LANGUAGE
VARIETIES IN MULTILINGUAL COMMUNITY: SEEN FROM LANGUAGE IN CONTACT.
Abstract
Something unique happens in this al-Amanah Islamic modern
college. It is the language varieties used. The language varieties used by the
students are totally different from the language varieties used by most of
people in some regions. They create some new words from a language and create a
specific language structure and tone based on the regional language and accent
while they are speaking. Meanwhile, this paper is written to know how the
description of the language varieties they create and why they create them. To
know the detail phenomena, this paper is written by using three methods. They
are observation, documentation, and interview. As the results is that in
al-Amanah Islamic modern college, the language varieties are caused by a
contact between a foreign language (English) and Javanese Surabaya and Sidoarjo
dialects. The language
varieties happening include a code-mixing phenomenon, pidgin, code-mixing,
code-switching, and borrowing language. In the way to pronounce, Surabaya and
Sidoarjo accents are more used. Those can happen because they get inheritance
from their seniors. Seen from the students’ background, the students are
multilingual speakers and in majority coming from Surabaya, Sidoarjo, and surroundings.
Besides, some students do not know how to produce good English and some of them
are shy if they have to produce good English because it will be different from
others. Finally, the use of these language varieties is considered as the
simpler ones for them.
Each country has a specific language. Taking for example
is Indonesia. Indonesia is a multilingual country. According to kompas.com
information, in 2012 Indonesia has 546 languages. It is assumed that the number
of languages in Indonesia will increase in each year. Based on dinas kominfo
prov. Jatim (2012) information, East Java, part of Indonesia, has 4 languages
with different dialect and accent. They are Javanese, Madurese, Osing, and
Indonesian. Therefore, if a country has a lot of languages, it can be ensured
that language varieties will exist in it.
Language variety
is a variation of using a language. Language varieties include such as dialect,
accent, style, and so on. Language varieties often appear in bilingual or
multilingual speakers. For instance, it is in al-Amanah Islamic modern college,
Krian. The students must speak in multilingual. They are English, Arabic, and
subtle Javanese (Jawa krama). But
they often produce a foreign language which is influenced by the language
contact while speaking.
Multilingual community means that the community has more
than two languages. Cambridge
Advanced learner’s dictionary software third edition (2008), defines multilingual as
an ability to use more than two languages for communication. Why should it be more
than two languages? The answer is that each of them has their own terms. For
people or groups able to use only one language, they are called as monolingual.
García and Colin (1995:41) defines “monolingual is
as a person ‘who’ knows only one language, whatever that means”. Meanwhile, for
people or groups able to use two languages, they are named as bilingual.
Therefore, Seen from the number of the languages used, linguists categorize
into three parts. They are monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual.
Language contact is a phenomenon influencing one language
to another. Mackey (in Suwito, 1983:39) also defines language contact as the
influence of one language to another, directly or indirectly, so that it can
change the language which is used by the speaker though. Language and contact
can be found easily when there are at least two people with different languages
talking each other. For instance, the one is from English and the other is from
Indonesia. Sooner or later their languages will influence each other. Usually,
one of the language contact results is borrowing words. Then, The Indonesian
will get new words from the English, and so does the English.
Al-Amanah Islamic modern college is an Islamic modern
college located in the Kewangen hamlet, Junwangi village, Krian district, and
Sidoarjo regency. Javanese or Indonesian usually calls this institution as pondok pesantren. Pondok pesantren is an
institution built by a priest (kiyai).
This institution specifically teaches about the students a religious education.
The students studying here are called as santri.
The term santri is only used in
Indonesia because Indonesia is the first country using living system in
learning, especially in Java Island (Abdullah, 2008:76; Moesa, 2007:95).
Judging from the location, this Islamic college is
located in the middle of the rice fields. Although it’s located in the middle
of rice fields, this Islamic college is given with many kinds of activities,
both intellectual and spiritual activities. The examples of the intellectual
activities are that students are required to study in formal schools like
students in general. Interestingly, in the daily communication, the students
are required to use both Arabic and English. Especially for Sunday, the
students are required to communicate by using subtle Javanese (Bahasa Jawa Krama). In this sense, the
students can be called as a multilingual community. While the examples of the
spiritual activities are that students are required to perform the five daily
prayers in congregation. In addition, students are also given many kinds of
religious sciences subjects such as reciting and memorizing Quran, studying
fiqh, hadith, etc.
