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THE USE OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE IN FACEBOOK
Muhammad Zainuri
[email protected]
Universitas Islam Lamongan
Abstract
Language is changing all the time. And Indonesian change because influenced by four factors.
One of them is because factor is the influence of the media. One of the social media which can change
Indonesian to make new form is Facebook. (Janet Holmes 2003)
In this study, researcher focuses on changes of written language which happens in writing
Facebook status. To answer statements of the problems, the researcher uses qualitative method. For
data collection method, the researcher uses three kinds of it. They are observation, documentation,
and interview.
As the finding of the research, the researcher found that Indonesian language when is written in
Facebook status mostly constant appropriate with Indonesian rule, but some of them are changed to be
new word. Those changes done with using word formation processes. They are clipping, abbreviation,
shortness, acronyms, symbol, and other process. So, Indonesian used and adapted in Facebook status
with using those some word formation processes.
Facebookers change standard Indonesian with new words in writing Facebook statuses. It is
happen because influenced by three factors. First factor is because result of appear new technology,
that is SMS (Short Message Service) Technology. The second factor is because this word formation
common recognized and used in internet language include Facebook. The third factor is follow
“alay” language. This language made by young group who call themselves by Alay. They make new
word formation with combining capital form and small form, combine letter and number and the word
make it shorted
Keywords : Written Language, Facebook
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BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The most important communication
device in society is language. It is very
important for human being, because they
always need and use it for communicating,
understanding, and making relation with other
people. In interaction, we can communicate
our feeling or our thinking to other people
through language. Communication and
relationship among people will always happen
in daily life as far as they need one another.
By understanding the above information,
so language is not static but dynamic, together
with human who has been developing until
now. Language is changing all the time.
Everybody knows that the way Indonesian is
spoken and written today is very different
from the way it was used in eighty years ago
when Indonesian is suggested as state
language
when youth pledge done.
Eventhough people do not always like the
changes, language change is unavoidable and
natural. In addition, it is happening
everywhere.
In other side, technology changes and
develops rapidly. The society who in the past
time separated with the distance and time,
nowadays can connect with others using
technology which makes them as if they do not
become problem anymore. In communication
field, invented many kinds of software or
hardware to make easy in interaction process,
so deliver information and communication
become easier and faster.
In 2004 Harvard student and his friends
made new social network site “Facebook”
which gives many facilities to make users easy
in communication and change information
among them. If it is related with the language
development, so the language in Facebook is
also different. So in the internet language
appear many kinds of terms, like netlingo, etalk, weblish, etc. It becomes The researcher
focus on his research namely written language
which develops and adapts in writing
Facebook status. The researcher takes title
“The use of written language in Facebook”.
Purpose of the Study
Based on the statement of the problem,
the purposes of the study are to find out and
describe are to know the word formation of
Indonesian language on Facebook, to know
changes are made by Facebook users on their
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statuses, and to know factors influence
changes of Indonesian in Facebook.
Significance of the Study
The researcher has the big hope that this
research will give significance for many
people, especially for those mentioned below.
The first, the study gives significance for
the researcher. The result of the study is
expected to improve knowledge and insight for
the researcher on the language change and
formation, to find out how Indonesian used in
Facebook, and to find the factors influencing
the process.
This research also gives significance for
the institution, Unisla. The big hope the result
of this research can increase the number of
Unisla’s alumnus who are capable of
researching the field sociolinguistic. In
addition, to add the number of library books
Unisla treasury sociolinguistic field.
The third, the study gives significance for
the reader. The benefit of research can provide
insight the changes and forms of Indonesian
language, the use of Indonesian in Facebook,
and whether the factors influencing the process
of language changes.
The result of this research is expected to
become an input for next the researchers who
want to conduct a further research about the
use of written language in Facebook.
Review of Related Literature
Language is changing all the time.
Everybody knows that the way English is
spoken and written today is very different
from the way it was used four hundred years
ago by William Shakespeare. Even though
people don’t always like the changes, language
change is unavoidable and natural. It is
happening everywhere (Crispin Thurlow:
2004).
Janet Holmes (2003) states that language
change can be influenced by four factors, first
is social status and language change, second is
gender and change, third is interaction and
language change, and fourth is the influence of
the media. One of the modern media in
communication is SMS (Shost Message
Service) technology which can change
Indonesian to make new form of Indonesian is
Facebook.
