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Language Interference of Angkola-Mandailing Language to Indonesian: A Case Study

Lita Rizki Fauziah and Literature Universitas Pendidikan [email protected]

ABSTRACT This research aims to investigate the common characteristics of Indonesian pronunciation deviations made by undergraduate college students from Batak Angkola and to observe the factors that contribute to the interference. The participants are two female Batak Angkola undergraduate students who have been living in Bandung for four years and are active speakers of Bahasa Indonesia and Batak Angkola-Mandailing language. To compare the results, four other participants who come from Jakarta and Bandung, have the same age and gender, and are not active speakers of any Indonesian local languages are also recruited. Based on the pilot test conducted prior to the research, the phonemes that are investigated are /e/, /ə/ and plosives (/b/, /d/, /g/, /k/, /t/, /p/). The data are collected through two types of assessment, which are a reading task, and pronunciation tests in the form of three word lists. By using software Praat, the deviations analysis and a further acoustic phonetic analysis of vowel and consonant duration are conducted. In general, there are two types of pronunciations deviations made by the participants: devoicing and allophonic shift that occurs between /ə/ into /e/ and /e/ into /ə/. The factors that contribute to the interference are speaker bilingualism background, language distant, anxiety, empathy and group solidarity.

Keywords: Language interference, pronunciations, acoustic phonetics, Batak Angkola-Mandailing language.

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Lita Rizki Fauziah Language Interference of Batak Angkola-Mandailing Language to Indonesian: A Case Study

INTRODUCTION speakers, for example, are often Indonesia is a complex multilingual called ‘ndeso’ (‘villagers’) or and multicultural nation in which ‘medok’, which have unpleasant several languages coexist and often connotations, when they speak influence each other. The process, Indonesian that is heavily influenced which is also called by Javanese accent. Another instance contact, causes several inevitable is Batak language speakers who are linguistic phenomena including stereotyped as loud or even rude and language interference (Offiong, uncivilized (Bruner, 2006). These 2005; Houmanfar, Hayes, and stereotypes may discourage the Herbst, 2005). Language interference speakers to speak regional languages refers to “deviation from the norms or Indonesian since the correctness of either language which occurs in of pronunciation affects the the speech of bilinguals as a result of appropriateness of communication. their familiarity with more than one In general, there are two language” (Weinreich, 1953). opposite views regarding effects of One of the types of language interference. Some find that language interference can be found interference, especially the in pronunciation. The phenomenon is knowledge and structure of first particularly apparent in a language, fosters the learning of multilingual society such as in second language (Masinde, 2012) Indonesia since the speakers are and even enhances cognitive control exposed to at least two languages functions (Festman, Rodriguez- that are frequently and Fornells, Münte, 2010). On the other simultaneously used in daily hand, Randall (1997), Eltrug (1984), activities. It thus creates diverse and Richard, Platt, and Platt (1992) pronunciation varieties of the find that interference plays a major languages. The varieties of role in the errors that are produced in pronunciation can cause some one of the languages. Furthermore, difficulties that may be encountered Ellis (1997) states that the further by its speakers. Some Javanese apart two languages are structurally,

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the higher the instances of errors found are caused by mother tongue made in the second language. Errors i.e. Javanese, slang language and here refer to a systematic and foreign languages such as Arabic, consistent deviation of language; it is English and Dutch. Unfortunately, not something coincidental or there have not been many studies randomly made (Norrish, 1983). conducted on language interference Errors are important to be that occurs in Indonesian context investigated since errors can provide which involves Batak Angkola- an understanding or evaluation on Mandailing language. This research how someone learns a new language will focus on analyzing the common (Corder, 1967). characteristics of Indonesian There have been many pronunciation deviations made by studies conducted on language undergraduate college students from interference. For instance, Alonso Batak Angkola and observes the (1997) analyzes errors that beginner factors that contribute to the Spanish students make when learning interference. English as foreign language and it is found that most errors are caused by METHODOLOGY interference of structures from the Research Design Spanish to the English language. Consistent with the nature of the Baloch (2013) also conducts a study research questions, the research on how Arabic (the mother tongue) employs a descriptive qualitative interferes in the learning of English approach, in particular case study (the second language) in terms of research design supported by spellings. The author finds that the descriptive quantification. replacement of ‘b’ with ‘p’ and vice Qualitative research is suitable for versa occurs because of the mother this research since it fits the natures tongue interference. Furthermore, of qualitative research; there is no Erwina (2011) conducts a study of absolute 'truth' and it attempts to language interference in Indonesian explain, describe and analyze data context and finds that the errors

