a superior, but it also implies the power and authority in doing something. Example 3 Andre : tolong bantu saya, supaya saya bisa mendapatkan si Siti bagaimanapun caranya Bodyguard : Gini Bos! Yang namanya cinta tu gak mengenal bos gak mengenal anak buah kalau bos minta tolong ama saya tu lihat deket rumah. Tetangga saya ni punya bini empat serumah Example 3, the context of the story is when Andre falls in love with Nunung (Sule’s girlfriend) and he wants his bodyguard to fight for him by taking her from Sule. The relationship between Andre and his bodyguard is rather formal. Therefore, Andre uses saya to show his social status as a person who has a strong capacity and money to marry any woman he likes through his bodyguard. In addition, the use of saya is suggested as corresponding to neutrality and neutrality seems to avoid offensiveness. Saya can be used as an informal pronoun in social connotation to denote politeness as in the following example. 3. The use of informal “Gua” Gue is generally used by youth speaker in Jakarta in a non-formal situation. Gue is to show the identity of a capital city residence. It implies that as a capital city residence you might be more prestigious, educative, and open-minded. Example 4 Sule : saya mah kalo masalah cewek mah gak usah ribet-ribet ntr juga datang sendiri. Talkingabout girls, I never feel frustrated because they will come to me anyway Gua punya inceran di sini. I have my own target here The dialogue is taken when Sule has a language background as a Sundanese who lives in the capital city, Jakarta. When he uses gue, it shows that he is part of city resident of Jakarta where the TV show program is airing. It might be peculiar when speakers who do not have a relation to capital city Jakarta use gua as a self-reference. Beside, gua is used to indicate a very close relationship among the speakers. Conclusion The use of self-reference ‘I” in Indonesian has three types which are saya, aku and gua/gue. The use of these three differences self-reference is based on who you are, whom you talk to and where you are from. Besides, formal and non-formal situations are the main factors for the occurrence of Indonesian self-reference. The use of saya is considered as formal or neutral situations while aku and gue are used in a less-formal and strong relationship. Reference Djenar, D. N. (2007). Self-Reference and its Variation in Indonesian. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 4(1), 23–40. Lolyta, R. D. (2017). Students’ Use of the Standard Variation of Indonesian Self-Reference Addressing Terms of Aku and Saya toward Teachers. Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. "Carol Myers-Scotton's Codeswitching with English: Types of Switching, Types of Communities" Dedy Subandowo [email protected] Pázmány Péter Catholic University This paper outlines Carol Myers-Scotton's (1989) research study on codeswitching in Kenya and Zimbabwe in a sub-chapter book of Changing English published by Graddol et al. (2007). She published her study in the World Englishes journal under the title Codeswitching with English: types of switching, types of communities, vol. 8 no. 3 pp. 333-9. The discussion of the article begins with some key points in relevance to the ideas of markedness and unmarkedness choices in which they occur during the interaction of different contexts. This is followed by an explanation of sequential unmarked choices as well as switching as an unmarked and marked choice. The last reading session discusses how codeswitching demonstrates multiple identities. Myers-Scotton's notion of codeswitching proposes that languages (codes) involve indexical social relationships. This means that s speaker as a certain kind of person with others. Furthermore, the speaker leads to measure a particular set of rights and obligations that will hold between participants in an interaction. A speaker then chooses a code that indexes the rights and obligations in the interaction among other speakers. Hence, Myers-Scotton investigates patterns of codeswitching based on the notion of markedness and unmarkedness. An unmarked choice refers to an expected choice, one that is associated with the type of interaction in which it occurs. On the other hand, a marked choice includes one that is not expected in that context to attempt to redefine a relationship. Regarding sequential unmarked choices, the discussion focuses on a pattern involving a switch from one unmarked choice to another one when external forces including a new participant as well as a new topic adjust the expected balance of rights and obligations. Example (1) shows that a school principal who speaks English and Swahili in addition to his first language is in Nairobi on a visit. He tried to call on a friend working for a large automobile sales and repair establishment. Due to his plurilingualism, the school principal speaks Swahili to guard at the gate and switches to English. This situation is relevant to an unmarked choice, but once he speaks to the receptionist at the office, he switches to English which indicates the unmarked choice. Switching as an unmarked choice tends to deal with participants who are bilingual peers. However, this choice may not lead to change at all in settings, participants, topics or any other situational features. At the level of ingroup communication, as an example, the pattern of alternating between two varieties may be unmarked especially in an informal setting. When the unmarked state of affairs is a simultaneous participant in two rights and obligations balances, each broadly corresponds with a different social identity. The goal of conducting this switching is to associate with dual identities. Examples (2) and (3) display how each individual switches and has no social significance at all. Example (2) is given a context focusing on administrator and principal interlocutions. The two speakers then may have more chances to switch their shared mother tongue and avoid divergence between them. Moreover, example (3) represents two students who shared their mother tongue, the Karanja dialect of Shona in the dormitory. In this context, their mother tongue is a kind of bedrock language, heavenly influencing the word order, word formation and other aspects of any switches from other languages. Attention paid to codeswitching as a marked choice apprises solidarity particularly dealing with ingroup varieties. These groups also result from varieties associated with education and/or authority. Such switches often encode more social distance between participants; sometimes out of anger or desires to lower the addressee's or increase one's status. It is worth noting, that authority seems to examine English as the language of such a marked switch. In some contexts, English is nominated as solidarity, even though it is a second language, such as between highly educated peers. Example (4) is visible to underline two different marked choices, one to a mother tongue not shared by all and one to English. The possibility to escort multiple identities may occur when people meet in non-conventionalized circumstances for the first time and when all the relevant social identity factors of the other person or situational factors are not known. It shows signs of codeswitching as an exploratory choice of someone's identity. A speaker may switch to settle upon a code that will be mutually acceptable as the unmarked choice of the exchange. The relevant context regarding this state of affairs appears in example (5) where English is a frequent component of exploratory switching conducted by a young man and his manager in a Nairobi business establishment. To bring to the end of Carol Myers-Scotton's research study on codeswitching, some paramount aspects are conducive to language varieties precisely in the discussion of codeswitching with English, types of switching, and types of communities. Her notions including marked and unmarked choices are comprehensibly illustrated into five different extractions. One of these examples is evidence of showing how speakers act towards multiple identities in non-conventionalized exchanges which are considered as a neutral strategy. References Graddol, David; Leith, Dick; Swann, Joan; Rhys, Martin and Gillen, Julia eds. (2007) Changing English. London, UK: Routledge Myers-Scotton, C. (1989) 'Codeswitching with English: types of switching, types of communities', World Englishes, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 333–9.
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December 2023
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