CODE SWITCHING AS THE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY: INDONESIAN-ENGLISH CODE SWITCHING

CODE SWITCHING AS THE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY: INDONESIAN-ENGLISH CODE SWITCHING

Abstract

Code switching or code mixing has become common phenomenon for a multilingual society. There is no single country in the world may avoid in this phenomenon particularly in Indonesia. Based on the assumption, this paper has been designed to find out the general patterns of linguistics configuration and socio pragmatic functions of Indonesian-English code switching. Furthermore, it also discuss about the communication strategy that the Indonesian elites aim at when they do both IECS and EICS. This study is descriptive qualitative analysis which is the data were collected from various speech interactions on TV program. The result shows that the linguistics configuration of Indonesian-English code switching are switch segments such as Noun Phrase (NP), Single Noun, Independent Clause, Verb and Adjective. The combinations of switch points of Indonesia-English code switching mostly occur between NP and HL suffix, between N and NP, between NP and Independent Clause, between V and NP, and Adj and N. In terms of types of code switching are namely; intraclausal (Iracla), Intraphrasal (Iraphra), Intralexical (Iralex), Interclausal and Tag. The socio-pragmatic function of Indonesian-English Code Switching based on the data using Gumperz’s model are interjection or sentence-filler, message qualification, personalization, and morphological adaptation. Furthermore, the communication strategy of code switching by Indonesian Elites is to adjust the message which they convey in order to emphasize the statement, also to attract their interlocutor so that they pay the attention to the speaker.

INTRODUCTION

Communication becomes important part of people life. It seems that in any sort of relationships, people need to communicate each other. As a social living, people cannot avoid the act of communication which transfer and receive the message or information from one to others. By communication, people can convey their thoughts and feelings whether verbal or non-verbal. In other words, all of people activities require communication in order to keep living and maintain their existing in the society as human being. Without communication, there might be die or isolate because their incapability to communicate effectively.

The effective communication can be done by using language. Language is as medium of communication which enables people to express their thoughts, feelings and ideas to fulfill their need. It could employs combination of words, symbols or signs which has their own meaning as the representative of people’s mind. They attach meaning to words, symbols or signs as they need to and modify these meanings according to changing needs.

Furthermore, language as a form has its characteristics. Some of linguists point out a set of defining characteristics of language which differ to other forms. Hill (1958 in Keer and Aderman, 1963) offers five characteristics of language; (1) it is a set of sound, (2) it is arbitrary and unpredictable, (3) it is systematic, (4) it is a set of symbols, and (5) it is complete. Since language has interesting characteristics, it attracts many linguists to analyze language as a medium of communication in the society. One of linguistic branch which is concerned language related to the speaker as a member of community is sociolinguistics.

Sociolinguistics is concentrated on investigating the relationships between language and society. According to Trudgill (1983), sociolinguistics is that part of linguistics which is concerned with language as a social and cultural phenomenon. It investigates the field of language and society & has close connections with the social sciences, especially social psychology, anthropology, human geography and sociology. In other words, sociolinguistics encompasses language in social and cultural context, especially how people with different social identities, for example gender, age, race, ethnicity, class, speak and how their speech changes in different situations.

Some general topics which is studied by sociolinguists are language, dialects, idiolects, and language varieties, language repertoire, language community, bilingualism and multilingualism, social function of language and sociolinguistics profile, language use (ethnography of language), language attitudes, language planning, sociolinguistics interaction, and also language and culture. One of topic will be discussed in this paper is about code switching which is happen in the bilingual even multilingual society related to the individual language choice.

Code switching is as the use of more than one language within the execution of speech event (Eastman in Yassi 2016). Gumpers (1982) defines code switching as the juxtaposition within the same speech exchange of passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems or sub system.

The phenomenon of code switching occurs commonly in multilingual countries such as Indonesia. Indonesia has many local languages and also Indonesian people use more than one code or language to communicate. They can switch the codes; language, dialect or others variety to another in any kinds of situation and domains.  

