PHONOLOGICAL CHANGES OF FOREIGN WORDS ADOPTED TO INDONESIAN

BAB I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

It happens to every language in the world that in its  history of development it is unavoidable to adopt some words from other languages (foreign stock), since it is a logical consequence of unavoidable interaction with other nations. It is a logical consequence of cultural contact among nations in the world. This statement is supported by the following comment :

“Di dalam pertumbuhan dan perkembangangan alamiah bahasa nasional , kontak budaya antarbangsa 

mengakibatkan pula kontak bahasanya sehingga  pengaruh bahasa lain masuk ke dalam bahasa

nasional” (PPPBI, 1995:2)

Indonesian is one of the languages that can not get rid of above phenomenon. In its history of development Indonesian has been adopting many words from some foreign languages such as : Portugues, Ducth,  Arabic, and English. This statement is strengthened by the following comment:

“Bahasa melayu sejak awal masehi, ibarat bunga karang menyerap banyak unsur bahasa asing yang membuat bahasa itu lebih lengkap dan lebih kaya. Dapatlah di catat beribu-ribu kata yang berasal dari bahasa sanskerta, Jawa kuno , Portugis, Belanda, Jawa modern, sunda, Minang dan dewasa ini khususnya bahasa Inggris”. (PPPBI, 1995:2)

From this quotation we also know that the term foreign languages in this discussion covers not only languages from other countries but also regional languages in Indonesia.

In addition, on May 20 th, 1995 in a formal ceremony for the national discipline, President Soeharto stimulated and ordered the people of Indonesia to speak and write in standart Indonesia (Bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar).

“Oleh karena itu, pada tanggal 20 Mei 1995, dalam rangka pencanangan disiplin nasional Presiden Soeharto menyerukan agar seluruh lapisan masyarakat menggunakan bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar.Seruan itu tentulah didasarkan pada kenyataan yang cukup memprihatinkan. Betapa tidak setiap saat masyaratakat kita disuguhi bahasa asing yang digunakan pada papan nama yang terpampang di took-toko, kompleks perumahan, kantor-kantor, dan iklan-iklan. Padahal, kata dan atau istilah asing itu dapat diganti atau ada padanannya di dalam bahasa Indonesia” (PPPBUI, 1995:VII).

The president’s initiative above is assumed to be motivated by the actual condition in society where the use of foreign words (non standard ones) has been in a terrible condition. Such foreign words could be found somewhere in public facilities (places) such as : shopping centers, housing complexes, government and non-government buildings, advertisements, government and non government companies. The example of such foreign words are : Sarinah supermarket, Makassar Mall, Matahari shopping center, Miami restaurant, Kentucky fried chicken, Bandung hill side, bekasi international industrial estate, and many others. This condition is also complained by the Minister of education and culture, wardiman djoyonegoro in his comment as follows:

“Sejalan dengan laju kegiatan pembangunan di segala bidang, pemanfaatan bahasa asing terutama bahasa inggris memang diperlukan… akan tetapi sebagaimana diamanatkan dalan GBHN 1993 kita tidak perlu menggunakan kata dan istilah asing yang kandungan konsepnya dapat diungkapkan dalam bahasa Indonesia. Dengan perkataan lain, kita harus menghindari penggunakan kata dan istilah asing yang sudah ada padanannya dalam bahasa Indonesia. Namun kenyataan menunjukkan bahwa pemakaian bahasa asing itu terutama di tempat-tempat umum  seperti pada nama-nama badan usaha, kawasan pemukiman dan gedung – gedung megah, telah melewati batas-batas kewajaran ”(PPPBI, 1995 : x).

So. Beside his complaint about the unpropotional use of foreign words in the society, theminister also expects the people of Indonesia to avoid using foreign words that already have equivalents in Indonesian. This is appeal from the government that is formally stated in the Guideline of State Policy.

Based on the above phenomenon, it seems that the urgent task we need to do is to evaluate the development of Indonesian, after 69 years the Youth Solemn Oath (sumpah Pemuda). As minister Wardiman Djoyonegoro says :

“wajarlah apabila dalam masa enam puluh tujuh tahun setelah diikrarkannya sumpah pemuda 1928, kita merasa perlu meninjau balik pertumbuhan Bahasa Indonesia dalam kedudukannya sebagai bahasa persatuan dan bahasa kebangsaan”. (PPPBI, 1994 : IX)

Also from the above quotation, it is clear that foreign word adoption may only cover the words that have no equivalents in Indonesian. So the adoption should be selective, meaning that not all foreign words can freely be used in Indonesian discourse. The main function of the adopted words is to make the word inventory of Indonesian more complete. It represents the concepts or thought that are not available in Indonesian. So, foreign word adoption is fundamenttaly very important for Indonesia speakers.