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Lita Rizki Fauziah Language Interference of Batak Angkola-Mandailing Language to Indonesian: A Case Study

(Phillips, 1990; Andi-Pallawa and are recruited as the participants of the Alam, 2013). research. In addition, four native The form of case study that Indonesian speakers from Jakarta and is employed in this research is Bandung are also recruited to descriptive case study. Descriptive compare the results. Purposive case study aims to present a detailed sampling technique is used in this contextualized understanding of a research to avoid sampling error and particular phenomenon. Therefore, because the research focuses on this design is in line with the aims of describing a phenomenon based on this research which are to observe the an-in-depth analysis. All of the common characteristics of participants are female and have Indonesian pronunciation deviations been staying in Bandung for more made by undergraduate college than four years. The four other students from Batak Angkola and participants that are recruited (P3, investigate the factors that contribute P4, P5, and P6) are not active to the interference. speakers of any Indonesian local languages. Research Site and Participants Bandung is chosen as the setting of Data Collection Techniques and the research since Bandung is one of Data Analysis the metropolitan cities in Indonesia The data are collected through two where many ethnic groups meet and types of assessment, which are a many languages are used. Although reading task, and pronunciation tests many languages are used, most of the in the form of word list. All of the people tend to use Indonesian to ease data are recorded by using a voice their communication with people recorder. A reading task and a word from such diverse backgrounds. list are used as the instruments of the Two Batak Angkola college research to obtain natural yet students who speak and use Batak controlled data. In the reading task, Angkola-Mandailing language and the participants are asked to read a- Indonesian fluently in daily activities 146-word text. The text is in the form

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of a fable entitled “Balas Budi Sang it is also important to make sure that Semut” written by Ernes (2013). the words that are selected are Reading task is conducted to obtain frequently used by Indonesians. In the participants’ pronunciation in a addition, the participants are also continuous speech. instructed to read a list of a three- Prior to the actual data letter closed syllable words. This collection session, a pilot test is word list is made to investigate conducted to predict the possible further the participants’ sounds that are going to be pronunciation of plosives and to investigated. Based on the pilot test, accommodate the fact that one- the phonemes that are investigated syllable words in Indonesian are are /e/, /ə/ and plosives (/b/, /d/, /g/, rarely found. The words consist of /k/, /t/, /p/). To investigate the voiced plosive sounds in the initial participants’ pronunciation of the position, five Indonesian vowels (/a/, phonemes, pronunciation tests in the /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/) in the medial form of word list are also conducted. position, and all plosive sounds in There are three types of word list: the final position. two list of actual words in Indonesian After collecting the data, and a list of a three-letter closed the data are transcribed and analyzed syllable words. The first word list by using software called Praat. Praat (Word list 1) is used to collect the is an open-source software used to participants’ pronunciation of vowel analyze, synthesize and manipulate /e/ and /ə/ while the second word list sounds (Boersma and Weennink, is used to collect the participants’ 1999). Prior to the transcription, the pronunciation of plosives. The word recorded speech is transcribed in the lists that consist of actual words in form of orthographic transcription Indonesian are made based on with the assistance of one Indonesian Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia and native speaker. The involvement of the target phonemes are put in every the Indonesian native speaker to part of a syllable. To maintain the assist this data transcription is consistency and validity of the data, intended to minimize transcribing

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Lita Rizki Fauziah Language Interference of Batak Angkola-Mandailing Language to Indonesian: A Case Study

error. The transcriptions are then Unlike the common stereotype, the compared and any disagreements are allophonic shift does not only occur resolved through negotiation. After between /ə/ into /e/, but also from /e/ that, the data are transcribed by into /ə/. All of the deviations occur following the International Phonetic on medial position and final position Alphabet system. Regarding the data of the syllables. The total number of collected from word list 3, a further deviation is also noticed to be acoustic phonetic analysis of vowels significantly different from the and consonant durations are also deviations produced by the conducted. monolingual participants. In some occurrences, the participants are also RESULTS AND DISCUSSION noticed to be hesitating in producing Pronunciation Deviations words that contain phonemes /e/ and The results show that out of all of the /ə/. The hesitation is observed from phonemes produced by the pauses before uttering a word, participants, there are two main types emphasis on the target phonemes and of pronunciations deviations made by also repetition of the utterances. The the participants: devoicing and examples of the allophonic shift allophonic shift that occur between deviations made by the participants /ə/ into /e/ and /e/ into /ə/. The are presented below. pronunciation deviations made by the Table 2: Examples of the Allophonic participants are presented below. Shift Table 1: Pronunciation Deviations Participants’ actual deviatio participan made by the participants input pronunciatio n t Type of Percentage Assessment Occurrences n Deviation (%) /beban/ [be.ban] ə → e P1 Allophonic Reading task 3 1.056 /duel/ [du.əl] e → ə P2 shift

