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Final Term Exam Paper
Final Term Exam Paper
What would Surabaya like in the next fifty years from now on? Is a question that this paper is
trying to predict by using the framework of what have been learned from the sociolinguistics class. The
discussion from any variables and framework will be divided into two major points of view: intentionally
To predict this, I should go back far fifty years ago and try to reflect this and scheme it along with
phenomena that most likely to influence the change. Bahasa Indonesia is Indonesia’s national language.
Bahasa Indonesia is one of things that unifies Indonesia that consists of thousands of islands and ethnic
groups along with their languages and culture. With Indonesia, Bahasa Indonesia has been growing and
developing.
Seeing this background of languages in Surabaya, this following discussions are the prediction on
how the situation of languages in the next fifty years. First of all is Javanese. Javanese has survived all the
surrounded other languages. It is shifting but not dead. Javanese was spoken less and less since
Indonesia got its independence. Before and after the independence, Javanese was also hit by Dutch.
There were people who tend or chose to speak Dutch than Javanese. Most of them spoke Dutch because
they were educated since the education system was governed by the Dutch.
Within its development in macro level as William Bright (Coulmas, 1997:82) states that the
change that has effect on large group of people to entire society is called macrolinguistic. People also
began to use Indonesian names instead of Javanese names. There were names like, Sri, Siti, Bejo,
Paiman, Pon, Kliwon (Javanese day terms.) Indonesia has been growing and more children are sent to
school. The occupation as farmers is going less. People are exposed to the world outside Indonesia with
movies and news and there was an automatic thing to be influenced by this change. So, the closest thing
was: names for children. There were more Indonesian names, Budi, Sekar, Gunawan, Wati for example.
In micro level, people seemed to be reluctant to speak Javanese but not those who work as
housemaids. So, there is a thought that Javanese is low but not in some Chinese ethnically families.
Some of them still use it. Javanese is still spoken by senior or older people. Most of grandparents live
with their son or daughter in cities if they do not stay in their hometown or villages. These people may
stay in villages and if they do not, they will choose more to speak in Bahasa Indonesia. Moreover, they
Most of Surabaya citizens are ethnically Javanese. Javanese is taught at school from elementary
to junior high school level. It is taught as local lesson that is only taught once a week. Students learn
some of Javanese part, if it cannot be said, a little. The students do not really use it and teachers are the
only source they have. These students are “rememberers” as Craig said (Coulmas, 1997:259). They are at
early age of native speakers and have lost much of their earlier linguistic ability. Moreover, they are
encountered by Suroboyoan, a vernacular in Surabaya. Children play with their friends at school and
Javanese is shifting. It is beginning to drift. Collete Grinevald Craig (Coulmas, 1997:259) give a
definition from Dorian of characteristic of speakers of the language death are imperfect speakers. They
are very passive speakers. Javanese is still used by older people but only a few of them use high
Javanese. It also can be found in some art performances, like ketoprak or wayang kulit. Some people still
use high Javanese for formal occasion like in ritual ceremony in marriage and only a few of them really
understand what the mc is saying. This describes what Craig (Coulmas, 1997: 261) says: “the loss of
higher functions, like the language in the public arena, including the sociopolitical and religious traditions
Even so, this part of culture is also getting less. People are now more aware of living in a religious
way. They begin to abandon some if not all the part of culture that is not in line with the religion system
or ways. They do this because they want to live, practice what the religion teach in the way that it is
supposed to be without any interference of culture where they live. Some of them do not wear the
ethnical wedding dresses. They do not want to do Javanese ritual before marriage. Puppet show is
considered as not the religion part for some people and they begin to abandon this. Consequently,
Craig (Coulmas, 1997: 262-3) gives the effects of language death on language structure. Two of
them are loss of morpheme and phoneme. Some of morpheme and phoneme are missing in Javanese. It
is used to be said: Bu(t)dhi . It is “t” pronounced by biting the tongue with “d”. Also, in koncone (the
Having less people speak it and has been seen as low because it is spoken by those who are from
villages, the language of old people and is difficult to learn, Javanese is getting subordinated. Inferring
from this, Javanese will still revive and exist within next fifty years with a few people speak it well
because there are some people who still speak it at home. Javanese will be used as the language of ritual
and within culture related activities and children who will be adults will be passive speakers in Javanese.
It is always possible for the next generation of the children (adults in next fifty years) to trace down
Javanese culture.
There is an interesting fact about Javanese. Chinese speak Javanese more than those who are
ethnically Javanese. They speak Javanese both at school and at home. This will lead to look back to the
history.
Politically, in 1960s Indonesia had a really close relationship with China. It was legal for a
communist ideology party in Indonesia. Farmer was most of Indonesians’ occupation at that time. The
ideology of Marxism or socialist seemed to fit with the situation of the life of the most of Indonesian
people. This ideology easily spread and got many of its partisans. There were Chinese shop house with
Chinese letters and there was the lion and dragon dance in public.
