FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE CODE SHIFTING IN WRITING (AN ETHNOLINGUISTICS STUDY VIEWED FROM SOCIOLINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE)

Iqbal Nurul Azhar

Universitas Trunojoyo

Abstract: is used by Madurese people as their means of com- munication in all aspects of life. A research-worthy phenomenon occurs in their lan- guage-written-form choice that is Madurese people tend to cease using Madurese language when they interact in written form. This is an interesting sign that there is somewhat different language use between spoken and written form and likely this phenomenon will become a threat to the existence of Madure language in the future.

Key words: Madurese language, code shifting, written text

Madura, with its four regencies; Bangkalan, comes a new trend, what linguistic phe- Sampang, Pamekasan and Sumenep, is not nomenon then transpires in that place? only inhabited by Madurese, but also - What language or languages do they use in nese, Arabs, Chinese, Sumatranese, and phoning? Or, what language or languages Sundanese. Although its social structure is do they prefer in writing SMS (Short Mes- built up from many ethnics, the majority of sage Service)? These are very interesting its population are the native speakers of questions to discuss. Madurese language and they communicate Yule (1985:8) stated that a very large using that language. number of languages found in the world to- National policy obligates Bahasa Indo- day is only used in spoken form. It rises as nesia as the used by the the consequence of not having the written whole nations. Madura as a part of Indone- form thereof. It leads to a case that many sia also applies the language to be used in people are able to perform a very excellent the island. As a result, they become bilin- language in their society yet; failed to car- gual or even multilingual speakers. ry out the language in written form. Conse- Based on their ability as bilingual or quently, the language gradually vanishes. multilingual people, we may ask what will This shocking statement I presume is really happen if these people meet in a multilin- accurate and can be proven by many cases gual setting : what language or languages related to the use of Madurese language in will they use? When this question is linked written form. The cases are so plenty that I to the modern communication context when begin to worry about the existence of Madu- communication using mobile phone be- rese language in the future. The cases are