In al-Amanah Islamic modern college, there is a kind of
language varieties. It is influenced by a contact between a foreign language
and regional language. It means that the foreign languages have been influenced
by the regional languages. They are Sidoarjo and Surabaya Javanese. The major
influence is the accent. It makes the influenced foreign languages to be so
different from the real ones. In their
daily conversation, the students usually produce some new words which are not
available in its foreign languages vocabularies. The examples of words that
usually they produce are “This is lo very buuwwig e, come here aaa!(instead of
this is very big, come here!)”, and so on. Most of them are influenced by
Surabaya and Sidoarjo Javanese. Why should the foreign languages be influenced
by Surabaya and Sidorjo? The answer is that most of the students are from
Surabaya and Sidoarjo city. Although all of the foreign languages used in
al-Amanah Islamic modern college are influenced by the regional language, in
this sense, the only English which is explored more.
Besides, this paper is written by
using three methods. They are observation, documentation, and interview. In
this case, observation done by the writer is that the writer observes the
language phenomenon in al-Amanah Islamic modern college directly. Meanwhile,
documentation done is to help to collect the accurate data. The writer collects
or takes some evidences in form of videos and pictures which is taken while the
writer is doing observation. Besides, interview is a meeting in which someone asks an interviewee questions
and get the answers. It is also done in al-Amanah Islamic modern college. But
in this situation, the interview system is divided into two parts. They are
direct and indirect interview. Direct
interview is that the writer himself interviews the interviewee, and indirect
interview means that the writer order somebody else to do it. The indirect
interview is done only in the women areas. It is done because the only women
can enter into the areas.
Back to the previous context, that
there is something unique in this al-Amanah Islamic modern college. It is the
language varieties used. The language varieties used by the students are
totally different from the language varieties used by most of people in some
regions. They create some new words from a language, but the real words of the
language still appear. Not only creating some new words, but they also create a
specific language structure and tone based on the regional language and accent
while they are speaking. Therefore, this paper is written to know how the
description of the language varieties they create and why they create them.
Language is an arbitrary system which used for
communication, showing originality, and education level. According to Cambridge
Advanced learner’s dictionary software third edition (2008), languages defines as a system of communication consisting of sounds, words and
grammar, or the system of communication used by the people of a particular
country or profession. Meanwhile, Indonesian dictionary software state that
language is an arbitrary sound symbol system, which is used by number of a
community to work together, interact, and identify something related to. An
arbitrary system here means that language is created based on the community’s
agreement. If the community agrees to say that a seat for one person, which has
a back, usually four legs, and sometimes two arms, is called as ‘chair’, it
must be a chair. But if the community disagrees to call it as ‘chair’, it will
never be called so. Something should be noticed that each country has its own
language. Therefore, the name of something in each country is different.
Another definition of the language is as a communication
system that makes humans can work together. This definition stresses the social
functions of language and the fact that humans use it to express themselves and
to manipulate objects in the environment. Functional theories of grammar
explain grammatical structures through communicative function, and understand
the structure of the grammar of the language as a result of an adaptive process
in which grammar was standardized to serve communicative needs of its users (Evan, and Steven : 429-492).
Seen from the language functions,
there are some main functions. They are
language as a tool for self-expression, language as a communication device,
language as a tool for social integration and adaptation, and language as a
tool of social control.
1.
Language as a Tool for Self-Expression
People use language to express themselves and
to communicate. A writer expresses himself through some writings. In fact, a
scientific paper is a means of a scientist’s self-expression to demonstrate
his/her ability in a particular study. Thus, people can write to express their
expression or to achieve certain goals.
As another example, some authors express
their expression through writing in some books. They only write, and do not
think about who the readers are. They just explore their hearts and feelings
without thinking whether their writings will be understood by other people or
not. However, when people write a letter to another, they begin to think to
whom the letter will be addressed. They choose a different way of speaking to
people they respect in comparison to the way they speak to their friends.
