Code Switching Difference Usage in Mother Daughter Relationship Family: A Case Study

of a Family Language Use and Choice

Ardellia Rahmadixna
English Letters Department, Sanata Dharma University
[email protected]

I. Introduction

Language is the most basic tool as human to communicate within each other. It is a system

of conventional, spoken, manual, or written symbols by means of which human being as a member

of a social group and participants in its culture, express themselves. The functions of language

include communication, expression of identity, and emotional release. Language definition by the

expert, Saussure define language as an arbitrary system of signs constituted of the signifier and

signified. In other words, language is first a system based on no logic or reason. Secondly, the

system covers both objects and expressions used for objects. It is a universal feature of a

humankind. Through language, culture is transmitted in society and between generations.

According to Kottak (2015), language, which may be spoken (speech) or written (writing), is our

primary means of communication. Writing has existed for less than 6,000 years. Language

originated thousands of years before that, but no one can say exactly when. Like culture in general,

of which language is a part, language is transmitted through learning, as part of enculturation.

Through enculturation, language can transfer, changing, and evolved.

Adaptation came from a word adapt which to make fit (as for a new use) often by

modification according to Merriam Webster Dictionary. Language cannot be separated with shift

and change from time to time. Following the theories of the language, may bring the society as the
part which cannot be split one another. Furthermore, Wardaugh (2006) emphasizes the main point

about sociolinguistics as any discussion about the relationship between language and society and

how they use that language as well as how the language developed in the group of people. It is

attached with us since we were born. Indonesian society consists and has varieties of ethnics and

cultures which it is also influenced the language that are used to communicate by members of the

community. In relation to the varieties of language and the situation in Indonesia, the study of

language is related to language in bilingual or multilingual societies. People who are bilingual or

multilingual is definitely using code-switching to switch languages whenever the person is

speaking. Code-switching may be defined as “changing back and forth between two language

varieties, especially in a single conversation” (Crystal, P. 47). Sociolinguists use the term code to

denote any identifiable speech variety, including both a particular language and a particular variety

of a language. It has become an interesting phenomenon to study in particular of language usage

in society because it is part of development process and use multiple languages (bilingual) or a

mixture of (multi-lingual). In general, code switching and code-mixing occur in the community

for two reasons: first, the speakers can merely communicate with the target language, and second,

the diverse communication objectives (Gysels, 1992; cited in Duran, 1994).

Indonesia with a population of more than 300 million is the home of hundreds minority

languages (Hudak, 1998). The diversity of languages, cultures, religious, and traditional beliefs

has made Indonesia a sociolinguistically fascinating country. It is common to speak two or three

languages as one shuttles from one speech community to another even Indonesian people have

Bahasa Indonesia as the national language. Indonesian’s national language is a standardized dialect

of the Malay language which was officially defined with the declaration of Indonesia’s

independence in 1945, and reformed spelling was proposed in 1972 (Nababan, 1991).
Bilingualism, and even multilingualism, is quite common among Indonesians, as kids are required

to learn English and/or other foreign languages at school. Indonesia is the world's fourth most

populated country. Because of its vast population, the number of people who speak Bahasa

Indonesia fluently is rapidly nearing 100%, making Indonesian one of the world's most commonly

spoken languages. Aside from the official language, Indonesians are frequently fluent in another

regional language or local dialect (for example, Javanese). Minangkabau, Balinese, and

Sundanese, as well as others, are widely spoken at home and in the neighbourhood. Almost all

national media and other means of communication, as well as most formal education,

communication is carried out in Indonesian Bahasa. Furthermore, Bahasa Indonesia is a standard

version of Malay, an Austronesian language that has long been used as a lingua franca in the

Indonesian archipelago. Indonesian (in its most conventional form) may occasionally be mutually

intelligible with the official Malaysian language due to its origins. It does, however, differ from

Malaysian in several ways, such as pronunciation and lexicon. Other languages have affected

Bahasa Indonesia and various regional languages, as has people's mobility, which requires them

to understand one other's languages. It is not uncommon for people to borrow words from other

languages. Because of Indonesia's linguistic variety, Indonesians are urged to codeswitch

languages while communicating with others. Students may need to adjust to distinct communal

norms governing language usage in order to linguistically survive in a foreign or new environment.

