Code Switching in Indonesian Songs

Abstract This paper aims at describing code switching found in Indonesian pop songs composed by some Indonesian pop song composers. The research problems are what types of code switching and what are the reasons why the composers switch the language in their songs. This study is expected to give some useful contributions to the theory of Sociolinguistics, particularly the theory of code switching. The findings of this study are expected to give some useful insights to English Department students in order to get better understanding of the use of code switching by Indonesian pop song composers. The writer collects data by finding the lyrics of Indonesian pop songs in the internet and in the songs magazines, selecting lyrics that consist of Indonesian-English code switching, and coding the selected code switching by giving numbers to help the analysis run well. 6 reasons why Indonesian pop song composers code switch their language are talking about a particular topic, inserting a sentence fillers or sentence connectors, repetition used for clarification, expressing group identity, softening and strengthening request or command, and inserting a real lexical need. There is an additional reason why they code switch their language, that is for marketing purposes. Key words: Code switching, Indonesian pop song lyrics

1. Background Indonesia is an archipelago country that the emergence local languages is inevitable among tribes in Indonesia. Consequently, Indonesians are at least

bilinguals since they master two languages, vernacular and Bahasa Indonesia. Moreover, it is not surprising if some Indonesians are bilingual and/or multilingual at the same time because of the foreign language learning. The more people master languages, the more their ability to code switch from one language into another language because of the repertoire in their minds. Therefore, the phenomenon of code switching happens not only between local language and Bahasa Indonesia, but also among local languages, Bahasa Indonesia and English. The phenomenon of code switching does not only occur in daily life situations. It is also used by some program broadcasters of radio and/or television. Recently, some Indonesian pop songs contain English phrases and/or sentences in their lyrics. Take, for example, Slanks song entitled My girl which ends with I miss you but I hate you my girl which was popular in 2004. Another example is Melly Goeslaws song entitled Lets dance together; let's dance together get on the dance floor the party won't start if you stand still like that let's dance together let's party and turn off the lights berdiri semua di ruang yg redup bercahaya bagai kilat aku dan yang lain menikmati semua

2. Speech Community People are social beings who belong to certain community. Each community has its own characteristics including its way of communication. This kind of community is called speech community. According to Gumperz (1971: 224), a speech community is dynamic fields of action where phonetic change borrowing, language mixture, and language shift all occur. 3. Bilingualism Spolsky (1998:45) defines bilingual as, A person who has some functional ability in second language. This ability may vary from one bilingual to another. Related to speech community, Hamers and Blanc (1987:6) define bilingualism as the state of a linguistic community in which two languages are in contact with the result that codes can be used in the same interaction and that a number of individuals are bilinguals. In short, bilinguals can choose what language they are going to use. In this line, Spolsky (1998:46) says the bilinguals have a repertoire of domain-relate rules of language choice. In other words, bilinguals can vary their choice of language to suit the existing situation and condition in order to communicate effectively. This leads them to alternate two languages within the same utterance or commonly called, code switching. 4. Definition of Code Switching Code switching is potentially the most creative aspect of bilingual speech (Hoffman, 1991:109). He further adds that the feature of bilingual speech such as interference, code mixing and code switching are normal phenomenon because bilinguals often find it easier to discuss a particular topic in one language rather than another (Holmes, 1992:44). Similiarly, Spolsky (1998) says that bilinguals like to shift their language for convenience. This situation may be the basic reason why people do code switching in their speech. Mackey (1970: 569) as quoted by Hoffman states that interference is the use of features belonging to one language

while speaking or writing another. Hamers and Blanc (1987: 266) state that borrowing is taking over linguistic form (usually lexicon items) by one language to the langue as described by Mackey (1970), quoted by Hoffman (1991: 102). Grosjean (1982) as quoted by Hoffman uses the term language borrowing to refer to the terms that have passed from one language to another and have come to be used even by monolinguals. Redlinger and Park (1980: 339) write: In this study, language mixing refers to the combining of elements from two languages in a single utterance. Genesee (1989) suggests that: It is desirable to extend the definition of mixing to include single word utterances from one two languages during the same stretch of conversation between a child and caregiver. Hoffman (1991:111) says that the most general description of code switching is that it involves the alternate use of two languages or linguistic varieties within the same utterance or during the same conversation. Redlinger and Park (1980) define code switching as the combination of elements from two languages in a single utterance. Code switching is also different from code mixing. According to Hamers and Blanc (1987:266), code mixing is a strategy of communication used by speakers of a language who transfer elements or rules from other language to their own language. These transferred elements are mostly in the form of function words, articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and adverbs (Hoffman, 1991:106). McLaughlin (1984), as quoted by Hoffman (1991:110), emphasizes the difference between code switching and code mixing in the sense that code mixing takes place within sentences and usually involves single lexical item while code switching is a language change occurring across phrase or sentence boundaries. Besides abovementioned explanations, the difference of borrowing and code mixing or code switching is in terms of their writing. For borrowing, since the loan word is already adapted into the native language, it is written in regular word, for instance seksi. Whereas, for code mixing or code switching, since it still follows the morphological aspect of the borrowed-language, so it is written in italics: sexy. For the emphasis of the difference of code mixing and code switching, code mixing follow the rule of the native language, for example