So that, here, language as a tool for self-expression can be taken into consideration
that there some elements encouraging self-expression, among others, they
are
a.
In order to
attract the attention of others to the someone expressing,
b.
The desire to
be free from all the emotional stress
c.
At the
beginning level, the language in children develops as a tool to express
themselves (Keraf, 1997: 4).
2.
Language as a Communication Device
Communication is a further result of
self-expression. As a tool of communication, language is a channel of speaker’s
intent formulation, exploring the feelings and allowing us to work together. It
manages a wide range of community activities, plans and directs future (Keraf,
1997: 4).
At the time of using language as a communication
tool, a person already has a specific purpose. They are to be understood by
someone else, someone wants to explore his/her feelings to someone else, to
influence the point of views of someone else, and so on (according to their
individual needs).
Through language, someone can show his/her
point of view, origin, education, and character. In short, language can become
a mirror the speaker or the writer.
3.
Language as a Tool For Social Integration and Adaptation
Language is as
an adaptation tool, is used to put someone in using language in a social
environment. By the time a person adapts to a particular social environment,
someone will use an appropriate language to the situation and the conditions.
The language used when talking to a friend is totally different from talking a
lecturer.
Language is as
an integration tool, is used to integrate a wide variety of human whose
different attitude and character. Language allows a person to feel himself
being bound by the social group he/she entered, and can do all the social
activities as far as possible by avoiding the collisions to get a highest
efficiency. Language allows perfect integration (assimilation) for each
individual with the society (Keraf, 1997: 5).
4.
Language as a Tool of Social Control
Language is as
a tool of social control, can be applied to the speaker or writer and the
society. Various explanation, information, and education are delivered through
a language. The examples of the language as a tool of social control, such as:
c. scientific or political orations
Language variety is usually called a lect in term of
sociolinguistics. It includes dialect, accent, registers, and other linguistics
variation (Mecham & Janie in O'Grady, 2001: 537-590). Nordquist (2012) defines language
variety as “a general term for any distinctive
form of a language or linguistic expression”. In short, language variety is concluded as a variation in using a
language.
Dialect is derived
from Greek dialektos, meaning as variety
of language used by a speaker. This variety is different each other, but it
still has similarity. So that, it still cannot be called as a different
language. In the other hand, the existence
of a dialect usually is based on geographic condition, but there is still
another factor such as social factor.
Based on the language speaker, dialect is
divided into some of the following terms. They are:
a. Regional Dialect: variety of the language spoken in a
particular area. For example, a Malay with Ambon dialect, Jakarta dialect, or
Medan dialect.
b. Social dialects: the dialect used by a particular social
group or marking certain social strata. For example, teenage dialect.
c. Temporal dialect, the dialect used in an era or period.
For example, a Malay dialect in Sriwijaya era and Malay dialect era in
Abdullah’s era.
d. Idiolect, the overall characteristics of a typical
person's personal language in pronunciation, grammar, or word choice and wealth
(The preface of KBBI third edition, 2005).
In linguistics, an accent
is a manner of pronunciation peculiarly to a particular
individual, location, or nation (The New Oxford American Dictionary Second Edition, 2005). An accent may
identify the locality in which its speakers live (a geographical or regional accent), the socio-economic
status of
its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language (when the language in which the accent is heard is not
their native language), and so on (Lippi-Green, 1997: 83).
The New Oxford American Dictionary Second Edition (2005) also explains that accents
typically differ in quality of voice, pronunciation of vowels and consonants,
stress, and prosody. Although grammar, semantics, vocabulary, and other
language characteristics often vary with accent, the word 'accent' refers specifically
to the differences in pronunciation, whereas the word dialect encompasses the
broader set of linguistic differences. Often 'accent' is a subset of dialect.
In Java Island, Javanese speak with their own language
especially Javanese. But, the way they pronounce it is totally different each
other. For example, People speaking Javanese in Nganjuk, have different accent
from people speaking Javanese in Jombang. Nganjuk accent is clearer than
Jombang accent.