Code switching often occurs within a single conversation. Korean speakers in America,

Indonesian speakers in Britain, Spanish speakers in Australia, even when speakers who are born

in the same country but they live in different region and uses regional dialect may switch back and

forth repeatedly during a single conversation, sometimes even changing languages in the middle

of a sentence. Sociolinguists are interested in trying to identify the factors that determine the choice
of language variety at a given point during an exchange. Scholars use different names for various

types of code-switching. “Intersentential switching occurs outside the sentence or the clause level

(i.e. at sentence or clause boundaries). Code-switching is distinct from other language contact

phenomena, such as borrowing, pidgins, and creoles, loan translation (calques), and language

transfer (language interference). “Speakers form and establish a pidgin language when two or more

speakers who do not speak a common language form an intermediate, third language” (Romaine,

P.1). On the other hand, speakers practice code-switching when they are each fluent in both

languages.

II. Selected Theories

a. Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics is the study of investigating the relationships between language and

society with the goal being a better understanding of the structure of language and how languages

function in communication (Wardhaugh, 2006 p. 13). It is the study of language relation to society,

in other words Sociolinguistics study about language and society in order to find out what kind of

language is (Hudson, 1996 p. 4)

b. Code-switching

Code-switching is a part of sociolinguistics which concern the switching code from one

language to another in an occasion. According to Duran (1994, p. 3) states that code-switching is

related to bilingual life and may appear more or less concurrently in the life of the developing

bilinguals when they are conscious of such behaviour and then choose more or less purposefully

to use or not to use it. Duran (1994) purposed code-switching is the use of multiple languages in

the words, phrases, sentences even in a paragraph. It is perhaps strongly related to bilingual life
and may appear more or less concurrently in the life of the developing language bilinguals

especially when they are conscious of such behaviour and choose more or less purposefully to use

or not to use it. It is the combination of two or more languages and combined words, phrases, and

sentences. The structure in code-switching does not violate the rules of drafting sentences for

second or more languages. According to Hymes (1976), code-switching is a change of use of two

or more languages, some variations of one language or even some kinds of the style.

In multicultural society, the possibility and prove that the people using code switching in

Indonesia is not questionable. Indonesia a multicultural country which has over 300 different

native languages are spoken according to Asian Languages and Literature. Bahasa Indonesia is

spoken as a mother tongue and used as a national language. While others, using their native

language as their second language. Commonly, Bahasa Indonesia is used for business and

administrative purposes as well as education institutions and mass media throughout the country

in order to facilitate communication among the Indonesian people. In daily practice, Indonesian

people often using their second language as their everyday language. Since Indonesia has hundreds

of native languages, it is very common as daily use when people talking and use code-switching

unconsciously. Language used in family usually different with the one speaker using during

school, work, or formal place. For example, the student who came from Javanese background will

speak Javanese with her family, but she will change her language into Indonesian at school or in

formal occasion. Besides using Bahasa Indonesia as our first language, Indonesian people

commonly change into another language such as their native language which makes everyone who

come from many tribes with different language understand each other easier.

The method used for this paper is qualitative method. According to Kirk and Miller (1986,

p. 9), qualitative research is a distinct tradition in social science that is based on observations of
persons in their own region and communication with these individuals in their own language and

idiom. The techniques used for the qualitive research are conducted through interviews and

observation towards the writer’s aunt and her daughter. The paper aims to focused on seeing the

comparison between the writer’s aunt towards her daughter. The family which are related by the

writer’s mother line. The aunt was born and raised in Java and married living with her husband in

Batam, Kepulauan Riau. Meanwhile, the aunt has a daughter which was born and raised when she

was already living in Batam. The family usually change their code-switching using Javanese,

Malay, Bahasa Indonesia, and English as their daily language conversation. Holmes (2017, p. 27)

explained that code-switching relates and sometimes indexes social group membership in bilingual

and multilingual communities.

1b. Types of Code-switching

Code-switching is divided into three types which are tag-switching, intersentential

switching, and intrasentential switching. Tag-switching usually deal with the fillers, interjections,

idiomatic expression. Intersentential switching tends to occur at the phrase level, between

sentences, meanwhile intrasentential switching often occurs within a sentence (Poplack, 2001).

The focus of the paper here will be discussed about intersential switching which usually switches

between clauses occur or utterance boundaries in spoken discourse. code-switching refers to a type

of codeswitching: the alternation in a single discourse between two languages, where the switching

occurs after a sentence in the first language has been completed and the next sentence starts with

a new language (e.g. Appel & Muysken 1987:118). The speaker is usually unaware of the shift.

For example: You are sleepy coğu zaman, because you spend a lot of saat in your bed. The research

will show the examples of how code-switching in intersential-switching type applied in Malay and

Javanese language between a family.

