CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.Background

Language is one of the most important things in this life and one of the characteristic
forms of human behavior. Language is used as means of communication to express our minds
and ideas to other people. Because of that, no wonder some people are interested in analyzing
problems in the field of language. Not only linguists, but also psychologists, sociologists,
anthropologists, and so on, conduct studies on language. Chomsky and Halle (1968:5).

In phonology, the researcher has studied the language to determine the sounds that occur
and to establish a set of rules that describe the set of changes that takes place in these sounds
when they occur in a different relationship with the other sounds. Phonology is the study of
sound and processes affecting the way words are pronounced (Radford, 2009:5). Phonology is
the study of sound structure in language, which is different from the study of sentence (syntax)
or word structure (morphology), or how languages change over time (historical linguistics)
(Odden, 2011:2).

According to Seong (2008:1), connected speech is a phenomenon in spoken language that

collectively includes phonological processes such as reduction, elision, intrusion, assimilation,
and contraction. Several research studies have shown that connected speech instruction can help
learners to more easily comprehend rapid speech used by native speakers. According to Acosta
(2012:1), connected speech, also commonly referred to as reduced speech or sandhi-variation,
involves the contracted forms, reductions, elisions, and liaisons used by native speakers in their
oral speech. Connected speech features reinforce the regularity of English rhythm and help
preserve its stress-timed rhythm. According to Tyrode (2008:5), connected speech is a term used
in linguistics to refer to spoken language when analyzed as a continuous sequence, as in normal
utterances and conversations.

Muaffaq (2012:171). Assimilation is the event of changing the sound because of the
influence of the sound environment so that the sound it becomes has characteristics similar to the
sound that is influenced. In this research, the researcher will focus on the assimilation of /ng/ in
Batak Toba. The process assimilation /ng/ English and classical Arabic are almost similar, they
are articulated by tongue blade and alveolar ridge. But they may be different when they meet
other phonemes in isolation which could be different in different languages. In Batak Toba,
especially in the Dictionary Batak based on the study of Batak Toba /ng/ the most often
phonemes getting into assimilation, So it becomes a big problem for Bataknese, who learn Speak
Batak Toba, it is needed to make a comparison between assimilation in Batak Toba to know the
variations of phonological process in both of language.
 Roach with his theory about assimilation (2009:106), assimilation across word
boundaries is rather different from the word boundary, without any clear assumption about
similarities of assimilation across word boundaries and within the word or the morpheme.
Besides that he also makes a claim that some Batak Toba words are “tangkas” as part of the
phonological structures of English syllables, it can be said that the place of articulation of nasal
(including/ng/) is always determined by the place of articulation of other consonants. While
Bauer (introduction to linguistic: 2006: 105) comes up with the theory and some examples of
assimilation /n/ in English within word boundaries which is applied in the word with an
additional suffix. In this example, the theory of assimilation across word boundaries is similar to
the assimilation within word boundaries. She also divides types of assimilation based on their
degree (partial assimilation, total assimilation, and reciprocal assimilation) and these can occur
not only across word boundaries but also within word boundaries. it is completed the limited
type of assimilation according to Roach that is only based on the consonant (assimilation of
place, manner, and voicing) and generally talks about assimilation across word boundaries.

Ibrahim (1989:48) In the Study of Batak Toba assimilation of /ng/ occurs across word
boundaries and within word boundaries (ikhfa), there is also in some cases only occurs within
word boundaries (idgam). Ikhfa and idgam only occur when /ng/ meets certain consonants.
Besides that, the interesting thing in the Study of Reciting the Batak Toba is the separation of
assimilation of /ng/ is based on the phonemes which follow it. While the limited vowels in Batak
Toba in certain cases cause the different assimilation as /n/ in English that needs to analyze
further.

Batak Toba is a highly inflected language. Inflections have an essential phonological role
in the language in general and in the Tobaverses in particular which, in turn, has grammatical
and semantic effects. Both languages are very important language to learn. In learning the Batak
Toba language have similarities and differences in pronunciation. However, the problems faced
by the learner of both languages in pronunciation, particularly in Batak Toba as a language of
North Sumatra. So the researcher wanted to make research about similarities and differences in
pronunciation especially in assimilation.

B. Formulation of the problem

Based on the previous background, a problem needs to be answered from research. There are
research questions formulated by the researcher as follows
1. How are the assimilation processes of /ng/ across-word and within-word boundaries in Batak
Toba?
2. What are the types of assimilation in the nasal ng contained in the Toba Batak dictionary?
C. The Objective of the Study

1. To find out the way of assimilation processes of /ng/ across-word and within-words
boundaries in Batak Toba
2. To find out the types of assimilation in the nasal ng contained in the Toba Batak dictionary

D. The Scope of the Study

This study focuses on analyzing the assimilation of nasal ng sounds in the Toba Batak language
dictionary by Op Faustin Panjaitan. This dictionary was published in March 2010 in Depok.

E.Significance of the Research

The researcher hopes that this research adds more information that is useful and knowledge
to the researcher herself, the students, societies, and references for those who want to find out
more about linguistics especially related to Assimilation.