Registers are ways of saying
different things; they reflect social processes (e.g., division of labor,
specialty, contexts, content areas, and specific activities. Ottenheimer (2012: 174) defines register as a
variety of language used in a particular social setting. Settings may be
defined in terms of greater or lesser formality. Greater formality such as
using affix –ing in present participle rather than –in’, such as ‘I am eating food
now’ is greater formality than ‘I am eatin’ food now’. Meanwhile, the use of
affix –in’ is one of the examples of lesser formality.
Unlike dialects, which are used by particular
speech communities and associated with geographical settings or social groupings,
registers are associated with particular situations, purposes, or levels of
formality. Dialect and register may be thought of as different dimensions of
variation. For example, Trudgill in Bex, T. et. al (1999: 117-128) suggests the following sentence as an
example of a nonstandard dialect used with the technical register of physical
geography:
There was two
eskers what we saw in them U-shaped valleys.
One of the most analyzed areas where the use
of language is determined by the situation is the formality scale. Writers
(especially in
language teaching) have often
used the term "register" as shorthand for formal/informal style,
although this is an aging definition.
In one prominent model, Martin Joos (1961: 40-43) describes
five styles in spoken English:
- Formal:
One-way participation, no interruption. Technical vocabulary or exact
definitions are important. Includes presentations or introductions between
strangers.
- Consultative:
Two-way participation. Interruptions are allowed. Examples include
teacher/student, doctor/patient, expert/apprentice, etc.
- Casual:
In-group friends and acquaintances. No background information provided. Ellipsis and slang common. Interruptions common. This is
common among friends in a social setting.
- Intimate:
Non-public. Intonation more important than wording or grammar. Private
vocabulary. Also includes non-verbal messages. This is most common among
family members and close friends.
4.
Multilingual Community
Fromkin, et. al (2011: 41) define
multilingual as people able to speak more than two languages with different
structures. There is also an expert stating that multilingual is also
bilingual. Grosjean (2010: 4) agree that the use of multilingual is odd, and
“bilingual” is much more used rather than “multilingual” as a term. Another
linguist states that that bilingual and multilingual is the same, like what
Fasold & Jeff (2006: 222) explains that bilingual and multilingual is
ability to speak by using more than one language. Meanwhile, dictionary.com
says that multilingual is using or able to speak several or many languages with
some facility. But in short, the writer
agree more that multilingual is ability to speak more than two languages like
what Fromkin, et. al define.
Cambridge
Advanced learner’s dictionary software third edition (2008), defines community as “the people
living in one particular area or people who are considered as a unit because of
their common interests, social group or nationality.” Dictionary.com also
defines community as a location occupied
by such a group.
Jasmadi & E-media solusindo (2008:16) writes that community as a group of
people interacting each other in a certain location. So, community is a group
of people in a certain location interacting each other because of their
interests.
An expert stated
that there are four elements of sense of community. They are,
1.
Membership:
It is impossible if there is a community without members
2.
Influence:
The members influence each other
3.
Integration
and fulfillment of needs, and
4.
Shared
emotional connection.
Multilingual community means that the community has more
than two languages. Cambridge
Advanced learner’s dictionary software third edition (2008), defines multilingual as
an ability to use more than two languages for communication. Why should it be
more than two languages? The answer is that each of them has their own terms.
For people or groups able to use only one language, they are called as
monolingual. García and Colin (1995:41) defines “monolingual is
as a person ‘who’ knows only one language, whatever that means”. Meanwhile, for
people or groups able to use two languages, they are named as bilingual.
Therefore, Seen from the number of the languages used, linguists categorize
into three parts. They are monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual.
B. Islamic
College (Pondok Pesantren)
1.
Islamic College (Pondok Pesantren) Definition
The term Pondok Pesantren comes from the word pe-santri-an, which the word “santri”
means a student. The term pondok comes
from the Arabic funduuq (فندوق)
which means a college. It is specialized in Aceh, pesantren is named as dayah.
Usually the Islamic college (podok
pesantren) is led by a priest (Kyai).
In order to manage Islamic college (Pondok
Pesantren), the priest (kiyai)
orders some senior students to organize the junior students. They are usually
called as headmen. Meanwhile, the purpose of separating the students from their
parents and their families is that they learn to live independently and to
improve their relations with the priest (kiyai)
and God. In short, Pondok pesantren is an institution built by a
priest (kiyai). This institution
specifically teaches about the students a religious education. The students
studying here are called as santri.