Foldernya yang kemaren sudah di-delete apa belum?, while in code switching which follow the rule of the source language, it will pronounced Foldernya yang kemaren sudah deleted apa belum?. 5. Types of Code Switching Blom and Gumperz (1972 in Saville-Troke, 1986:64) classify code switching into two dimensions. There are two types of code switching based on the distinction which applies to the style shifting. The first type is situational code switching. Wardhough (1986:103) states that situational code switching occurs when the languages used change according to the situation in which the conversant find themselves: they speak one language in one situation and another in a different one. No topic change is involved. When a change topic requires a change in language used, we have metaphorical code switching. Saville-Troike (1986:62) define metaphorical code switching as a code switching occurring within a single situation but adding some meaning to such components as the. The example of situational code switching is that in some universities a ritual shift occurs at the end of a successful dissertation defense, when professors address the (former) student as Doctor and invite first names in return. While, the example of metaphorical code switching is when a German girl shifts from du to Sie with a boy to indicate the relationship has cooled, or when a wife calls her husband Mr (Smith) to indicate her displeasure. The second classification is based on the scope of switching or the nature of the juncture which language takes place (Saville-Troike, 1986:65). The basic distinction in its scope is usually between intersentential switching, or change which occurs between sentences or speech acts, and intrasentential switching, or change which occurs within a single sentence. Hoffman (1991:112) shows many types of code switching based on the juncture or the scope of switching where language takes place, Intra-sentential switching (it occurs within a sentence), inter-sentential switching (it occurs

between sentences, emblematic switching (it is tags or exclamation as an emblem of the bilingual character, establishing continuity with the previous speaker, involving a change of pronunciation (the switching occurs at the phonological level, involving a word within a sentence (this form of code switching is uttered within a sentence involving nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.)

Code mixing is a part of code switching which can be included in the type of code switching: Involving a word within a sentence because according to Poplack (1980), McLauglin (1984), and Appel and Muysken (1987), code mixing is switches occurring at the lexical level within a sentence. Reasons of Code Switching According to Hoffman (1991:116), there are seven reasons for bilinguals to switch their languages. The seven reasons are as follows: (1) talking about a particular topic, (2) quoting somebody else, (3) being emphatic about something, (4) interjection, (5) repetition used for clarification, (6) intention of clarifying the speech content for the interlocutor, and (7) expressing group identity.

Besides the reasons suggested by Hoffman, Saville-Troike (1986:69) gives additional reasons: (1) softening and strengthening request or command, (2) because of real lexical need, either if the speaker knows the desired expression in one language cannot be satisfactorily translated into second, and (3) to exclude other people when a comment is intended for only a limited audience. Conclusion Indonesian pop songs composers code switch their language from Bahasa Indonesia into English mostly belong to the type of inter-sentential switching. Inter-sentential switching is mostly used by some Indonesian pop song composers

because they prefer to express their messages from one language then code switch it into another language. The type of code switching of emblematic switching is the least code switching which is found in this study because emblematic code switching as tags or exclamations as an emblem of bilingual character is usually found in exchange, whereas most of the songs tell about stories. From six types suggested by Hoffman, there is no code switching that can be categorized into the type number four and five, establishing continuity with the previous speaker and involving a change of pronunciation, because this study is not the study of code switching in verbal communication. From ten reasons which are used to analyze why Indonesian pop songs composers switch their language from Bahasa Indonesia into English, only six reasons that are found in this study. Talking about particular topic and expressing group identity are assumed represented by all data because this study discuss songs in which one data must be discussed in the context of the song as a whole part. On the other hand, quoting somebody else, being emphatic about something, clarifying the speech content for the interlocutor, and excluding other people when a comment is intended for only a limited audience, because it is not the study of code switching in verbal communication. From the findings, it is known that Indonesian pop songs composers do code switching because they mostly talk about particular topics, namely love, unity, and party, and they intent to show off their group identity as Indonesian pop songs composers who are able to code switch into English in their composed songs. It proves Syafiies suggestion (1980: 40) that the language in Indonesia is in a diglossic situation, in which Indonesian language is considered higher than local languages and English is considered higher than Indonesian language. Inserting a sentence fillers or sentence connectors is the least reason why the Indonesian pop song composer code switches her language from Bahasa Indonesia into English because sentence fillers or sentence connectors sometimes

are used in conversation which occur intentionally or unintentionally. Besides, usually, bilingual or multilingual uses them because he/she has been familiar with them. There is another reason of the use of code switching by some Indonesian pop song composers outside from the existing theory which is found in this study, namely marketing purpose. Probably, some of Indonesian pop song composers code switch their language from Bahasa Idonesia into English in their composed songs because they want to attract the prospective buyers, especially teenagers who cannot detach their life from music and/or song. Perhaps it is the underlying reason why the second single of Vagetoz, 'BETAPA AKU MENCINTAIMU [BAM]' which involves "code switching" has been more successful in the market compared to its first single 'SAAT KAU PERGI which was assumed to have no uniqueness compared to other bands that recently grow like mushroom It is hoped that by knowing the results of this study, they would know some types of Indonesian-English code switching which are used by Indonesian pop songs composers and under for what reason they code switch from Bahasa Indonesia into English. For Future Researchers, since this study does not involve all aspects of code switching, it is hoped that the future researchers can include all aspects of code switching, for instance the translation of Bahasa Indonesia into English found in the lyrics because a lot of composers using code switching as a repetition for clarification, such as in the case of songs written by Melly Goeslaw (Butterfly, My Heart). They are also expected to explore and investigate some other phenomena of Indonesian-English code switching in any speech community in order to reveal some other types and reasons of Indonesian-English code switching.

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