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Azhar, Factors That Contribute Code Shifting 186 mostly about the unavoidable fact the-so- oppression by others, both of which make called code shifting. life very difficult for them. Nevertheless, As a Madurese, I notice an interesting their harsh temperament can be seen posi- phenomenon in our daily interactions re- tively if one examines their work ethic. lated to our written communication. This is Most of them work extremely hard and true that as we interact we use Madurese refuse to give up. Both men and women do language, yet when this interaction shifts to not shrink from hard work in order to meet the written one, the use of Madurese lan- basic needs (PJRN: 2006). Based on the da- guage does not arise anymore. This is an in- ta from Central Bureau, Madura teresting sign that there is somewhat differ- has 3.492.132 citizens. The citizens comes ent language use between spoken and writ- from four parts of Madura, those are Bang- ten. The different use of Madurese language kalan, Sampang, Pamekasan and Sumenep. makes me have a very big question in my Bangkalan has 886.080 citizen, Sampang mind. The question is; does this phenome- 833.640, Pamekasan 740.150, and Sumenep non only happen in our interactions or does 1.032.260. From that number 80% is native it happen to other people s interaction and Madurese. The rest 20% are Javanese, Sun- become a new culture in our society? If it is danese, Arabs, Chinese, and Sumatranese. true that this phenomenon is a new culture, Madurese is the spoken language of then I believe what Yule state related to the people from in ; it vanishing language is valid. Madurese lan- is also spoken on , Sapudi guage gradually vanishes. Islands, and in parts of the province of East Based on the writer s concern over the Java. It is classified in the Sundic subgroup existence of Madurese language, this article of the West Malayo-Polynesian group of the is written. In general this article provides family. It was tradi- the following information: a) The use of tionally written in the , but Madurese language in society, b) factors the Roman script is now more commonly that contribute code shifting in written used. Number of speakers though shrinking communication. c) The impact of code are estimated to be 8-10 million (Wikipedia, shifting to the existence of Madurese lan- 2006). No one likely spoke other languages guage in the future. until formal education and information grew rapidly in that area. As the rate of education MADURESE PEOPLE, MADURESE and information grows, now Madurese LANGUAGE AND ITS USE IN speak not only Madurese language, but also SOCIETY Bahasa Indonesia and Javanese. Yet, they still use Madurese as their prime language Madurese people are the third largest in their daily conversation. people group in Indonesia. They make up Madurese builds a strong-well- 7% of the entire Indonesian population. Pre- established-culture in their society. They re- sently about three and a half million Madu- spect much on their culturally bound as rese still live on the island of Madura, while Madurese and possess a very strong another nine and half million live primarily solidarity among them. As the result, Madu- on Jawa (Java). Other major areas of Ma- rese people seldom left their native lan- durese people can be found in , Ka- guage in daily conversation among them. limantan, and . Madurese people Greenberg defined language as a set of are renowned for their harsh character and culturally transmitted behaviour pattern lifestyles. This is probably caused by their shared by a group of individuals (Greenberg natural surroundings and their history of in Bell, 1981:23). That is why a certain lan- 187 BAHASA DAN SENI, Tahun 37, Nomor 2, Agustus 2009 guage will be used by the member of socie- harmonic society. They share distinctive ty similarly as their elderly used in the past. roles and create a particular demography This language will live a long with the ex- like the one we can see now. Although the isting processes of transmitting of the lan- new inhabitants let say the Javanese, are guage in that society. What the ancestor minor and small in number, they play cru- said in that language in the past will be spo- cial roles in Madura island. Many of them ken in the same way by their descendants. occupy important social positions. They Holmes (1992:3) stated Language pro- work as civil servants, teachers, doctors, la- vides a variety of ways of saying the same bourers, even street vendors. Their occupa- thing addressing and greeting others, de- tions force them to intermingle with scribing things, and paying compliments. Madurese otherwise, they will not survive. This variation also occurs in Madurese lan- However, they have a very crucial problem guage, and of course it gives much influ- that is they do not know Madurese lan- ence on the existing dialect of Madurese. guage. This lack of language knowledge Yet, it provides no barrier in Madurese seems to become everlasting communica- communication. tion-crush-barrier if they do not overcome it When we talk about Madurese lan- immediately. Luckily, they know Bahasa guage, we also talk about their language Indonesia and they make use of it as a transmission. As this society grows still, the bridge of communication. They use Bahasa transmission brings impacts to the language. Indonesia to interact with Madurese. The transmission creates many changing Madurese, on the other hand respect these especially in the use of the language in mul- people much and they also use Bahasa In- tilingual settings. Here, code shifting exists. donesia to show their respect. Madurese speak Bahasa Indonesia to conduct under- FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE standable communication with the new in- CODE SHIFTING IN WRITTEN FORM habitants. They also apply the language in written communication. In sending SMS or Many previous studies propose some in writing a letter, they use Bahasa Indone- factors that contribute code shifting. Gil sia as the preferable language. In this case, provides three dominant factors that are we can say that it is almost impossible for more plausible to examine the process of Madurese to use Madurese language to language shift. Those are; language status, write something that is addressed to Java- demography and institution. (Gil in Setia- nese. wan 2001:175). In Madura, I found five fac- tors that contribute most in Madurese lan- Language Status guage shifting. Those are, demography, language status, characteristics of Referring to Appel and Muysken s that Madurese language, diglossia and trend language shifting occurs because of the status of the language, namely minority lan- Demography guage (Gil in Setiawan 2001:175), Trudgill claims that a minority language that is Demography should be taken into ac- smaller and less influential is unlikely to count for its contribution to code shifting. be come official language. When a language I have stated in my previous statement that does not become an official language, then Madura is not only inhabited by Madurese, its survival is hardly achieved. That is to say but also Javanese, , Chinese, Suma- that the language is used less and less and tranese, and Sundanese. Together with the finally language shifting is unavoidable (Gil Madurese, these new inhabitants build a

Azhar, Factors That Contribute Code Shifting 188 in Setiawan 2001:175). What Trudgill said hasa Madura s assignments, to attract peo- is suitable with what is happening with ple s attention in the form of banners, to Madurese language. Madurese language al- write a speech script for a traditional cere- though widely spoken by Madurese people, mony, to deliver a massage from a certain still cannot become an official language. As institution in the form of ads, or just to a result, the use of Madurese language in promote products. formal situation is always the second The reluctance of Madurese people to choice. This is the result of becoming a mi- write something using Madurese language nority language in its own hometown. Being and the very limited number of Madurese a minority language gives modest benefit to writings in society, result a new problem. Madurese. As we come to the written one, The problem is about their Madurese com- the use of Madurese is almost left. This in- petence to understand texts written in cludes the use of Madurese language in Madurese language. Since they have aban- educational world. doned their skill to write Madurese lan- The disuse of Madurese language in guage for years, they need a long time to schools is actually the problem s core of the understand a text, or even a sentence. A absence of Madurese language in written very short sentence Ale nemmo baja palsu form. To achieve the knowledge how to will be very difficult to understand by write, people must pass the so-called formal Madurese because they are not accustomed education in schools. The process is con- to reading a sentence like this. Besides, the ducted in a formal way and gives the impact word baja has ambiguous meanings since it on the use of the medium of instruction in can be interpreted into three meanings; baja schools. As national policy proclaims ba- for tooth, baja for steel, or baja for a croco- hasa Indonesia as the medium of instruction dile. When a Madurese reads this sentence, in every school, students speak and read us- he or she will likely get confused with what ing bahasa Indonesia. In written form, stu- the meaning is, whether the sentence has a dents write in that language too. The stu- meaning: my little brother found a bar of dents, since they do it for years, then get fake steel, or my little brother found a fake used to using bahasa Indonesia. This very tooth, or my little brother found a fake long process appears as a new custom in so- crocodile. The problem is worsened by the ciety. When the students are asked to speak, lack of intelligibility of Madurese writing they will speak using bahasa Indonesia. system. The here refers to a When they are instructed to choose reading well-known and acknowledged system of materials and read them, they will choose how to write Madurese words using alpha- materials written in bahasa Indonesia. betic script. This dilemma makes Madurese When they are asked to write something, people feel reluctant to write something in they will write Indonesian sentences using Madurese language. As a consequence, alphabetic script and will not write using ha Madurese language gradually vanishes in na ca ra ka system, a writing system used written form. by ancient Madurese people. Unlikely no The dilemma can be viewed as a one writes Madurese language using alpha- chained factor that each component con- betic form. When someone does so, it im- tributes something to another component. plies that the person wants to achieve a cer- The chained factor can be seen in the chart tain goal, for example to do pelajaran ba- below:

189 BAHASA DAN SENI, Tahun 37, Nomor 2, Agustus 2009

The reluctance of Madurese to Madurese do not want to write read texts written in Madurese using Madurese language language

No clear pattern how to write a word in Madurese Language

Madurese do not have the ability Madurese writings are hardly to read Madurese writings fast and found in society fluently another meaning. Bdhn might be read bud- The Characteristics of Madurese Lan- hun (ulcer) and it is completely different guage from badhan (body). This misinterpretation The third factor relates to Madurese sometimes will be harmful for Madurese language itself. Madurese words have spe- people s relationship. To avoid this SMS cial characters comparing with other lan- problem, Madurese use Indonesian lan- guages words. The first special character guage instead of Madurese, and because of lies on the sound that exists in that code shifting occurs. many words. The second one lies on the number of their in a word. A Diglossia. word Beddha (face powder) is an example Some communities normally have dig- of these special characters. The number of lossia situations. This means that one lan- consonants in a word sometimes makes guage is normally used for high matters Madurese people get confused to write such as social and education and another for them. A word kamma ah (where) in a sen- everyday concern. tence Dha kamma ah? (where are you Diglossia phenomenon occurs in going?) is a tangible example that writing Madura. As a community which holds the Madurese expressions is not as easy as writ- norm tightly, madurese give their respect ing Indonesian expressions. If a person much to their elders. The respect is shown writes this expression in the form of SMS, by shifting the language to the higher or the and the format of his or her writings is highest level. Madurese have three levels of based on people s custom that is clipping language. Those are Enja -iya, Enggi-enten, the words shorter, not only the receiver will and Enggi-bunten. Enja -Iya is commonly get confused to read the massage, the sender used to communicate with close friends, of SMS, will also have to think hard to pre- colleagues at the same age, or younger- pare his or her SMS. An SMS message Tng aged- relatives. Enggi-Enten is used to re- bdhn rassna sake that follows clipping spect common-older-people. Enggi- Bunten format will definitely confuse the reader. which is the highest level, is used to com- The actual meaning of this message is my municate with older people especially the body hurts. The word bdhn when it is writ- people who occupy a very respectful posi- ten completely will appear as badhan tion. This person might be parents, a teach- (body). But because Mudurese people are er, a religion leader and a ruler. Education is not accustomed to reading texts written in a common sphere for diglossia in Madura. Madurese language, they might come to Students speak to teachers using Basa Alos