The term santri is only used in
Indonesia because Indonesia is the first country using living system in
learning, especially in Java Island (Abdullah, 2008:76; Moesa, 2007:95).
Other opinions, the word pesantren comes from the word cantrik
(Sansakerta language, or maybe Java) which means a person who always follow
the teacher, who is developed by the College Park Students in the dormitory
system called Pawiyatan then. The
term santri is also available in the
Tamil language, meaning an Islamic teacher. Meanwhile, C. C Berg argues that
the term is derived from the term Shastri,
which in India means a person or a scholar who knows the holy books of Hinduism
very well. Sometimes it is also regarded as a combination of the word saint
(the human kind) with tra syllable (like help), so that the word can mean
boarding school where a good man (Fatah, et al., 2005:11). In short, santri is a student who studies in an
Islamic college, and Islamic college is an institution with Islamic education.
Something should be noticed here that only in these two
paragraphs, the word pondok pesantren,
santri and kiyai are more used,
and for the rest the word Islamic college, student and priest are more used.
2.
The History of Islamic Colleges
Generally, an Islamic college was originated
from the presence of a priest in a place, and then the students came to study
Islamic religious education to him. After having a lot of students, there was
an initiative to build up a college or dorm next to the priest’s house. In
ancient time, a priest did not plan to build a college, but he only thought how
to teach religious knowledge in order to be understood by the students. The
priest did not pay attention to the places occupied by the students, which were
generally very small and simple. They occupied a small building or home that
they themselves built around the priest’s house. The more students, the more
building built. Further, the students popularized the existence of the Islamic
college, so that it can became famous everywhere, such as in the colleges
existing at the time of Walisongo
(Wahab, 2004:153-154).
Islamic colleges in Indonesia have a very big
role, both for the advancement of Islam itself and for Indonesia commonly.
Based on some scripts, religious educational activities in the archipelago have
been started since 1596. These religious activities are then known as an
Islamic college. Even in the script of Howard M. Federspiel, one of the
Islamization students in Indonesia, close to the 12th-century, the studies
centers in Aceh (known by the name of Dayah schools), Palembang (Sumatra), in
East Java and in Gowa (Sulawesi) have produced some important scripts and have
stimulated students to learn (Hielmy, 2000:120).
3.
Kinds of Islamic College
As the times and the demands of
society on the general educational needs, now there are many Islamic colleges
providing non-religious educational menu in a their curriculum. Then, there are
two important terms for Islamic colleges, namely traditional (salaf) and modern Islamic college.
Traditional (salaf) Islamic college
is an Islamic college teaching religious education purely, while the Modern
Islamic college uses an educational system completed with non-religious
education, (such as math, bio, etc.) or people usually calls it as a curricula.
3.1.
Traditional Islamic College (Salaf)
This kind of Islamic college is
more traditional. In general, students only study religious knowledge, without
studying knowledge as taught in many schools in general, such as physics,
biology, and so on. In this Islamic college, the students tend to do devotion
to the priest. If the priest ask the students to cultivate the fields, the
students will do it gladly.
3.2.
Modern Islamic College
It is totally different from
modern Islamic college. In modern Islamic college, students learn not only
religious education, but also learn non-religious education such as physics,
chemistry, Indonesian, etc. as in formal schools. In their daily life, students
are also taught about organization and something related to something modern.
Taking for example is in the way of dressing, students do not have to wear
sarongs, but students are also allowed to wear modern clothes like ties, shoes,
etc.
Here are some of examples of modern Islamic colleges.
They are Darussalam (Gontor) Islamic
modern college, Al-Amanah Islamic modern
college, and al-Amin Islamic modern
college located in Perenduan, Madura. In this sense, al-Amanah Islamic modern
college will be explained more.
Al-Amanah Islamic modern college is an Islamic modern
college located in the Kewangen hamlet, Junwangi village, Krian district, and
Sidoarjo regency. Javanese or Indonesian usually calls this institution as pondok pesantren.