English is considered as an international language since it is widely spoken throughout the world. International relations, directly or indirectly, create some consequence particularly in the life of Indonesian people because English is one of the famous foreign languages in Indonesia. It is thought in every school, college as well as university. Its existence is carried out through written or electronic media. The language is side by side with Indonesian language, and gradually influences Indonesian language. It is obviously seen in the enrichment of vocabulary and word formation as well.

Some of the Indonesian can speak English naturally; however there are most of them mix their code because as a part of their lives. For some Indonesian people switches the language in some words from Bahasa into English is commonly happen. Here the example:

Nanti MEETINGnya jam berapa? (What time is the meeting?)

Kita akan ketemu AFTER LUNCH. (We will meet after lunch)

Jangan lupa CALL aku ya kalau kamu udah sampai disana. (Don’t forget to call me as soon as you arrive in there)

            Nowadays code switching becomes a strategy in order to meet communicative demands between or within interlocutors in everyday communication. It is used as a strategy to achieve the communication intents and serve certain function in conversation. It has become a very common in everyday life of most of people including Indonesian which do the switch from Bahasa to English.

            Based on the explanation above, this paper aims to discuss the code switching as a communication strategy of Indonesian. It shows the linguistics configuration of Indonesian-English code switching, the socio pragmatics function of Indonesian-English code switching and the communication strategy that the Indonesian elites aim at when they do both IECS and EICS. The data was taken from two interactive dialogues, Interview and cooking program on TV

DISCUSSION

a.      Linguistics Configuration of Indonesian-English Code Switching

This part shows the general patterns of the linguistics configuration of Indonesian-English code- switching which found in some data which talking various topic on TV Program. There are three aspects discussion in terms of linguistics configuration of Indonesia-English code-switching; (1) Switch segment (2) combinability, constraints, and switch points, and (3) types of code switching.