Word List 1 29 18.125 Devoicing Reading task - - Another deviation that is Word List 2 9 50 observed is devoicing. The total Word List 3 75 83.33 occurrence of devoicing is eighty

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four alternations, with nine The participants from alternations observed in the data Bandung have the longest duration of collected from word list 2 and vowels and voiced plosives seventy five alternations observed in compared to other participants. On the data collected from word list 3. In the other hand, the participants from all of the devoicing alternations Jakarta have the shortest duration of observed, the phoneme /b/ is realized vowels and voiced plosives. as [p], /d/ is realized as [t] and /g/ is However, the voiced plosives realized as [k]. The alternation only duration of the participants from occurs when the phonemes are put as Jakarta and Batak Angkola are the coda of the syllable and no notably similar. The devoicing alternation is found on initial alternation and the consonant position.The alternation is also found duration patterning indicated that in the utterances produced by the although the monolingual participants who come from Jakarta participants are not active speakers and Bandung, with the least of any local languages, the utterances found in the utterances environments where they come from produced by the participants from along with the variety of languages Bandung. spoken there might contribute greatly Based on the results, an on their pronunciation. acoustic phonetic analysis is also conducted by analyzing the duration Factors that contribute to the of the vowels and voiced plosives (in interference the final position) produced by the Based on the tests that are conducted, participants. The analysis is the factors that contribute to the presented in the table below. language interference are concluded Table 3: Duration of vowels and based on the factors that contribute to voiced plosives interference proposed by Weinreich duration P1 & P2 P3 & P4 P5 & P6 (1970, pp.64-65) and Yi (2012). x vowels (s) 0.169367 0.140841 0.178575 The first factor is speaker

0.064198 0.078287 0.122385 voiced plosives (s) bilingualism background. It can be

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Lita Rizki Fauziah Language Interference of Batak Angkola-Mandailing Language to Indonesian: A Case Study

seen from the patterning of the significantly influenced by Batak deviations. Since the results show Angkola-Mandailing language. that the deviations occur differently Many of the studies in in each group of participants, it can language interference find that when be inferred that although the first the first language has already been language of all of the participants is fully acquired, the influence is often Indonesian and the language has reported as largely one-way, from the been learnt since childhood, first language to second language. exposures to local languages spoken However, the notion of first language in the area they live influenced their and second language in Indonesia Indonesian pronunciation and the context is not clear since there are manifestation might occur differently hundreds of languages and dialects for each person. For instance, the that are spoken simultaneously in its devoicing produced by the regional areas and most of the people participants from Jakarta and who live in Indonesia are able to Bandung show different patterning master at least two languages; the although both group of participants regional language and Indonesian, are not active speakers of any local the national language. Indonesian is languages. The speakers from Jakarta mostly used in formal settings, such might be influenced by Betawi as academic or business, while the language and the speakers from language used in daily interaction is Bandung might be influenced by more various with influence from Sundanese, with the prevoicing local languages and foreign phenomenon in it. While the languages such as English, Chinese speakers from Batak Angkola, or Arabic. In Indonesian context, although their first language is exposure to other language(s) plays a Indonesian and learned Batak major role in the language use, Angkola-Mandaling language instead of age in which it is acquired. starting from when they are in The next factor is language elementary school, might be distance, especially the typological difference. One of the prominent