According to the Dictionary of applied
Linguistics, word formation is the creation of a
new word Kridalaksana (2007) to analyze the
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data. Here are the word formation processes.
They are compounding, borrowing, coinage,
blending,
clipping,
back
formation,
conversion,
inflection,
derivation,
classicization, reduplication, and abbreviation.
Santoso (2008) explained that kinds of
abbreviation. There are five formations.
Abbreviation (KKN : Kuliah Kerja Nyata, DKI
: Daerah Khusus Ibu Kota Jakarta), shortness
(Prof : Profesor, Pak : Bapak), acronym (FKIP
: Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan,
ABRI : Angkatan Bersenjata Republik
Indonesia),
contraction (rudal : peluru
kendali, berdikari : berdiri di atas kaki sendiri),
and symbol letter (g : gram, cm : centimeter).
O'Grady (1987) states that characteristic
all of human language is potential to make
new word. some of them is clipping, blending,
compounding, backformation, borrowing, and
acronym. And Lumintang (2013) adds
O'Grady’s opinion about new word formation
by other process (example: Per3an).
Nancy (2011) said that new technology is
one of the factors that have greatly influenced
human language. So new technology can be
the factor of language change.
Talking about style of text SMS, lately
appear the new group of young people who
have unique action. They called their group is
alay, it’s mean “anak layangan”. They make
not only special group but also make new
language, that is alay language. They like
make new word formation with combining
capital form and small form, combine letter
and number and the word make it shorted. By
appearing social network site like Facebook,
so when they write something in Facebook
they follow “alay language”. (Rhenald Kasali
: 2011).
Many kind of features netlingo used in
writing something in the internet. Some of the
most commonly recognized and used of word
formation are word compounds and blends,
abbreviations and acronyms, minimal use of
capitalization, punctuation and hyphenation –
or none at all, generally less regard for
accurate spelling and/or typing errors, and less
or no use of traditional openings and closures.
Crispin Thurlow (2004).
RESEARCH METHOD
In this research, the researcher uses
qualitative design. This research is categorized
as qualitative research, because the research
presents the data by describing the data based
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on the language changes and formation of it,
Indonesian written used in Facebook, and
factors influence these processes.
The researcher will see and copy
Facebook status and write it in the table list of
object status. In the table, the researcher gives
mark to word of Facebook status that contains
new character by giving underline in the word
and make it italic. Then it is categorized in the
table with word formation processes.
This word formation based on some
experts, Kridalaksana (2007), Santoso (2008),
O'Grady (1987), and Lumintang (2013). Here
are the word formation processes. They are
compounding, borrowing, coinage, blending,
clipping,
back
formation,
conversion,
inflection,
derivation,
classicization,
reduplication, and abbreviation, shortness,
symbol letter, and other process.
Here are some factors influence changes
of Indonesian in Facebook. Crispin Thurlow
(2004), Janet Holmes (2003), Nancy (2011),
and Rhenald Kasali (2011).
The first is because appear new
technology, the second this word formation
common recognized and used in internet
language include Facebook, and the third
because follow “alay” language.
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
From result of the research, the researcher
find that Indonesian when used and adapted in
writing Facebook status is constant in usual
word form, it means appropriate with
Indonesian rule. But focus of this research is
on an usual word form. He found six kinds of
word formation which include an usual word.
They are clipping, abbreviation, shortness,
acronyms, other process, and symbol.
The first word formation is clipping.
Clipping is process where a new word made
by shortened the syllable. Clipping can be
divided become seven, they are front deletion,
back deletion, combination deletion, front
deletion with change of spelling, front plus
deletion, name deletion and combine deletion.
The researcher found thirty nine clippings
of word formation. They are smoga, sllu, dkat,
dn, mnjd, brsyukur, ats, limpahkn, kpadaku,
adlah, bsa, mneteskan, hdup, tnpa, cmpur,
tngan, org, drimu, mlam, hnya, mmpi, hr, dmn,
mnggu, sll, slm, mnggu, bsa, tbungan, kl, tp,
bersma, ckup, bsr, untk, tdur, untk, mlm, and
lg. The second word formation is abbreviation.
Abbreviation deletion process one or some
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part of word or combination word so become
the new word. The researcher found eighteen
abbreviations of word formation. They are yg,
yg, yg, yg, jd, yg, kpd, utk, yg, yg, yg, tdk, jgn,
dgn, dgn, byak, yg, and yg.