Azhar, Factors That Contribute Code Shifting 190 (High language) that is Enggi-Bunten or in- it easier, Madurese shift the language to ba- frequently Enggi-Enten. The use of that hasa Indonesia. language indicates that the students know much how to respect elder. Those who do Trend not use the two levels of the language will Trend refers to the actual phenomenon be considered as impolite and uneducated that exists in society. As the electronic students. communication era develops fast in Madu- Unfortunately, the use of Enggi-Enten, ra, there are no more boundaries between and Enggi Bunten nowadays has been aban- Madurese and people from different com- doned, particularly by teenagers who live in munities. Madurese will be able to commu- urban area. Many teenagers do not know nicate or even to see many people of Indo- how to use this level of language. It happens nesia via telephone, mobile phone, internet, because they have never been taught inten- radio or television. Here, mass media espe- sively to use the language. They use Madu- cially television plays a significant role in rese but the level is only Enggi-Enten. It language sift. TV channels broadcast many appears to be a problem for them to com- programs related to trends, entertainment municate with elder. Trying to avoid being and information. Those programs are called impolite and uneducated students, broadcasted in more or less in Bahasa Indo- they use bahasa Indonesia instead Basa nesia (many sinetrons are broadcasted in Alos. In this case, they are still able to Bahasa Indonesia-Betawis accent). TV communicate with the elder without leaving channels also exhibit artists lives and the their respect. In written communication, way they communicate each other. The they do it the same way. channels also promotes the use of modern Writing is a complicated skill. Not only slang words (Bahasa Gaul) that are derived the writer needs to be smart in constructing from Bahasa Indonesia. Madurese especial- ideas about what he/she is going to write, ly teenagers, also watch this, and likely, he/she has to be able to find good diction. adopt this trend. They use Bahasa Indonesia This skill is very important to possess oth- not because of their needs, but it is merely erwise the reader or the receiver of the mes- because they want to be called trendy and sage will not understand the ideas behind modern. In writing, they prefer to choose the message. The process of finding ideas Bahasa Indonesia to Madurese in order to and diction according to some people is prove themselves that they are educated very difficult to accomplish, particularly for well, or to be considered as unleft-behinded Madurese. When a Madurese writes some- people. thing using Madurese language particulary using Basa Alos, he/she must pass this THE IMPACT OF CODE SHIFTING process. First he/she must look for ideas. TO THE EXISTENCE OF MADURESE The second he must find a good diction. LANGUAGE IN THE FUTURE. Then, he needs to think hard how to write Code shifting occurring in Madurese the words in Madurese language since society is actually a common linguistic phe- he/she is not accustomed to writing some- nomenon. This phenomenon can be found thing using Madurese language. He/she also in all multilingual societies. It appears to must be very selective to chose the appro- satisfy the need of a way to communicate priate words in Basa Alos just to make sure with other people who speak different lan- that the language is polite enough before it guage. As long as this phenomenon exists is sent. This is a tiring process that not temporarily, the existence of the domain many Madurese want to undergo. To make language (the language that is being shifted) 191 BAHASA DAN SENI, Tahun 37, Nomor 2, Agustus 2009 can be maintained. Nevertheless, if this Madurese language. (e) Only one local mass practice is applied continuously or even media was written in Madurese language. permanently, this will give negative impacts (Azhar, 2008) and at last will threaten the host language. The facts stated above, give a clear In Madura island, when Madurese people proof that Madurese language has been in shift their language to bahasa Indonesia all the process of vanishing. If there is no pre- the time, this will harm Madurese language. ventive action performed to stop this from Madurese people, as they are accustomed to happening, then Madurese language will using bahasa Indonesia, will find inconven- completely be vanished. ient if they are, one time, forced to reuse To prevent Madurese language from Madurese language. The habit of not using becoming extinct, two ways can be done; Madurese language, if descended to their those are encouraging young Madurese next generation, will make their young gen- people to write using Madurese language erations not to have a good ability to use and building new custom on reading and Madurese language, though their blood is writing using Madurese language. If these Madurese. If there is no preventive action to two things can be performed, they will gen- stop this to happen, Madurese language will erate a positive domino effect towards the vanish. improvement of Madure language in the fu- The vanishing process of Madurese ture. For the first time, the young people language can be seen easily. One of the might face many difficulties to write some- clear examples is Madurese language has thing using Madurese since they often have been vanishing in written form. This is sup- to look up their Maderese dictionary just to ported by many facts. For examples 65 ban- make sure they write their sentences cor- ners that scattered in Bangkalan regency, rectly. They might also often ask questions only two banners are written in Madurese to their elder whether their sentences . The rest 63 uses bahasa Indone- quite alos, or not. It seems this is hard to sia, whereas in fact the banners were de- do, but at least by doing this, an action has signed by Madurese and aimed for Madu- been performed. The young will keep study- rese. Also 50 Bangkalan students being in- ing. They will be very busy buying books terviewed, mentioned that they (43 stu- written in Madurese language, and read dents) had hardly used Madurese language them all to make sure they are competent when they sent SMS. The rest 7 students enough in their own language. When they mentioned that they did use Madurese lan- are competent, probably some of them will guage when they sent SMS, but that was not become Madurese authors and write books so frequent. From the graffities written at using Madurese language. The more they the back of twenty-nine dumper trucks, only write books written in Madurese, the more two graffities were written in Madurese Madurese books exist in society. The more language. The rest twenty-seven graffities Madurese books can be found in society, were written in bahasa Indonesia, though the Code Shifting phenomenon will not be- the truck s license plate were M, an official come a threat for madurese language any- license plate s letter for Madurese vehicles. more. The two Madurese graffities that were REFERENCES written in Madurese, only used very simple Azhar, Iqbal N. 2008. Bahasa dan Sastra phrases; that was te ngate, (be careful) and Dalam Berbagai Perspektif: Ketika Ale sayang (my beloved sister/wife). (d) Bahasa Madura Tidak Lagi Bersahabat From the whole store billboards scattering dengan Kertas dan Tinta. (Language and in Bangkalan regency, none was written in

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