In the second president’s supremacy, Chinese subsided. Chinese shop houses and letters were
not on the walls. There was no more lion and dragon dance. There were not Chinese names anymore.
Chinese also undergoes language loss and language contact. Ethnically Chinese people who live
in Surabaya speak Javanese, Bahasa Indonesia and then other languages. Most of them speak passive
Chinese or Mandarin. Their ancestors arrived and lived in Surabaya since before Indonesia’s
independence. Some of them because of trade had learned to speak Dutch. Eventually, because they are
minority, their language is displaced by the local language as what Matthias Brenzinger (Coulmas, 1997:
279) describes, “The long-term contacts among neighboring groups may have resulted in language
displacements… Minorities which had been living in symbiotic relationships with dominant group for a
long time might have been forced to abandon the old language at some point.”
Most of the Chinese immigrants’ son and grandchilren become businessmen. They work in
trade. Some of Chinese words are still used. Numbers and simple sentences are spoken in trade. This is
done together with some Javanese (ngoko/low) and Bahasa Indonesia. Most of the grandchildren get
better education at good schools in Surabaya. So, other languages are also used by them and yet they
The next language to be discussed is Bahasa Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia was spoken
structurally and grammatically correct, like “saya tidak tahu” (I do not know) which was spoken without
lessening or changing of any letter. Back fifty years ago, Bahasa Indonesia had a place even though it was
still in old spelling, for example the letter “u” was written, “oe” (Soerabaja), the letter “c” was written “tj”
(Tjandra) and the letter “j” was written “dj” (Djakarta). This is because of the sound or the phonetic in
through some metamorphosis and got a “hit” from other language; Chinese. Chinese got the attention
Bahasa Indonesia went to a new thing. The second president had brought influence to Bahasa
Indonesia. He was famous because he always never used any other language besides Bahasa Indonesia
even in international events. He was a general and it never believed that he could not speak English; as
He used to use a variation in phoneme. The vowel sound of suffix “kan” became “ken”. This habit
was followed by the ministers and it was a usual thing. It was not allowed to use other language terms
for public areas, places and buildings. Bahasa Indonesia was growing into a new stage and rule: Ejaan
Yang Disempurnakan or The Approved Spelling. Bahasa Indonesia had a very special place at that time. It
was studied as the foreign language at schools in some countries, like Australia and Japan. Dr Aspar
http://greatindonesia.tumblr.com/post/219634549/bahasa-indonesia-learned-in-40-countries states
that countries with intense promoting Bahasa Indonesia as foreign language at their local schools are
Nowadays Bahasa Indonesia undergoes many things. It gets “hit” from English and bahasa gaul.
Bahasa Indonesia is the official language at schools. Students learn it from elementary level to college.
The alphabets are the letters and also the sounds (phonetic). Nouns play role as subject as well
as object without any changing in forms. Verbs do not change in forms when they are used together
Bahasa Indonesia is seen a good or better than local language because the local language,
Suroboyoan and Javanese are not spoken well. Most people do not use or understand high Javanese.
Using high Javanese impresses as having good attitude but only a few people can speak it. Suroboyoan
tends to be outspoken, powerful (stressed in any syllable) and direct. One example, the way Surabaya
people say something that really good: enak (delicious) is uenak. Swearing is also a sign of friendship in
Suroboyoan. So, Soroboyoan strikes as coarse language. Moreover, there are variations in Surabaya.
Some Surabaya people are not originally from Surabaya. Some of them were born outside
Surabaya. The reason why they come to Surabaya is usually to seek for jobs. They bring their local,
dialect to Surabaya and this influence the society where they live. Edward Sapir (Coulmas, 1997: 47) in
James Milroy and Lesley Milroy’s article, says, “variability is within everyone’s experience of using and
listening to language…” There are variation for the word, kamu (you) becomes koen, kon in Suroboyoan
and for suburban will be riko, peno and for some people from Ngawi, for instance will be awakmu.
Based on these reasons, people tend to choose to speak in Bahasa Indonesia for it gives the
impression of as not working class and it is proper for middle class. Code switching is a choice. Aure in
Carol Myers-Scotton’s article (Coulmas, 1997: 218) adds that code switching is used a device in discourse.
Inevitably, people still speak Javanese, Suroboyoan along with Bahasa Indonesia at home but they
choose “mild” word from Suroboyoan, simple Javanese (usually ngoko but not to older people) and the
most safe way is to use Bahasa Indonesia with accent. It is easy to recognize where a person is from
when they are speaking because of the accent that he or she is speaking though they speak in Bahasa
Indonesia.
Borrowing is an issue in Bahasa Indonesia. Now bahasa gaul is famous among youngsters.