The third word formation is shortness.
Shortness is shortened process which throw
one of the word. The researcher found seven
shortness word formations. They are tak, kan,
ak, ntah, sgala, npa, and ni.
The fourth word formation is borrowing.
Borrowing is word formation process with
borrow or take vocabulary from other
language. The researcher found six borrowings
of word formation. They are u, ur, u, ur, u, and
ur.
The fifth word formation is other process.
Other process is combination process between
numbers and letter which form word. Or
abbreviation which written appropriate with
sound which is read. The researcher found eight
other processes of word formation. They are
mari2, ber2, benar2, tiba2, per3an, satu2ny,
hl2, and melilit2.
The sixth word formation is symbol.
Symbol is shortened word which produces one
letter or more which draw basic concept, unit,
element, or other. The researcher found
thirteen symbol forms. They are aq, d, d, d, q,
yg, qt, x, qt, qt, aq, qt, and qt.
After interviewing to eight informants the
researcher got data which is support the theory
which explained in chapter two about factors
influence changes of Indonesian in Facebook.
That is theory from Crispin Thurlow (2004),
Janet Holmes (2003), Nancy (2011), and
Rhenald Kasali (2011).
From all informants can be taken
summary, that they change Indonesian in
Facebook because three factors. The first
because appear new technology, the second
because this word formation common
recognized and used in internet language
include Facebook, and the third because
follow “alay” language.
The first factor influence language change
in Facebook status is because appears new
technology. This is one of the factors that have
greatly influenced human language. One of the
modern technologies in communication is
SMS (Short Message Service). It was found in
February 1985, whereas social network site
found in 1997. So, because SMS technology
was invented before Facebook, so this new
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technology gives influencing to Facebook
which made after it in 2004.
Because the distance between of them is
long whereas everybody has been habited with
SMS language until memorize the form of it,
so when Facebook appear they also use it in
writing Facebook status. So the word form in
Facebook is not new something anymore.
The second factor is because follow
“alay” language. Alay is the name of group
which consist young people who have unique
action. They called their group is alay, it’s
mean “anak layangan”. They make not only
special group but also make new language,
that is alay language. Their language is
different with Indonesian rule. They make
language by themselves which has special
character. They like make new word formation
with combining capital form and small form,
combine letter and number and the word make
it shorted. By appearing social network site
like Facebook, so when they write something
in Facebook they follow “alay language”.
The third factor influence language
change in Facebook status is because word
formations which they use in writing
Facebook statuses are common used in social
network site.
CONCLUSION
Based on the research result, the
researcher makes the conclusion in the
following points:
The word Formation of Indonesian Language
on Facebook
From the research result, the researcher
found that Facebooker commonly use usual
Indonesian in writing Facebook status. And
some of their Facebook statuses constant of
unusual Indonesian, means different with
Indonesian which common used in writing.
The user of Facebook changes and makes
new Indonesian form in Facebook with
unusual Indonesian using word formation
processes. They are clipping, abbreviation,
shortness, acronyms, other process, and
symbol.
The researcher takes eight Facebook user
and total of their status is thirteen. From all
them the researcher has explained clear so
easy to be understood. From all objects of
research, the research counts written language
changes and forms in Facebook. It will be
shown in the following table.
Table 4.2 The total word formation found
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Word
Total
Formation
1
Clipping
39
2
Abbreviation
18
3
Shortness
7
4
Borrowing
6
5
symbol
13
6
other process
8
The changes are Made by Facebook Users on
their Statuses
When the Indonesian used and adapted in
Facebook, there are two possibilities. First
Indonesian used as suitable with it’s original
without any change, and the second
Indonesian used in new form because some
reasons like explanation after this section.
From the finding of the research, the new
word form which used and adapted in writing
Facebook statuses are using some word
formation processes. They are clipping,
abbreviation, shortness, acronyms, symbol,
and other process.
No.
The Factors Influence Change of Indonesian
in Facebook
Every Facebooker has different factor
why they change Indonesian in Facebook
statuses with making the new word form.
From the finding, the researcher can make
conclusion that factors influence change of
Indonesian in Facebook statuses are three
items.
The three factors influence change of
Indonesian in Facebook status are because
appear new technology, because this word
formation common recognized and used in
internet language include Facebook, and
because follow “alay” language.
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