 Since Indonesian people most likely are bilingual speakers because they have their native

and second language since they were born, so it explained that multicultural and bilingual

communities already attached with Indonesian people since they were born. Sociolinguistics often

described there are some relationships between code-switching behaviours, class, ethnicity, and

other social positions. In addition, researchers in the fields of interactional linguistics and

conversation analysis have looked into code-switching as a method of communication. A way of

organizing conversation in a group. People often switch code within a domain or social interaction

which suited what language that are suitable to build a conversation. A speaker may similarly

switch to another language unconsciously as a signal of group membership and shared ethnicity

with an addressee. A code-switching also often very short and they are made primarily for social

reasons, generally to signal the speaker’s ethnic identity and solidarity with the addressee

(Romaine, p. 43). A switch might also indicate a shift in other dimensions, such as people’s status

relationships towards them or the formality of their interaction. This paper aims to show how code-

switching differences usage between Javanese and Malay family in daily practice.

2b. Reasons of Code-switching

According to Riegelhaupt, there are two reasons of code switching occur; first, code

switching to increase comprehension. The use of bilingual or multilingual in family, school, social

interaction is emphasized generally followed by situational rule “Speaking the language your

listener knows best”. The second reason is code switching to mark a change in a context. It often

marks a change in context, formality, or mood. In monolingual situations, it involves a change in

register, dialect or modality rather than a change in language. Monolingual speakers also utilize

switches in body posture, movements, and eye gaze to make a transition from one context to

another. According to Holmes, there are three functions of code-switching.

 a. Participant’s solidarity status

Holmes mentions participant, solidarity and status often influence the use of code-

switching in an interaction. People switch code in order to achieve their purpose. Code switching

may be related to a particular participant or addressee. People are easy to switch code when there

is some obvious change in a situation, such as the new arrival of a new person. The example is

languages switching in an American-Indonesia mixed-blood family. The family use English as

daily communication at home. The switch reflects a change in the social situation and takes

positive account of the presence of a new participant. Also, code switching can be used as a signal

of group membership and shared ethnicity with an addressee. People are easy to switch to another

language to show their solidarity; even they are not proficient in the second

c. Bilingualism

Bilingualism or multilingualism is a commonly used by people especially nowadays. It is

a situation when two or more language used alternately by the same speaker, those language

contact each other. According to Chaer and Agustina (2004, p. 73) bilingualism means the use of

two languages by a speaker in his society in turns. It occurs when someone master their mother

tongue or native language and another language that become a second language of the speaker.

People usually code-switching or bilingualism in language they master and use it in daily

conversation. For example, Indonesian people when they speak with their family, they may switch

their native and second language automatically. Usually bilingual people use more than one

language that occurs in situation of social context, in a situation where they learn a second language

in their communities. Therefore, bilingualism in other words is the habit of using two languages

during interaction with other people. According to Bloomfield, the development of bilingualism

is also related with the understanding of the language. Bilingualism occurs because there is a
system of codes that have special characteristics. Knowing two languages means being able to use

the two systems code in good.

III. Data Presentation

The goal of this study is to see how the writer’s aunt which was born and raised in Java use

code-switching compared to her daughter which was born and raised in Batam, different ethnicities

as a Javanese and Malay demonstrate their multilingual abilities in conversations using

codeswitching between English, Bahasa Indonesia, and their regional languages, both in

monolingual and multilingual settings. The reason to choose the bond between a mother and

daughter is because the writer wants to see the differences between how the mother and daughter

applying the code-switching towards each other. The mother was moved from Yogyakarta to

Batam is she still using Javanese and applying the code-switching mixed with Malay or not

compared with the daughter who was born and fully raised in Batam. Are they using the same

code-switching in daily conversation even though possessing different regional languages; they

understand one common language which is Bahasa Indonesia. The data of this study is obtained

from the writer’s parents which comprises a mother and daughter. The data is presented through

tables in order to simplify the description of the language use and choice. The age sampling ranges

over 15 to 38 years old. The data encompasses the scope of ethnicity, occupation, origin, and the

intersential code-switching they use.

Table 1. The data

Name Age Ethnicity Occupation Origin Code Switching
Chitra Ayu 38 Javanese Businesswoman Yogyakarta Javanese,
Indonesian,
English
 Nadhifa Putri 15 Malay- Student Batam Malay,
Javanese Indonesian,
English

Table 2. The code-switching

Code-switching Expression between Javanese and Malay Language
Chitra - Yogyakarta (Javanese) Nadhifa - Batam (Malay)
“So, kalau itu wes beres kita pergi ke mall” “Saya start kelas pukul tujuh”
“If it’s finished let’s go to the mall” “My class started at seven”
“I told you many times, harusnya kamu “I panggil you”
understand” “I call you”
“I told you many times, you should
understand”
“So, kalau iku wes beres, we will move to “Eh, do you guys like run in your tudung? Like
another lesson” exercise?”
“So, if it is finished, we will move to another “Do you guys like run in your hijab? Like
lesson” exercise?”