Judging from the location, this Islamic college is
located in the middle of the rice fields. Although it’s located in the middle
of rice fields, this Islamic college is given with many kinds of activities,
both intellectual and spiritual activities. The examples of the intellectual
activities are that students are required to study in formal schools like
students in general. Interestingly, in the daily communication, the students
are required to use both Arabic and English. Especially for Sunday, the
students are required to communicate by using subtle Javanese (Bahasa Jawa Krama). In this sense, the
students can be called as a multilingual community. While the examples of the
spiritual activities are that students are required to perform the five daily
prayers in congregation. In addition, students are also given many kinds of
religious sciences subjects such as reciting and memorizing Quran, studying
fiqh, hadith, etc.
In al-Amanah Islamic modern college, there is a kind of
language varieties. It is caused by a contact between a foreign language and
regional language. It means that the foreign languages have been influenced by
the regional languages. They are Sidoarjo and Surabaya Javanese. The major
influence is the accent. It makes the influenced foreign languages to be so
different from the real ones. In their
daily conversation, the students usually produce some new words which are not
available in its foreign languages vocabularies. The examples of words that
usually they produce are “This is lo very buuwwig e, come here aaa!!!”, and so
on. Most of them are influenced by Surabaya and Sidoarjo Javanese. Why should
the foreign languages be influenced by Surabaya and Sidorjo? The answer is that
most of the students are from Surabaya and Sidoarjo city. Although all of the
foreign languages used in al-Amanah Islamic modern college are influenced by
the regional language, in this sense, the only English which is explored more.
Mackey (in Suwito, 1983:39) gives a definition of
language contact that language contact is an influence of one language on
another, either directly or indirectly, so that it can cause a change in the
language of monolingual speakers. The monolingual speakers can be bilingual or
multilingual, that is, those who master one language to be two or more
languages. According to Suwito (1983: 39) the definition of language contact
involves all contiguity phenomena between some languages causing a change of
the language used by speakers in a social context. Suwito’s opinion is
identical with Kushartanti’s opinion (2005: 58) stating that language contact
happens because of the existence of monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual
phenomena. So, language contact is a phenomenon influencing one language to
another due to the existence of monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual
speakers.
1.
Form of Influence of one language
on another
Actually there
is a lot of form of Form of Influence of one language on another. But, there
are some forms written here assumed to be the most important ones. They are
borrowing language, code-switching and code-mixing, pidgin,
and Creole.
Nordquist (2012) defines borrowing language as language from one language that has been adapted for use in another. Yule (2010: 54) says
that borrowing language is taking over languages to from other languages. In
conclusion borrowing language implies that one language takes something from
another language and makes it into a permanent part of its own system.
Here are some
examples of Indonesian borrowing words taken from another language,
Donor
Language
|
Recipient
Language
|
Computer (English)
|
Komputer (Indonesian)
|
Practice (English)
|
Praktik (Indonesian)
|
كرسي (Arabic)
|
Kursi (Indonesian)
|
Brandkast (Dutch)
|
Brankas (Indonesian)
|
1.2.
Code-Switching and Code-Mixing
In bilingual or multilingual communities, code-switching and
cod-mixing often happen. Wahyuningtyas
(2009: 8) describes code-switching as the use of two or more alternate
varieties of language by a single speaker. Code-switching is the alternate of
two or more language or linguistics varieties within the same conversation
(Troike in Wahyuningtyas, 2009: 14).
Meanwhile, code-mixing is “the embedding of various linguistic units
such as affixes (bound morphemes), or words (unbound morphemes), phrases and
clauses from a cooperative activity where the participant , in order to infer
what is intended, must reconcile what they hear with what they understand”
(Liu, 2008: 4 ). So, code switching is the speaker (or speakers) switches
between two (or more) different language codes during a single stretch of
discourse, and code-mixing is the use of two or more languages in a single
sentence. Therefore, code-switching and code-mixing is different.
To make a good understanding, here are some examples of
code-switching and code-mixing between English and Indonesian. The Indonesian
is written in bold fonts.
Code-Switching
|
Code-Mixing
|
English meaning
|
|
Aku tidak
tahu apa itu good atau bad.
|
I
do not know whether it is good or bad.
|
M:
Kamu lagi dimana?
