FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE CODE SHIFTING IN MADURESE PEOPLE WRITING (AN ETHNOLINGUISTICS STUDY VIEWED FROM SOCIOLINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE) Iqbal Nurul Azhar Universitas Trunojoyo Abstract: Madurese language 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 Java- 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 official language 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 185 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 East Java 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 Madura island in Indonesia; it vanishing language is valid. Madurese lan- is also spoken on Kangean Islands, 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 Austronesian languages family. It was tradi- the following information: a) The use of tionally written in the Javanese script, 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 Jakarta, Ka- guage in daily conversation among them. limantan, and Sulawesi. 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.