FORM AND MEANING OF CODE SWITCHING IN THE LANGUAGE USED BY THE INTERMARRIAGE FAMILIES INVOLVING THE BALINESE AND JAVANESE PEOPLE LIVING IN BADUNG REGENCY

FORM AND MEANING OF CODE SWITCHING IN THE LANGUAGE USED BY THE INTERMARRIAGE FAMILIES INVOLVING THE BALINESE AND JAVANESE PEOPLE LIVING IN BADUNG REGENCY

By Ni Wayan Arnati

(wynarnati@gmail.com)

ABSTRACT

            The intermarriage involving the Balinese ethnic people and the Javanese ethnic people shows the attitude of being tolerant to and loving one another through marriages, as can be seen in Badung Regency. Many Balinese people are known to be married to the Javanese people, meaning that there are many intermarriage families involving the Balinese people and the Javanese people living in Badung Regency.

            The intermarriages involving two different ethnic groups are basically an affinity through which one of two cultures can be inherited and maintained or the two cultures switch to the national or international culture. As far as the language use, form and meaning are concerned, it is common to see that one culture switches to another culture. On the other hand, the inherited cultural values reflected in the Indonesian language or the nationalist spirit will interfere with the local values and vice versa.

            The methods used in the current study were the method and technique of obtaining data, method and technique of analyzing data, and method and technique of presenting the result of data analysis. The theory proposed by Gumper (1962), which is affirmed by Alwasilah (1985:68), in which it is stated that code switching indicates the speaker’s repertoire, was used to analyze the data. Bloomfield (1993) talked about the essence of a language as quoted in Sumarsono and Patana (2004:18). The code switching found in the current study was found in the forms of sentences and meanings which the dialogues contain.

Keywords: code switching, language use, and intermarriage

1. Introduction

            Badung Regency is one of the world’s tourist destinations in Indonesia in general and in Bali in particular. Being a tourist destination, it attracts many people coming from different parts of Indonesia to come here. Most of those coming from Java stay in Badung Regency as it is not too far from where they come from. Apart from the Javanese people, many people who come from Sumatera, Sulawesi, Maluku, Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, Flores and the other parts of Indonesia also stay in Badung Regency.

            Badung Regency is made up of seven districts; they are Kuta District, North Kuta District, South Kuta District, Mengwi District, Abiansemal District, and Petang District. It is occupied by 630.000 heads of population, 321,300 males and 308,700 females. Badung Regency is a heterogeneous one as it is occupied by the native people of Badung and guest residents.

            Many people come here as tourists and many others come to stay as guest residents. Those who stay in Badung Regency work as government civil servants, private employees, entrepreneurs, and traders. In addition to carrying out their professions, the guest residents have also mingled with the local people, especially those living in Badung Regency, causing the intermarriages between the Balinese people and Javanese people not to be able to be avoided. As a result, code-switching in their families cannot be avoided either.

            The intermarriages involving the Balinese people and Javanese people in Badung Regency result from either the affinity of one of the cultures through which the two languages can be inherited and maintained or through which the two languages swtich to the national language. As a consequence, code switching cannot be avoided in the communication among the family members of intermarriages. However, the code witching they make is culturally meaningful.

            Based on what was described above, in this article the writer would like to investigate 1) what are the dialogic forms used in the code switching like; 2) what is the meaning of the code switching made by the intermarriage families involving the Balinese people and Javanese people. This article is intended to 1) describe the situational change of the reciprocal communication in a situation; 2) give information on the cultural development planning, especially the linguistic aspect,  and to be used as the teaching material in  Sociolinguistics. The two objectives above are the general ones. The specific objectives of this article are 1) investigating the form of the code switching made by the families in which the parents (the father and mother) are socially stratified as traditional and modern; 2) finding out the facts related to the positions and functions of the local languages and Indonesian language in the families and the meaning of the code switching they make.

            The theory of Sociolinguistics proposed by Halliday (1979) were used to answer the problems above, in which it is stated that sociolinguistics, as institutional linguistics, is concerned with the relationship of languages and those who speak them (Sumarsono and Partana, 2004:2). Such a linguistic behavior has several aspects; they are number, attitude, customs and traditions, and culture. Apart from that, the writer also refers to several views proposed by several linguists such as Gumper (1962), whose view is affirmed by Alwasilah (1985:68) that the code switching ability indicates the speaker’s repertoire.

            Similar to Haliday’s definition, Nababan (1984) claims that sociolinguistics is a language study which cannot be separated from the speakers of a language who are bound to the socio-cultural values of the society they belong to, including the values when the language is used (Sumarsono and Partana, 2004:3).

            The methods and techniques used in the current study are the method and technique of obtaining data, the method and technique of analyzing data, and the method and technique of presenting the result of the data analysis. The data were obtained through direct observation. The informants observed were the intermarriage families in which the Balinese ethnic people are heads of the families. The observation method was supported by the note taking and recording techniques.

            The collected data were analyzed using the synchronic descriptive method and the inductive technique. The results of the data analysis are presented using the informal method and statistical technique (numerical data).