Sample No.	Discourse	SYNTACTIC FEATURES
		Switch Segments	Combinability of Switch Segments		Constraints and Switch points	Types of Code Switching
			Preceding Segments	Following Segments
A. An Interview in talking about Indonesia and Africa Economy in Metro TV
1	Ketika itu saya datang ke Annisa Baba FOR THE SECOND TIME, saya pernah ke sana tahun sembilan puluh empat. Ketika itu ditugaskan sebagai INTERNATIONAL OBSERVER untuk pemilu demokrasi pertama.	Prepositional Phrase (PP) NP	Noun Phrase (NP) Conjunction (Conj)	Independent Clause (Indep Clause) Preposition	Between NP and PP Between Conj and  NP	Intraclausal (Iracla) Iracla
2.	Masih RELEVANT tidak sih kalau kita memperingati konfrensi Asia?	Adjective (Adj)	Adverb(Adv)	Tag	Between Adv and Adj	Tag
B. A cooking Program in Net TV hosted by Farah Quinn
1.	WELCOME BACK QUINNERS. Aduh mbak, kalau tadi kita masaknya QUITE HEAVY, kayaknya kita perlu sesuatu untuk menetraslisir. WE NEED SOMETHING REFRESHING.	Idiomatic Exprs Attributive Adj Indep Clause	Nil Verb Indep Clause	Indep Clause Indep Clause Nil	Between Indep and Idiomatic Exprs Between Attributive Adj and Indep Clause Between Indep Clause and Indep Clause	Interclausal (intercla) Iracla Intercla
2.	Kita mau bikin PANCAKE. Cuma PANCAKE nya OF COURSE kita bikin SPECIAL karena ini idul adha.	Obj. N NP Idiomatic exprs Adj	V Conj NP V	Indep Clause HL suffix N Conj	Between V and Obj. N Between NP and HL Suffix Between N and NP Between V and Adj	Iracla Intralex (Iralex) Iracla Intraphrasal (Iraphra)
3.	Ada empat quinners yang JOIN kita hari ini AND LET’S SAY HI TO THEM.	V Indep Clause	Conj Adv	N Nil	Between Conj and V Between Adv and Indep Clause	Iracla Iracla
4.	Kita masukin ke sini. OKAY, THAT’S GOOD. Kita kasih masuk sebagian. OKAY, THIS IS PERFECT. Oh ya begitu. NICE.	Idiomatic Exprs	Indep Clause	Indep Clause	Between Indep Clause and Idiomatic Exprs	Intercla
5.	JUST A FEW DROPS, tuangkan beberapa tetes	Dependent Clause (Dep Clause)	Nil	Dep Clause	Between Dep Clause and Dep Clause	Intercla
6.	Kita aduk THEN HERE IS THE FLA	Indep Clause	V	Nil	V and Indep Clause	Iralex
7.	Disini pertama kita lelehin dulu BUTTERnya ya	N	Adv	HL suffix	Between N and HL suffix	Iralex
8.	OH. BY THE WAY, ini menteganya udah meleleh	Idiomatic expression	Nil	Indep Clause	Between Idiomatic Exprs and Indep Clause	Iracla
C. An Interactive Dialogue in talking about Travel Agent Service on TV ONE
1.	Kalau untuk mitra ini harganya, kita ada dua AIRLINE yang emang dari sistem TRAVEL AGENTnya itu lebih murah. Lebih murah sepuluh ribu dibandingkan WEBSITEnya	N NP NP	Adj N V	Dep Clause HL suffix HL suffix	Between Adj and N Between NP and HL Suffix Between NP and HL suffix	Iracla Iralex Iralex
2.	Agen ini LEVELnya untuk mitra yang sudah melek	NP	NP	HL suffix	Between NP and HL suffix	Iralex
3.	Anda bisa UPDATE jadi Agen	V	Modal	Aux Verb	Between Modal and V	Iracla
4.	SETTINGan di sistemnya udah dapat untung	NP	Nil	HL suffix	Between NP and HL Suffix	Iralex
5.	Waktu yang tepat adalah sekarang. ACTION NOW itulah waktu yang tepat.	NP	Indep Clause	Dep clause	Between NP and Indep Clause	Iracla
D. An Interview Between Dedy Corbuzier and Ariel Tatum in Hitam Putih TV Program
1.	Enggak. NO LIKE THAT. Kayak eee, gue lagi ngobrolin AND THEN besok kemana.	Idiomatic Exprs Conj	Idiomatic Exprs V	Indep Clause Adv	Between Indep Clause and Idiomaic Expres Between V and Conj	Intercla Iracla
2.	Emang. NO, WE’RE FRIEND. SERIOUSLY. Iya teman.	Indep Clause	Idiomatic Exprs	Idiomatic Exprs	Between Idiomatic Exprs and Indep Clause	Intercla
3.	GUYS. YOU LIKE LOVE BIRD yang ditanya dua-duanya gak bisa jawab	Indep Clause	N	Dep Clause	Between Dep Clause and Indep Clause	Iracla
4.	Bisa gak sih kalau ketemu gak berantem, sekali aja. Bisa gak STOP BEING ANNOYING TO ME.	Idiomatic Exprs	Tag	Nil	Between Tag and Idiomatic Exprs	Iracla
5.	BECAUSE HE IS FUN. Iya, cuma kalau saat ini emang gak ada apa-apa	Indep Clause	Nil	Indep Clause	Between Indep clause and Indep Clause	Intercla
6.	I THINK YOU’RE NICE, GUYS. I MEAN dengan kedekatan Mpok dan sebagainya.  IT’S AMAZING.	Idiomatic Exprs Tag Idiomatic Exprs	Nil Idiomatic Exprs Indep Clause	Indep Clause Conj Nil	Between Idiomatic Exprs Between Conj and Tag Between Indep clause and Idiomatic Exprs	Intercla Iracla Intercla

Based on the table above, we can see there are numbers of various kinds of switch segments mostly found in the sources such as Noun Phrase (NP), Single Noun, Independent Clause, Verb and Adjective. Furthermore, the combinations of switch points of Indonesia-English code switching mostly occur between NP and HL suffix, between N and NP, between NP and Independent Clause, between V and NP, and Adj and N.

In terms of types of code switching, Yassi (2016) divides five types of code switching based on different situations (seminar, meeting, TV dialogue and chitchat) discourses namely; intraclausal (Iracla), Intraphrasal (Iraphra), Intralexical (Iralex), Interclausal and Tag. Based on the table above, we can see each type of code switching present on the data.