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differences between Indonesian and the intervocalic position (Kim and Batak Angkola-Mandailing language Smith, 2013). is the vowel phoneme system. In However, the deviations are Indonesian, there are six vowels: /a/, not only found from /ə/ into /e/, but /i/, /u/, /e/, /ə/, /o/. Meanwhile, in also from /e/ into /ə/. It may be Batak Angkola-Mandailing caused by individual factors: anxiety. language, there are only five vowels: Based on observation and interaction /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/. Furthermore, spent with participants 1 and 2, Indonesian also does not differentiate anxiety plays a major role in the phoneme /ə/ and /e/ in the writing influencing their language use. When system. These factors may cause their pronunciation is ‘incorrect’ and problem for the participants from got corrected by their friends, they Batak Angkola when they pronounce feel discouraged to speak Indonesian words in Indonesian. This non- words which contain /ə/ or /e/ existent /ə/ sound caused the sounds. It has affected their attitude participants to replace the sound with when they speak in Indonesian. They the closest phoneme available in become very careful when speaking Batak Angkola-Mandailing in Indonesian because they worried language; /e/. It may also make them that they will make mistakes again. treat the phonemes as allophones and The anxiety is shown when they are thus mispronounce the phonemes /ə/ hesitating in producing words that and /e/ in the Indonesian words. A contain phonemes /e/ and /ə/. The similar phenomenon is found in hesitation is observed from pauses Korean in which /l/ and /r/ may be before uttering a word, emphasis on viewed as possible variants of one the target phonemes and repetition of liquid sound. This is because in the utterances. Korean, the English retroflex /r/ does The last factors that not exist and phoneme /l/ has three contribute to the interference are allophones: apical flap [ɾ] in the empathy and group solidarity. initial position, a lateral [l] in the Empathy here refers to the awareness coda position, and a geminate [ll] in and flexibility of the speakers’ own

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Lita Rizki Fauziah Language Interference of Batak Angkola-Mandailing Language to Indonesian: A Case Study

culture and linguistic norms in order community when creating a close to feel emotionally ‘inside’ or be a between the group members who part of the target language speech come from the same region by community. From the interview frequently using Batak Angkola- conducted prior to the research, it is Mandailing language. This is in line known that when participant 1 and 2 with statement that Indonesians tend started to live in Bandung to study, to use the informal variation of they use Indonesian to interact with Indonesian or local languages in non- her university’s friends. However, formal situations. they use Batak Angkola-Mandailing language more frequently to CONCLUSION communicate with people especially This research investigates the with their friends that come from the common characteristics of same area. It is also further supported Indonesian pronunciation deviations by the fact that they live in a made by undergraduate college boarding house with people who students from Batak Angkola. The come from the same region, and they sounds that are investigated are use Batak Angkola-Mandailing limited into two vowels: /e/ and /ə/ language to communicate with each and six plosives: /b/, /d/, /g/, /k/, /p/, other. Even when they speak using /t/. The speech production is Indonesian with people from the observed from continuous speech same region, they still use Batak and single-word production. In Angkola-Mandailing’s accent. They addition, the factors that contribute to argue that using Batak Angkola’s the interference are also analyzed. accent while speaking Indonesian The results show that out of creates a close bond between the all of the phonemes produced by the group members who come from the participants, there are two main types same region. It can also be implied of pronunciations deviations made by that they are aware and proud of their the participants: devoicing and ethnical identity as Batak Angkola allophonic shift. Allophonic shift people and feel ‘inside’ the speech refers to refers to situations in which

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allophones of a phoneme undergo After analyzing the changes. The allophonic shift does deviations occurred, a further not only occur between /ə/ into /e/, acoustic phonetic analysis is also but also from /e/ into /ə/. The total conducted by analyzing the duration occurrences of allophonic shift of the vowels and voiced plosives (in observed are thirty two, with twenty the final position) produced by the nine alternations (18.125%) found in participants, which are collected the data collected from word list 1 from word list 3. The devoicing and three alternations (1.056%) patterning and the inconsistencies found in the data collected from the between the total occurrences of the reading task. All of the deviations devoicing alternation and the vowel occur on medial position and final duration indicated that out of the two position of the syllables. acoustic features mentioned above, Another deviation that is the consonant duration is the one found is devoicing. The total which influenced the devoicing occurrence of devoicing is eighty alternation the most. The devoicing four alternations, with nine patterning and consonant duration alternations (50%) observed in the differences also show that although data collected from word list 2 and the monolingual participants are not seventy five alternations (83.33%) active speakers of any Indonesian observed in the data collected from local languages, the environments word list 3. In all of the devoicing where they come from along with the alternations observed, the phoneme variety of languages spoken there /b/ is realized as [p], /d/ is realized as might contribute greatly on their [t] and /g/ is realized as [k]. language use, especially in this case, However, the alternation only occurs their pronunciation. Thus, it can be when the phonemes are put as the argued that in a diglossic country, coda of the syllable and no such as in Indonesia, one’s alternation is found on initial pronunciation will always be position. influenced by other languages that

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