An Analysis of Jargon “Di Rumah Aja” during Covid-19 Pandemic

Melinda
170511100093

Abstract
The objectives of this study is identifying and describing the usage of a jargon, that is
“Di Rumah Aja” which become a trend during COVID-19 pandemic. The writer used
descriptive qualitative method in classifying and analyzing the data. The object of the
data were collected from massive social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and
YouTube) and other online platforms which frequently used the jargon (government
websites and profitable companies). In the result, the writer found a lot of different
usage of the same jargon based on the users and the functions. In conclusion, a jargon
can be used as a tagline or slogan for wider society with various purposes.
Keywords: Jargon, netizen, government, companies

INTRODUCTION
In sociolinguistics, jargon is one of language variations which used in particular
field. Jargon is words with special meanings related to the professional’s field (Jendra,
2010). Some speech communities use jargon to identify their groups and to make
them easier in communication. The people outside of the community or people with
no interest in those fields will not have knowledge about the community’s jargon.
Therefore, it distinguishes jargon with general language which can be understood by
common society. For example, people in politics field will understand the jargon of
some words, such as ‘party’, ‘candidate’, ‘left’, e.t.c. Those jargon have different
meaning with the common one.
However, jargon can be used as an effective language strategy in some occasion.
A jargon can be used by a larger speech community which include a lot of people, not
excluding a whole of country. For example, during COVID-19 pandemic, the people
produce a social jargon that is “Di Rumah Aja” and promote it in whole Indonesia
nation with specific functions. The literal meaning of it is to suggest Indonesian
citizens to stay at home, so that the program of social distancing which applied by the
government will be more likely to happen.
 A brief about COVID-19, the virus which can cause severe illness and death has
become a global issue since early 2020. The first case was found in Wuhan, China,
widespread in the whole country and cost a lot of lives. The virus is really dangerous
yet very easy to infect human or animals. Many countries outside of China, or even
Asia, are also affected, including Indonesia. The first case in Indonesia was found
around March, and the number of cases is still increasing significantly. Until this
article was written, June 15th 2020, it had reached 39,294 cases with 15,123 recovered
and 2,198 deaths (Kompas.com). World Health Organization (WHO) had given many
health and protection protocols to be done by all of the affected countries. Indonesia
government had done those protocols with some adjustment, for example social
distancing program, socialization about COVID-19, campaign to live cleanly and
healthily, e.t.c.
The implementation of the government’s programs give big influence to the
citizens. Most all institutions, like companies and schools, prefer to apply ‘working
from home’ and ‘learning from home’ for their workers and students. As many people
prefer to obey the pandemic protocols and stay at home, the jargon “Di Rumah Aja”
became really popular. They celebrate the “Di Rumah Aja” campaign through their
personal social media by delivering their activities at home or saying what they think.
It was followed by other institutions, especially profitable companies, who used the
jargon to promote their services and goods. For example, online shops campaign it in
order to attract people in buying online, cellular data companies use it to offer more
discount, e.t.c.
Based on the explanation above, the writer was interested in analyzing jargon “Di
Rumah Aja” which appeared due to special circumstance, that is COVID-19
pandemic. The jargon is found frequently in many online platforms, means many
people use it for different purposes. This article will explain concisely about the usage
of the mentioned jargon from different stakeholders.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary defines jargon as “words or
expressions developed for use within a particular group, hard for the outsiders.” As
extension, jargon is one of language varieties with specific function which used by
people in certain circle or field. It is created as technical words expression which used
by inner people in a group or field. Other people outside of the group or people who
are not interested in the field will find it difficult to understand the jargon directly.
Therefore, when a person is delivering knowledge about his/her field, they will avoid
particular jargon and rather use general vocabularies.
A jargon may also exist in particular event or happening because it is resulted
from people who are engaged with the situation. In this study, jargon “Di Rumah Aja”
has different meaning than usual. It might be look simple as a normal phrase, but the
existed pandemic change a slight of it. It turns into another slogan or tagline which
has different interpretation for Indonesian people who face the pandemic. Usually, it
only refers to an adverb phrase which means “just stay at home” and can be used in
normal situation, like when someone call his/her friend to work on something in
his/her house. During the pandemic, this phrase is given more interpretation because it
is followed with suggestion, obligation, and others. Then, the users of the jargon is
wider because it is quite popular in internet, they are society in Indonesia.
This phrase also meet another requirement of jargon, that is outsiders who do not
understand the meaning directly. In this occasion, there are two types of outsiders.
First is foreigner who are not able to understand Bahasa Indonesia. It is because the
jargon is written in Bahasa Indonesia with a bit of colloquial language, that is the
changed form of “Saja” to “Aja”. They need to translate or interpret the phrase and
engage with the situation which caused the appearance of the jargon. The second
outsiders do not need to meet the requirement of foreigner as long as they do not
engage with the issue. For example, people who are away from internet and media
will be more likely not find this jargon. They will simply recognize the jargon as a
mere phrase with literal meaning.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study uses descriptive qualitative methodology because the research were
described and analyzed using words. It focuses on words matter rather than number or
statistical graphic. Non-participatory observation is used to collect the data for this
research. The object of the data were collected from massive social media (Twitter,
Instagram, Facebook and YouTube) which become trending and other online
platforms which frequently used the jargon (government websites and profitable
companies).
After the data were collected, it will be analyzed semantically from the context of
the text where the jargon is used. In social media, people used the jargon as hashtag
and make it popular by using it continuously, then the analysis will describe the
message they deliver. In other platforms, the jargon will be analyzed by considering
the purpose of the institutions and how they promote it. Lastly, the data will be
classified into several groups based on the users and the usage of the jargon.
Therefore, the steps of the research is using identification and description.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Jargon “Di Rumah Aja” in Lexical and Semantic
In lexical aspect, the form of “Di Rumah Aja” is an adverb phrase consist of three
words. There are some variations of this form, for example “Di Rumah Saja”. The
different is from the usage of word “Aja” and “Saja”. Both have the same meaning
and semantic, the difference is “Aja” is more informal and “Saja” is more formal.
However, the form “Aja” is found more often than the other because it is more casual
in everyday language. Other forms are “dirumahaja”, and “dirumahsaja”. The forms
which has no space on it and written in lower case is usually used for hashtag in social
media and websites.
Semantically, “Di Rumah Aja” is the direct translation from a foreign jargon, that
is “Stay at Home”. The jargon “Stay at Home” has existed beforehand and used
globally by people around the world, because it uses the international language
English. Both forms of jargon is often interpreted directly and denotatively. It is used
as an adverb which complete a phrase or sentence. For example, “Kerja di Rumah
Aja”, “Belajar di Rumah Aja”, and more. However, it is more popular among citizens
to use it independently as a phrase because it already has a strong and clear message.