U:
Di rumah. And you?
M:
me too.
|
|
M:
Where are you?
U:
at home. And you?
M:
me too.
|
1.3
Creation of New Languages: Pidgin, and Creole.
Cambridge
Advanced learner’s dictionary software third edition (2008), defines pidgin as a
language which has developed from a mixture of two languages. It is used as a
way of communicating by people who do not speak each other's languages.
According to Hall’s definition (in Odimegwu,
2012: 6) pidgin is a mixed language arising in a contact situation where people
meet for limit purposes such as in trading.
In short, pidgin is a mixed language used for limit purpose by people
who do not speak each other's languages in a contact situation.
A pidgin usually has a very simple
grammar with different languages vocabularies. A pidgin does not have any
native language speakers. If it has some native languge speakers, it is called
as a Creole language.
Here are some of pidgins taken
from English which are treated as Indonesian speakers’ tongue,
In
pronunciation
|
Becomes
|
In a
structure
|
Becomes
|
Very beautiful
|
Peri biutipul
|
You are funny
|
You funny (without ‘are’)
|
Five thousands
|
Paip tosens
|
Do you need water?
|
You need water? (without ‘do’)
|
Creole is the opposite of pidgin.
Pidgin does not have a native language speaker like Creole. (Kushartanti, et.
al., 2005: 63). Creole is a pidgin used as a mother tongue. Creole is born by
pidgin. Pidgin used from one period to another, longer and longer will become
Creole. One of the famous Creole in java is Betawi Creole which Indonesian
people usually call it as Malayan with Jakarta dialect.
Judging from how Creole can exist, there is a certain cause causing
its existence, that is, that there is a lot of people with different background
gathering together. It means that, in a region, there is a contact between
natives and migrants whose different languages. Here, then, they use a dominant
language. Dominant language means that the language spoken by people in
majority. Although they use the dominant language, however, the language
vocabularies have been influenced by the inherited vocabularies from these
people.
John Mcwhorter (2005: 19) has proposed the following list of
features to indicate a Creole prototype. Here are the Creole prototypes,
a.
a
lack of inflectional morphology (other than at most two or three inflectional
affixes),
b.
a
lack of tone on monosyllabic words, and
c.
a
lack of semantically vague word formation.
But in fact,
those theories are still debatable because there are some linguists argued that
some Creole languages do not have such those prototypes.
D.
Language Varieties in Islamic
al-Amanah Modern College, Krian, Sidoarjo: Seen from Language in Contact.
Language is an
arbitrary system which used for communication, showing originality, and
education level. According to Cambridge Advanced learner’s dictionary software
third edition
(2008), languages defines as a system of
communication consisting of sounds, words and grammar, or the system of
communication used by the people of a particular country or profession which
has certain functions.
Language variety is usually called a lect in term of
sociolinguistics. It includes dialect, accent, registers, and other linguistics
variation (Mecham et. al, 2001: 537-590). Nordquist (2012) defines language
variety as “a general term for any distinctive
form of a language or linguistic expression”. In short, language variety is concluded as a variation in using a
language.
Dialect is derived from Greek dialektos, meaning
as variety of language used by a speaker. This variety is different each other,
but it still has similarity. So that, it still cannot be called as a different
language.
In linguistics, an accent
is a manner of pronunciation peculiarly to a particular
individual, location, or nation (The New Oxford American Dictionary Second Edition, 2005). An accent may
identify the locality in which its speakers live (a geographical or regional accent), the socio-economic
status of
its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language (when the language in which the accent is heard is not
their native language), and so on (Lippi-Green, 1997: 83).
Registers are ways of saying different things; they
reflect social processes (e.g., division of labor, specialty, contexts, content
areas, and specific activities. Ottenheimer (2006:
174) defines register as a variety of language used in a particular
social setting. Settings may be defined in terms of greater or lesser
formality.
The term Pondok
Pesantren comes from the word pe-santri-an,
which the word “santri” means a
student. The term pondok comes from
the Arabic funduuq (فندوق) which means a
college. It is specialized in Aceh, pesantren
is named as dayah. Usually the
Islamic college (podok pesantren) is
led by a priest (Kyai).