From the law point of view, some formal decisions have been established by the government to support the socialization of Indonesian and the disciplinary of foreign word used. The decisions are follows : 1) instruction number 20, Oktober 28^th, 1991 by Minister of Domestic Affairs, about the socialization of Indonesian 2) instruction number I/U/1992, by the minister of education and culture, about the improvement of effort in socializing Indonesian, 3) instruction number 344 1021 SJ. March 16^th, 1995, by the minister of domestic affairs to the governors, mayors, and regents all over Indonesia, about the disciplinary of the use of foreign words (PPPBI, 1995 : XI). All of these decisions are disciplinary intented to maintain and support the position of Indonesian as the national, states, and unifying language, and to enable its no going development today in the future.

The disciplinary of foreign word use as mentioned in the last instruction above is sign of serious attention paid by the government to the use of foreign words in Indonesian discourse. This means that the people of many not use insert foreign words freely when they speak Indonesian.

Concerning the importance of foreign word adoption, it is necessary to take into consideration the following quotation :

Moeliono (1985n; 115) gives the following comment :

“pengembangan kosakata diperlukan untuk memungkinkan pengungkapan konsep dan gagasan perikehidupan modern. Cakrawala social budaya yang melampaui batas perikehidupan yang tertutup menimbulkan adanya kata, istilah dan ungkapan baru dalam Bahasa Indonesia… dua aspek patut mendapat perhatian masing-masing sumber leksikal yang baru bagi upaya pengembangan bahasa dan prosedur pembentukan bagi unsur leksikal tersebut”.

Other comments says :

“Sebagaimana yang dialami bahasa lain di muka bumi, bahasa Indonesia harus menggunakan kata asing bagi gagasan yang selama ini belum di kenal di dalam kebudayaan, dan tidak ada padanan yang tepat bagi kata itu di dalam khsanah bahasanya. Dalam keadaan demikian, kata-kata asing tadi tunduk pada kaidah Bahasa Indonesia sehingga serapannya merupakan bentuk yang telah menggalami penyesuaian (adaptasi).”(PPPBI, 1995 ; xi)

From the two quotation above we can make conclusions as follows : 1) foreign word adoption is absolutely needed in the modernization era, 2) adopted words are absolutely needed in order to express life concepts that are unavailable in Indonesia, 3) the adopted words should be suited to or be adapted with the system in Indonesian (selling and pronunciation systems), 4) one important thing to consider is the procedure of reconstructing the foreign words to be adopted.

Procedure of reconstructing the adopted foreign words as mentioned above is not less important than the adopted words themselves, since Indonesian as the adopting language has its system and the words adopted from any foreign languages should follow this system. In other words, any words adopted from any foreign languages should be adapted with the system in Indonesian.

This research is intended to study the words adopted from foreign languages primarily from English from linguistic point of view. The main emphasis will be on pronological changes of foreign words primarily English words after being adopted into Indonesian.

The idea of choosing this topic “phonological changes in word adoption” was firstly inspired by the fact of interference made by native speakers of Indonesian in speaking English. They usually replace the English phonemes that are unavaible in Indonesian with Indonesian phonemes that nearly have the same sounds as them, e.g : phoneme / is replaced by phoneme /t/; phoneme // is replaced by phoneme /e/ and so on. From the observation, it is proved that this phenomenon formally occurs in wors adoption ; the word theory /ii/ become teori ; the word system /sistm/ become sistem. From this, the writer is interested To know much more how far the phonological changes occur in word adoption.

1.2 Problem Statements

The problem statement of this study are formulated as follows :

1) How are the phonological changes of the foreign words (primarily English words) adopted into Indonesian?

2) In what position do the phonological changes occur in the adopted words?

1.3 Scope

The scope of this study covers the foreign words (primarily English words) that have been adopted into Indonesian, particulturaly those adopted via loan adaption.

1.4 Objective (s)

This study is expected to approach the following objectives :

1) To provide description about the phonological changes of the foreign words (primarily English words) adopted into Indonesian.

2) To provide description about the position of phonological changes in the adopted words.

1.5 Signifinance

The finding if this study is expected to :

1) Be useful as a source of information about phonological changes of foreign words (primarily English words) adopted into Indonesian (loan words).

2) Be useful for the future planning and development of Indonesian.

3) Be an essential scientific input in linguistic field, and those who are specifically interested in the field of phonology and adopted words.

1.6 Operational Definitions

Some important terms that are operationally used as reference (terms of reference) in this study, will be put forward below :

Loan words = words borrowed from one language to another (Bloomfield, 1933 : 499.   Here , words (Indonesian words) borrowed from foreign languages, primarily English.

 Adopted words = a general term refers to as loan words and borrowings.

Borrowing or borrowed words = a process of introduction of word from one language or dialect into another. Vocabulary borrowing are usually known as loan words (Crystal 1987 : 330). Here, words (Indonesian words) borrowed from foreign languages, primarily English. (see also loan words).

Foreign words = words to be adopted from foreign languages, primarily English, into Indonesian.

Indonesian or Bahasa Indonesia. = Indonesian language (used as national language in Indonesia).

Phonological changes = The changes of phonemes occure in foreign words primarily english words, when they are adopted into Indonesian.

Phonological reemerging = some phonemes are reemerged in pronunciation after the English words adopted into Indonesian.

Note:

The terms loan words, adopted words, and borrowings are used interchangeably and are treated similarly in this study. They refer to the same meaning.