The writer found some examples of the users and the usage of jargon “Di Rumah
Aja”. Each user has their own purpose in using the jargon and it will be described
deeply in this discussion.

Netizen
Due to the advancement of technology and people awareness, most all people
have access and have good ability in using social media. One of the most popular
social media forms is discussion forum, that is a platform where netizen may share
their queries and get responses in the form of comments and reactions from other
users (Martechadvisor.com). Every netizen has their own personal account in every
discussion forum, like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and more.
The nature of netizen is always update to the latest news or events and follow the
trend. The trends, mostly, are in the form of words or phrases with special meaning
and refer to a particular event. The jargon “Di Rumah Aja” is one of them which
become trending during COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. As evidence, in Twitter,
hashtag #dirumahaja went to the first trending on March, 17 th 2020 with more than
33,000 tweets (Star.grid.id). Even, this phrase already has its own hashflag (an icon
which appear next to a particular word or phrase in Twitter) in the form of red house
with green heart.
Most netizen in social media use the jargon as hashtag with a symbol “#” before
the phrase. They place it along with their content of post and use it, generally, as
setting of place. For example, they share their activities at home, give advice, share
tips and tricks, throw jokes, and entertain audiences.
 In this study, there are several most related reasons with the existence of jargon
“Di Rumah Aja”. Firstly, social media helps in making netizen feel involved in a
certain situation. Secondly, social media can help netizen in interacting with each
other and developing relationships with other people living across the border. Lastly,
social media also helps in sharing valuable information and also influences the
audience. The situation where global pandemic is spreading, of course, make a lot of
people around the world face the same condition. The shared story which relate to one
another will create same affection and empathy, so that the feeling solidarity will be
likely to grow among netizen.

Government
Since government has duty to protect the citizens, government also has power to
control and manage using regulations. The applied protocols, rules, and prohibitions
during COVID-19 pandemic are clearly strict and has consequences. However,
government may take other supporting ways in order to success the program. For
example, using a trend which popular among citizens for suggesting and
campaigning, in this case, about social distancing, healthy life, stay at home, and else.
The jargon “Di Rumah Aja” which popularized by the citizens has been used by the
government either orally in a video or written in online websites related to COVID-
19. For example, BNPB (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana), BPLJSKB
(Badan Pengujian Laik Jalan dan Sertifikasi Kendaraan Bermotor), Kominfo
(Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika), e.t.c.

