CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Every country has a national language, so does Indonesia whose people come from different ethnic groups both natives such as Balinese and Javanese and non-natives such as Arabs, Indians, and Chinese. Those ethnic groups have different cultures and usually mother tongues as well. It is in the point of view of these varieties, that finally Bahasa Indonesia is chosen among a number of its dialects to be the national language and the means of communication among those ethnic groups to unite and reduce the diversity. In addition, it serves as the symbol of the nationality of Indonesian people.
Regarding its function as the mean of communication among the ethnic groups of Indonesia, Kridalaksana (1978) states that in practice there are two kinds of Bahasa Indonesia. The first one is standard or formal Bahasa
Indonesia which holds a prestige as it is not spoken in daily conversations. This variety is used by highly educated people such as the government officers and 2
in formal situations such as in lectures, speeches, and teachings at schools and universities. Nevertheless, it is also used in formal correspondences like application letters. The second kind is the informal or non-standard Bahasa
Indonesia which is used in informal situations like daily conversations among friends, intimates and in personal letters.
From the statement above, it is clearly seen that actually the variety of
Bahasa Indonesia which serves as the national language is the standard one for the reason of its prestige and characteristics. The standard Bahasa Indonesia is considered as the good and correct variety. That is why , it is indispensable for the Indonesians to have the proficiency of speaking the language. The government has been trying very hard to introduce it to all the people.
However, the effort has not been very successful yet. The first reason is, many
Indonesians still miss school . It is proved by the fact that in 1994 there is about 25% of Indonesians who cannot even read and write, whereas schools and universities are the places where people can get the proficiency of speaking the variety. Second, people tend to choose to speak their own local languages, dialects, or mother tongues as they feel more convenient with them rather than standard Bahasa Indonesia. So, those varieties may influence the standard Bahasa Indonesia. In the Javanese language, "ndek ngisor dewe (the one at the bottom)", for example, is translated into "yang bawah sendiri (the lowest one)" in Bahasa Indonesia instead of the correct standard Bahasa
Indonesia "yangpaling bawah (the lowest one)". 3
As one of the ethnic groups of Indonesia, the Chinese also have more or less similar situation or even worse. The Chinese who are new comers if compared to the Dutch colony and historically had been limited their mingling
with the natives by the Dutch government, made them have their own living
style, culture and mother tongue (Willmot, 1960: 59-60). The mother tongue
that the Chinese speak (later it is called Bahasa Cina Peranakan) is actually
influenced by a number of other languages like Bahasa Indonesia, Javanese,
English, Mandarin, Hokkian, Dutch etc. (Oetomo, 1984; Oka, 1987). The
society consider their language is bad, disorder, and even destructive to Bahasa
Indonesia (Oka ,1987). The words such as "bokgini (don't be like this)", "bok
gitu (don't be like this)", "ini Jepang punya (it's Japan's)" which are
commonly heard by the society, cause a negative opinion toward these people.
The people assume Bahasa Cina Peranakan as the sign of exclusivity or a
"mark" of them than accept it as one of the ethnic dialects of Bahasa Indonesia
(Samsuri 1985:27). It all starts with this negative thinking that the writer would
like to examine the proficiency of Bahasa Indonesia of both the Chinese groups
(Peranakans and Totoks) and the Javanese. Hopefully the findings of the study
will be able to prove whether the negative thinking is reasonable or not.
2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Referring to the background of the problem above, the writer has some
questions that she wants to answer, that is : 4
1. Of the three groups of respondents - Javanese, Chinese Peranakans, and
Chinese Totoks - which one has the highest level of proficiency in the use
of standard Bahasa Indonesia?
2. In their use of non-standard Bahasa Indonesia, what typical differences (if
any) exist among the three groups ?
3. What social background may contribute to the differences in the linguistic
output produced by the three different groups of respondents ?
3. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study are to know both their ability in using standard Bahasa Indonesia as well as to know the factors that affect their use of
Bahasa Indonesia.
4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
In relation to the purpose of the study (1.3.), the result of this research will, firstly, uncover the ability of some Petra Christian University students who mostly have Chinese background. This can be an input especially for lecturers of Bahasa Indonesia and for other lecturers of Petra Christian
University about the real ability of the students of Bahasa Indonesia.
Hopefully, it can in turn help them to get rid of bad prejudice toward Chinese
Indonesians who are often considered "exclusive" in their language use. 5
Secondly, by finding out the factors that affect their level of ability in using Standard Bahasa Indonesia, it is expected that those who are involved at
Petra Christian University and common people can understand the reason so that they are hopefully able to behave more wisely to these ethnic groups.
5. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
This is a sociolinguistic research which deals with the use of standard
Indonesian among students at Petra Christian University. However, in this study the writer will limit herself only to the vocabulary the students use.
6. KEY TERMS
6.1. Ethincity
• Javanese are the natives of Java and those whose grandparents and
parents were born and live in Java.
• Chinese Peranakans (CP) are those whose grandparents and
parents were born in Indonesia and do not speak any varieties of
the Chinese language.
• Chinese Totoks (CT) are those whose grandparents were born in
China but their parents were born in Indonesia and speak one of
the varieties of the Chinese language. 6
Language
• Standard Bahasa Indonesia is formal Indonesian that follows the
rules of standard Indonesian as stated in Tata Bahasa Baku Bahasa
Indonesia and Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia and used in formal
situations.
• Non-standard Bahasa Indonesia is informal Indonesian that is used
in daily conversation in informal situations.
• Lexical is of the vocabulary of the language (contrasted with
grammatical).
• Bahasa Cina Peranakan is the mother tongue of the Chinese
Peranakans (Oka, 1987) and the camaraderie of both Chinese
Peranakans and Totoks in informal situations (Oetomo, 1984).
• Language proficiency is a person's proficiency in using a language
for a specific purpose (Jack Richard, et. al.).