Borrowing words from Bahasa Betawi, one of the ethnic languages, like gue (I), elo/ elu (you)and some of
the words will get the stress like the way Suroboyoan, for example, gue geethoo loh (it’s me). There is
also borrowing and code mixing between Bahasa Betawi and English that is so famous today. It is: elo
English. Words like, support, entertain, c(s)elebrity, escalator are borrowed from English. They are used
English, Chinese and other languages terms are very familiar these days in Indonesia. Public
places and buildings are not afraid to put other languages for names. In mall, it is written: underground,
upper ground, ground floor, toilet, restrooms. It is possible to find Japanese letters in a Japanese
restaurant as well as Chinese. From the law perspective, campaign street rules are mostly use English. In
the main streets of Surabaya, there are banners and posters that say: safety riding. They are issued by
This also spreads to family life. People name their children using names from other languages.
Chinese names go back again. Also there are Indonesia children with Arabic, American, Greek or Italian
names. It is a freedom even though people might get stunned when they see a Javanese faced child with
an Italian names.
At the same time, English has been a foreign language at schools in Indonesia. English was
studied from the high school level. Students learned English in the former ways that was led by
behaviorism school.
Apparently, this generation of students speak English better in term of formal language. They are
better grammatically and they pronounce the words better because they had the model and were
immersed into English almost all the time. These students are well educated because back then,
education was an expensive need, only a few people could attend school. University was the place to
English is taught at school since the earliest level of education. It is seen as prestigious to be able
to speak English. As a result, parents send their children to learn English since the early age. Toddlers are
considered to be difficult and it is. Because there are differences between Bahasa Indonesia and English,
then the students get difficulties in learning it. The similarities will facilitate and the differences will
impede to learn new language, as H. Douglas Brown (2000: 207) states in discussing Contrastive Analysis
Hypothesis.
Both English and Bahasa Indonesia have rules. English has tenses, copula, irregular verbs and
nouns (singular/ plural, subject/ object) that change in form when they are used while Bahasa Indonesia
does not. The students tend to translate word to word. They will not have difficulty in making a
sentence: I drink milk because in Bahasa Indonesia it will not change in any form: saya minum susu. The
difficulty arises when they are faced adjectives because it requires copula. For example: I am smart
which in Bahasa Indonesia simply becomes: saya pintar. There is no difference in making a sentence
The next difficulty is verbs and tenses. Bahasa Indonesia does not use tense or changing form for
verbs. Whether the activity is done now, habitual or yesterday or even tomorrow, there will not be any
change. Saya makan nasi setiap hari (I eat rice every day) will remain the same as: saya makan nasi
kemarin (I ate rice yesterday). The difference only lies in the meaning of adverb of time:
Nouns is another thing. In making nouns plural, Bahasa Indonesia only adds a word: banyak,
para, beberapa before the nouns. The nouns will stay the same no adding like that of in English, for
example:
book books
sheep sheep
fox foxes
There is changing in form of nouns in English whether as subject or object. Saya is still saya both as
subject or object in Bahasa Indonesia. I gave him the book. He will change into him when it acts as
object.
English is an international language and it is a foreign language in Indonesia. Students learn this
at school with the target to understand information. America is leading in this world and the language
that is used is English so it is automatically, English is learned by other countries. Most of information,
news, and the development and innovation in technology are released using English.
Students are expected to understand English with more focus on listening and reading.
Therefore, in national examination, for English subject, the problems are measuring the students’
listening and reading skills. These two skills are passive skills.
The teachers are one of the source and model in learning English. There are Hollywood movies,
shows, and news broadcasted from other part of this world that is easily accessed. This helps the
students a lot in learning English but they do not have much opportunity to practice their English. Most
of them who do not have chance to join English course, might have difficulty in producing English;
speaking and writing. The quality of the students’ English is quite well in receptive skill but not well
enough in production.
Javanese, Chinese, Bahasa Indonesia and English are not separated from social life in Surabaya.
Javanese will still remain and probably revive. There are some words that might wear off because only
few people use or say those words. Later these words will be gone and the children now who will be
adults may not know that such words exist. When there is an appreciation to the culture and ritual,
Javanese may revive. Children are still learning it at schools and their neighborhood is surrounded by it.
Grandparents are speaking in it sometimes among the same age people. Parents use it sometimes when
they speak to their parents. There is always an opportunity for Javanese to survive.
Chinese will increase for more and more schools are teaching it. There are native speakers who
still speak it even though it is limited to their own group. China is a very big country with the largest
population on earth. Logically, there are Chinese people who speak Chinese besides other language
where they live, in all around the world. China has become a new leader in economy so there will be no
surprise when the requirement of those who can speak Chinese or Mandarin increases every year.
Probably, letters are still an issue for the learners because Chinese letters are thousands and they change
Bahasa Indonesia will live and develop in various ways. It borrows and absorbs words from other
languages both local and foreign. People especially youngsters will be still creative in inventing new
words and they play with them. That makes it popular and help Bahasa Indonesia exist. Its role as the
English will be still an international language that use and spoken by most people all around the
world. English has strengths compared to other international languages. It is somewhat simpler because
it is not a sexist language and it does not have gender for the article for nouns, like in German or French.
Because of the history of colonialism of the British, more people understand and speak English longer.
This is what I have predicted for the next fifty years. The sociolinguistic condition of the society
and the choice of languages taught at our schools will develop but not very far from the situation and