Moreover, Poplack in Yassi (2016) has divided code switching into three categories; tag switching, intrasentential, and intersentential. Tag-switching involves the insertion of tag in one language. E.g I MEAN (as in the data number 21), and BY THE WAY as in data number 10. Intra sentential code switching is the switch within a clause or sentence boundary, e.g Ada empat quinners yang JOIN kita hari ini AND LET’S SAY HI TO THEM (We have four Quinners that join with us today and Let’s say hi to them) as in the data number B3. Intersentential switching involves a switch at a clause or sentence boundary, where each clause or sentence is in one language or another. We can see the example as in the data number B1.

b. The Socio Pragmatics Function of Indonesian-English Code Switching

Gumperz in Yassi (2016) proposes some of specific function of code switching under pragmatic function. There are quotation, addressee specification, interjection, reiteration, message qualification and personalization versus objectivization. In this section, the writer shows a few of the socio-pragmatic function of Indonesian-English Code Switching based on the data using Gumperz’s model.

a.       Interjection or sentence-filler

The function of code switching is to mark interjections or to serve as sentence-fillers. This is similar to poplack’s idea of tag-switch. The examples are:

1.      OH. BY THE WAY, ini menteganya udah meleleh (oh by the way, the butter have melted) B8

2.      I THINK YOU’RE NICE, GUYS. I MEAN dengan kedekatan Mpok dan sebagainya. IT’S AMAZING. (I think you’re nice, guys. I mean the relationship with Mpok and etc. It’s amazing) D6

The example above shows the function of code switching which is signaled by the using BY THE WAY and I MEAN as the tag.

b.      Message Qualification

Another function of code switching is to clarify or emphasize a message by reiterating what has just been said. These are the examples:

1.      Waktu yang tepat adalah sekarang. ACTION NOW itulah waktu yang tepat. (The perfect time is now. Action now is the perfect time) C5

2.      JUST A FEW DROPS, tuangkan beberapa tetes. (Just a few drops. Pour a few drops) B5

c.       Personalization

The other pragmatic function in code-switching is the sense of personalization. Gumperz (1982) notes that this contrast relates to things such as distinction between talk about action and talk as action; the degree of speaker involvement in, or distance from, a message, whether a statement reflects personal opinion or knowledge; and whether it refers to specific instances or has the authority or generally known fact. The example are: 

1.      BECAUSE HE IS FUN. Iya, cuma kalau saat ini emang gak ada apa-apa. (Because he is fun. Yes, only this time is nothing) D5

2.      GUYS. YOU LIKE LOVE BIRD yang ditanya dua-duanya gak bisa jawab (Guys. You like love bird that asked both of you can’t answer) D3

3.      Emang. NO. WE’RE FRIEND. SERIOUSLY. Iya teman (Yes. No. We’re friend. Seriously. We’re friend) D2

4.      Bisa gak sih kalau ketemu gak berantem, sekali aja. Bisa gak STOP BEING ANNOYING TO ME. (Could if we meet without fighting, only once. Could you stop being annoying to me?) D4

The example above shows that speaker’s feeling which arise because the situation happened surrounding the speaker.

d.      Morphological Adaptation

In morphological aspects also occur switch code or mix code. The examples below show Indonesian people switch some Indonesian to English based on the data:

1.      Kita mau bikin PANCAKE. (We want to make Pancake). Cuma PANCAKEnya OF COURSE kita bikin SPECIAL karena ini idul adha. (But the Pancake of course we have to make special because today is Idul Adha) B2

2.      Disini pertama kita lelehin dulu BUTTERnya ya (here, firstly, we melt the butter) B7

3.      Kalau untuk mitra ini harganya, kita ada dua AIRLINE yang emang dari sistem TRAVEL AGENTnya itu lebih murah. (the price for this companion, we have two airlines are cheaper based on the travel agent system. Lebih murah sepuluh ribu dibandingkan WEBSITENya (ten thousand cheaper than the website) C1

4.      Agen ini LEVELnya untuk mitra yang sudah melek. (the level of this agent is for the present companion) C2

5.      Anda bisa UPDATE jadi Agen (you can update to be an agent) C3

6.      SETTINGan di sistemnya udah dapat untung. (The setting in the system got the profit) C4

Based on the example above, we can see that the most switch code occurs before the suffix nya in Bahasa. There is also another suffix an.