As long as Islamic college exists, nowadays, there are
two types of Islamic college. They are traditional Islamic college (salafy) and
Islamic modern college.
In this modern era, people tend to choose Islamic modern
college rather than the traditional (salafy) one. Because they think that it is
suitable with the times. One of the
examples is al-Amanah Islamic modern college.
Al-Amanah Islamic modern college is an Islamic modern
college located in the Kewangen hamlet, Junwangi village, Krian district, and
Sidoarjo regency. The detailed location is that this Islamic college is located
in the middle of the rice fields. Although it’s located in the middle of rice
fields, this Islamic college is given with many kinds of activities, both
intellectual and spiritual activities. The examples of the intellectual
activities are that students are required to study in formal schools like
students in general. Interestingly, in the daily communication, the students
are required to use both Arabic and English. Especially for Sunday, the students
are required to communicate by using subtle Javanese (Bahasa Jawa Krama). In this sense, the students can be called as a
multilingual community. While the examples of the spiritual activities are that
students are required to perform the five daily prayers in congregation. In
addition, students are also given many kinds of religious sciences subjects
such as reciting and memorizing Quran, studying fiqh, hadith, etc.
What is language contact? Language
contact is a phenomenon influencing one language to another due to the
existence of monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual speakers. Some of the forms
of language contacts influencing of one language on another happening in
al-Amanah Islamic modern college are borrowing language, code-switching and
code-mixing, pidgin, Creole and mixed languages.
In al-Amanah Islamic modern college, there is a kind of
language varieties. It is caused by a contact between a foreign language and
regional language. It means that the foreign languages have been influenced by
the regional languages. They are Sidoarjo and Surabaya Javanese. The major
influence is the accent. It makes the influenced foreign languages to be so
different from the real ones. In their
daily conversation, the students usually produce some new words which are not
available in its foreign languages vocabularies. The examples of words that
usually they produce are “This is lo very buuwwig e”, “come here aaa!!!”, and
so on. Most of them are influenced by Surabaya and Sidoarjo Javanese. Why
should the foreign languages be influenced by Surabaya and Sidorjo? The answer
is that most of the students are from Surabaya and Sidoarjo city.
Analyzing another example of language varieties seen from language
in contact in al-Amanah Islamic modern college is like the example below,
1) “Heyyy!!!” “You don’t gaplek’i kon!” (instead
of “Hi!!!” “Don’t be a sucker!”)
2) “If you naughty, tak strike lo yo.” (instead of “If you are naughty, I
will strike you.”)
3) “Hamsong’i!” (instead
of “Damn it!”)
4) “Where is my sarong kok?” (instead
of “Where is my sarong?”)
In 1 and 2), there is a code-mixing phenomenon. It is English and
Javanese with Surabaya and Sidoarjo dialect which is written in italic forms.
There is also a pidgin seen from the structure (Javenglish). Although
Indonesian, Javanese and English have almost the same structure (S-V-O), but in
this sense, the structure tends to use the Javanese one. In 3), it is Javanese
with Surabaya and Sidoarjo dialect swearword which has been modified to be softer.
Here, code-switching phenomenon is
available. It switches from English to Javanese. Finally, in 4) there is a
code-mixing phenomenon. It is English and Javanese with Surabaya and Sidoarjo
dialect which is written in italic forms. Here, sarong is a kind of borrowing
language which Indonesian is as the donor language and English is as the
recipient one. In the way to pronounce, those examples are pronounced by using
Surabaya and Sidoarjo accent because most of the students are from Surabaya, Sidoarjo,
and surroundings. Although there are some students coming from Sumatra, Borneo,
Madura, and another but they are in minority. So, Surabaya and Sidoarjo accent
appears dominantly.
Talking about why the students use
these language varieties because they imitate their seniors. Besides, they are
from Surabaya, Sidoarjo, and surroundings which they can be ensured that they
are multilingual speakers. Then, some students do not know how to produce good
English, so that, it can make the students know English well shy to practice their
good English because they will be different from others. Finally, they consider
that the use of these language varieties is simpler than the correct and
perfect one. So that, those language varieties can happen in this al-Amanah
Islamic modern college, Krian, Sidoarjo.