“Be careful, ya nak” “Zaman sekolah sekarang nak macam

“Be careful please” pressurenya”
“School nowadays have lots of pressure”

IV. Data Analysis and Discussion

The results of observation from the study are to find the code-switching which are used

between mother and child in everyday usage. They often mixed their language even though the

mother mixed in with Javanese-English and the child Malay-English. They both born, raised, and

grew up in different cities. Chitra was married with Kepulauan Riau people which using Malay

language in everyday conversation, and when she moved from Yogyakarta, she adapted the

language but not that fluent unlike her child, Dhifa, which was born, raised, and grew up since

baby in Batam, Kepulauan Riau. She is using Malay-English code-switching in everyday usage.

The writer would like to point out out that code switching refers to the usage of two or more

languages in the same document or discussion, or a circumstance in which a speaker (or a writer)
alternates between them. As the conversation progresses, a variety of various lingua franca variants

is used.

The sample of the table was collected from Chitra which is a 38-year-old businesswoman

and full-time mother of Nadhifa. The examples of code-switching from the table when the

interview was conducted through phone, she reminiscing her teenager years back then when she

lived in Yogyakarta. She and her friends often use “Bahasa gaul” which it was popular in the age

of college years, student speaking Javanese mix English in their daily conversation. Until now, the

code-switching towards Javanese English still are often used by teenager when they aim to speak

but just to make it trendier with changing language, they regularly do the code-switching without

thinking. The word such as which is according to Chitra back then in her college years was already

popular to use and explain things easier. The data examples above that were taken was her

conversation at home with Dhifa. The other sample was taken from Dhifa which is Chitra’s only

daughter. She is a fifteen-year old teenager who uses code-switching automatically in Malay-

English as her everyday conversation. Different from her mother who never lived in Java for her

entire life, Malay language is considered as a native for her. The data examples above that were

taken was her conversation with her friends and she told the author that it was just a daily

conversation she has whenever she talks with her friends, and her friends too are automatically

changing code-switching.

The main focused her to see how even a mother and child between language usage and

code-switching are different. The cultural background, adaptation, language acquisition ais

required and different between people who are just moved from one city to another city and people

who were raised and born since baby in the city. Code switching, the alternating use of two or

more languages within conversations, has become a common phenomenon in the bilingual and
multilingual society. English Indonesian code-witching case usually used in the office and school.

Because of that, English is one of the languages that people should master. Nowadays, not only

students in the school or college learn English, but also students in school and have categorized as

an obligatory subject. Some of them give English lesson intensively and require the students to use

bilingual in daily communication. It is very useful for students after graduating because of English

nowdays is widely used in job and other important positions.

The data from Table 2. code-switching shows us that their daily conversation mainly uses

code-switching of three languages. The mother uses Javanese, Bahasa Indonesian, and English in

whenever she speaks with her daughter. In example “So, kalau iku wes beres, we will move to

another lesson” she uses smooth Javanese to speak with her daughter since all the example of the

mother was taken during a home daily conversation with her daughter, Chitra uses smooth

Javanese degree when she speaks with her daughter. Compared to the daughter, she uses Malay

code-switching with English during her conversation with her friends “Zaman sekolah sekarang

nak macam pressurenya”

V. Conclusion

From the results and discussion above, it can be concluded that different code-switching

can occurs in the relationship between mother and daughter because their ethnic background and

multicultural diversity, both of the source person feels that their conversation did not make any

hindrance towards each other, code-switching in three languages made them easier to express what

they tend to say without getting misunderstanding in conversation. It has been proven that culture,

and people around in growing up made huge impact in talking or utterances a word even a sentence.
How social interaction, family, neighbourhood, friends, school, and different formal informal

activities impacted people speaks and socialize. From this study, it suggests that researcher should

understand the meaning of the first language even if they want to do code-switching, and this is

expected to lead to more research that will be able to reference material and examine the transfer

of language that does not follow the rules of the language, such as its structure, but is frequently

done. in the neighbourhood

VI. Recommendation

1. The sample and the data can be related to broader scopes such as religions of the community

and the significance of gender roles in the future research and more relationship towards father,

brother in the family.

2. A comparison and contrast of this study also can be in other relation not only mother daughter

relationship but also from long family tree between the grandchildren and etc.

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