c. The Communication Strategy that the Indonesian Elites Aim at when They Do Both IECS and EICS

Indonesian Elites in Interactive Dialogue on Metro TV News

It is undeniable that English is the international language which is spoken by most people in the world. English with its variations has been accepted as the lingua franca of business, politics and everyday communication. This phenomenon can also be observed in Indonesia. Although it is not as widely used as it is in probably Malaysia or Singapore as neighbor of Indonesia, English has touched many aspects of life in Indonesia. It is quite common today to find shopping centers, offices, institutions, movies, and so on, in English, rather than in Bahasa. More interestingly, many people especially elites people are used to inserting English expressions in their conversation

In this part, the writer took the Diplomatic Career, Ramli Saud, and lately as a ambassador of Indonesia for Ethiophia and Uni Africa as the sample of the use of code switching. He is using code switching when interviewed by Tantri Moerdopo in Metro TV talking about Indonesia and Africa Economy. We can see in the data below:

1.      Ketika itu saya datang ke Annisa Baba FOR THE SECOND TIME, saya pernah ke sana tahun sembilan puluh empat. Ketika itu ditugaskan sebagai INTERNATIONAL OBSERVER untuk pemilu demokrasi pertama. Lalu datang kedua kali, yang saya lihat kota Annisa Baba itu seperti di sulap.

(When I came to Annisa Baba for the second time, I had ever gone there in 1994. At that time I was on duty as International observer for the first democratizes election. Then, I came for the second time, I saw the city of Annisa Baba as conjured) A1

2.      Masih RELEVANT tidak sih kalau kita memperingati konfrensi Asia Afrika (Is it still relevant if we celebrate African Asian Conference?) A2. This question was asked by Tantri so the code switching was done by two of them.

The example above shows that Mr. Ramli Saud uses code switch in Prepositional Phrase and Noun Phrase terms. It is because he has competence in speaking English.  Besides, he has come from abroad as a result it becomes impact of his speaking habit. In terms of communication strategy, he switches the code from Bahasa to English because he wants to adjust the message which he conveys. He wants to emphasize the statement so that the interlocutor can convince to what he has said.

CONCLUSION

This paper has demonstrated that code switching is a common phenomenon for a multilingual society particularly in Indonesia. It plays a significant role as communication strategy in the social interaction. In short, code switching is a highly sophisticated linguistic tool use by some people particularly Indonesian Elites. It shows in some data which the writer taken as the evidence of Indonesia-English code switching.

In terms of linguistics configuration of Indonesian-English code switching, the numbers of various kinds of switch segments mostly found in the data such as Noun Phrase (NP), Single Noun, Independent Clause, Verb and Adjective. Furthermore, the combinations of switch points of Indonesia-English code switching mostly occur between NP and HL suffix, between N and NP, between NP and Independent Clause, between V and NP, and Adj and N. In terms of types of code switching, the data also shows the types namely; intraclausal (Iracla), Intraphrasal (Iraphra), Intralexical (Iralex), Interclausal and Tag. The socio-pragmatic function of Indonesian-English Code Switching based on the data using Gumperz’s model are interjection or sentence-filler, message qualification, personalization, and morphological adaptation. Furthermore, based on the study, the communication strategy of code switching by Indonesian Elites is to adjust the message which they convey. They want to emphasize the statement so that the interlocutor can convince to what he has said. Sometimes, they do the code switch also to attract their interlocutor so that they pay the attention to the speaker.

REFERENCES

Keer, Elizabeth M and Aderman, Ralph M. 1963. Aspect of American English. Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc: New York.

Trudgill, P. 198. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society. London, England: Pinguin Book

Yassi, A. H. 2006. Speech Variety of Elite People in Makasssar: Forms and Social Functions of Indonesia-English Code Switching. Nady Al Adab Vol 4 No 2: 70-82. Fakultas Sastra Unhas.

Yassi, A. H. 2016. Code Switching as a Communication Strategy. Yogyakarta : Trust Media.