This method has several strengths compared to conventional binding rules. The
jargon has more informal and casual sense than regulations which more strict and
formal. The informal and casual jargon can make the citizens feel less burdened in
obeying the programs. Moreover, it may build and maintain the intimacy and
solidarity between government and citizens. It will make a good image of government
in citizens perspective, that is up-to-date and following trend.

Companies
The economy sector is greatly influenced by COVID-19 pandemic, because some
rules and protocols indirectly oblige people to limit, or even stop their financial
productivity. For example, social distancing rule has permitted people from gathering
in huge mass, some places like malls, markets, retails, and others become deserted.
The prohibition to go outside and stroll also weaken other sectors, like travel agents,
tourism places, entrepreneurs, and UKMs. Based on Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani,
Indonesian economy rate was increased on the first week of March 2020, but
decreased on the second week after the pandemic was confirmed (Katadata.co.id).
According to WHO, the pandemic is expected will be lasted for unpredictable
time (BBC.com). This urgent situation force people to adapt fast, so that they can
continue their life and activities. Many profitable companies start to boost a strategy,
that is promoting their services and goods using online media. A survey from
SurveySensum & NeuroSensum which held on March 27 th until April 6th 2020 with
109 respondents, shows 59% of them focus on e-commerce sales (Katadata.co.id).
One of effective ways to promote services and products easily is using an iconic
and relevant jargon, that is “Di Rumah Aja”. A lot of reputable brands have used the
jargon for their promotion. The kinds of the companies are also various, start from
online shops, cellular data companies, delivery services, retails, franchises, and more.
The example of online shops are Shopee, Tokopedia, and Bukalapak. Several
examples of cellular data company are Telkomsel, Smartfren, Indosat, and others.
Delivery services also gain more jobs and orders, some are JNE, Grab, and Gojek.
Some examples of retail are Indomaret, Alfamart, Giant, Hypermart, e.t.c. While
example of franchises are McDonalds, KFC, CFC, PizzaHut, and others.
 According to Eric Swratz, an expert in brand and promotion, a jargon, tagline, or
slogan is really important like a logo of brand. It consist of not more than seven
words, but imply a strong message for targeted customers. Jargon “Di Rumah Aja”
has some implicated meanings when it is showed beside the logo or name of products
and services. For marketing strategy, it can be used to attract people and lead them to
the curiosity and interest, which can help to gain more profit as their main purpose.
Besides that, public and potential customers may get a message that the company
obeys and supports the government rules. Then they will mark them as a good
company and the company itself may gain more reputation and good-will.
The companies can use the jargon in different variation because they adjust it
with their products and services. One of examples is Stylo, an online shop which sell
beauty products. It modifies the jargon “Di Rumah Aja” into “Di Rumah Aja Bisa
Cantik” which infer that customers do not need to go outside to buy cosmetic
products. Other one is from Pizza Hut franchise which modify the jargon into
“Senengnya Di Rumah Aja” along with big promotion. Then, there is also another
franchise, Kopi Janji Jiwa, which modify the jargon into a more trendy style for
teenagers, “Ngopi Di Rumah Aja”. Those modifications might seem simple, but the
added word or phrase which related to their own products and services will give more
impression to customers, even it can be marked as their own special jargon.
However, the jargon “Di Rumah Aja” will be less helpful if the company does not
give other supporting aspects. Therefore, many companies also offer more promotion,
discount, even gifts. To obey social distancing program which forbid people to gather
in a public places, companies start to boost their delivery service, such Klikindomaret
from Indomaret and Alfacart from Alfamart. Online payment also become another
feature that really helpful for customers, such as Gopay from Gojek and e-pay from
BRI using virtual account. Even, some companies start to change their main products
and services with other useful things. For example, Blibli which previously only sells
tertiary products start to offer fundamental needs like basic food.

CONCLUSION
The jargon “Di Rumah Aja” is widely used by different people with various
purpose. The advancement of technology and the activeness of people in using gadget
and social media also give big influence for the trending jargon. As the jargon is
spreading and a lot of people know it, then the message of it will reach them, too. The
message emphasizes on the important of staying at home and not going out without
necessary business. Then, the program of social distancing to prevent the virus will
have more significant effect.
The netizen use the jargon for a lot of different goals. They share their activities at
home, give advice, share tips and tricks, throw jokes, and entertain audiences. The
other stakeholders follow the trend for other goals. Government uses the jargon as a
good approach to the society, so that they can campaign and suggest the protocols of
COVID-19 better. While companies can use the jargon to promote and keep their
financial balance despite of the declining economy.
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