            The population of the study includes the whole use of the Indonesian language in the intermarriage families involving the Balinese people and Javanese people living in Badung Regency. The informants used as the samples totaled 30 heads of intermarriage families. They were the Hindu Balinese people spreading in every district. Eight lived in South Kuta District, another eight lived in North Kuta District, two lived in Abiansemal District, two lived in Mengwi District, and another two lived in Petang District. The samples were randomly taken. Their educational backgrounds range from Junior High School, Senior High School (Vocational High School), Diploma and Strata 1. Some worked as government civil servants and the others worked as private employees, entrepreneurs, and traders.  They were between 22 and 56 years old.

2. The Analysis of Form and Meaning of the Code Switching Made by the Intermarriage Families Involving the Balinese Ethnic People and Javanese Ethnic People    

2.1 The Analysis of Form

            Universally, every language used as a means of verbal communication has form and meaning. When one member of the intermarriage families communicated with another, code switching was found in their dialogues. It was found that the texts formed by their dialogues consisted of words, phrases and sentences. This analysis of form was based on the topics, the participants (the speaker and the addressee), the situation and the relationship among them.

            The topics ranged from the traditional ones to the modern ones. The modern topics included calculating the income of and expenditures made by the families; predicting things (financial condition and children’s education); household facilities, and the matters pertaining to the government. The traditional topics included the religious ceremonies (praying, temple festival); manusia yadnya ceremonies (the Balinese calendar-based birthday ‘otonan’, wedding ceremony, and burial ceremony); and joke.  The participants included parents (the father and mother) and children; the situation was informal as the communication took place among the family members; and the relationship among them was kinship.

            It was found out that the traditional social status and the modern social status determined the language used by the fathers of the Balinese ethnic group. The situation was informal and the relationship among the family members was kinship.

1) The Analysis of the Language Use based on the Traditional Social Status  

            Viewed from the traditional social status of the Balinese ethnic fathers whose wives were Javanese, the situation in which they communicated was informal and the topic was modern. In their dialogues both code switching and non-code switching were found. To make it clearer, the language they used can be explained as follows.

            From thirty Balinese ethnic heads of families whose wives were Javanese to whom 360 questions were asked, the findings were as follows: a) 22% (82 answers) showed that they switched from the Indonesian language to the Balinese language; b) 16% (56 answers) showed that they switched from the Balinese language to the Indonesian language; c) 38% (137 answers showed that  the only Indonesian language was used; d) 24% (84 answers) showed that the only Balinese language was used. Dialogue 1 below exemplifies the code switching made by the intermarriage families living in Badung Regency in their communication in which the topics were modern and traditional, the situation was informal and the relationship among them was kinship.

Dialogue 1 

Anak (O1)       : Pak, aku mau masuk SMAN 2 Semandong. ya.’SMAN 2 Kedonganan.’ Teman- temanku banyak di sana.

Child (01)        : Dad, I’d like to go to Kedonganan Public Senior High School 3. Many friends of mine go there.

Bapak (O2)      : Negeri to? ‘Negeri sekolah itu’

(Father(02))     : Is that the school which belongs to the government?

Anak (O1)         :Aing negeri Pak. Paok jak umah, bedik nelang bensin! ‘Tidak, dekat dari rumah,  sedikit menghabiskan bensin.’

(Child (01))       :No, it is close to the house, and it does not cost much gasoline.

Bapak (O2)      : Sing nyak sekolah di Pariwisata? Pang gampang ngalih gae nyanan. ‘Tidak mau                    bersekolah di Pariwisata? Supaya gampang mencari pekerjaan  nanti.

Father (02))      : You are not interested in going to Tourism Vocational High School, are you? If you go there, it will be easier for you to make money.

Ibu (O3)            : Ya, di mana saja keinginan anak sekolah kasi saja, Pak. Orang dia nanti yang bawa,          jangan dipaksa.

(Mother (03))    :Yes, let the child choose the school he/she wants, Dad. He/she will have the result; do not force him/her.

Anak (O1)         : Aduh, ndak senang sekolah di Pariwisata, aku susah bangun pagi Pak makanya cari  di Smandong. ‘SMAN Kedonganan’

(Child (01))       : Ow! I do not like going to Tourism Vocational High School; I find it difficult to get up in the morning so I choose Kedonganan Public Senior High School  2.

Ibu (O3)           : Ya, terserah kamu mau sekolah di mana aja, yang penting sekolah yang benar,                                 jangan sampai gagal.

(Mother (03))   : Yes, you can choose the school you like; the important thing is you seriously intend to go to school; I don’t want you to fail.

Anak (O1)         : Ya Ma, aku mau di SMA N 2 aja biar dekat. Teman-temanku semua di sana nggak   ada yang ke pariwisata.

(Child(01))        : Ok, Mom, I want to go to Public Senior High School 2 as it’s close. All of my friends go there; none goes to Tourism Vocational High School.

Ibu (O3)           : Sekolah jangan ikut-ikutan teman, tidak bagus nanti hasilnya.

(Mother (03))    : I do not want you to go to any school where many friends of yours go; the result will not good.

Anak (O1)       : Iya mama bawel, aku tamat SMA nanti mau lanjut kuliah di Undiknas,