Loanwords: Imperialism or modernization?<\/p>\n
By Setiono<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): In commemorating this year's Language and
\nLiterature month which falls in October, Minister of Education
\nand Culture Juwono Sudarsono stated that there was an excessive
\nuse of foreign language by attendants of the ongoing general
\nsession of the People's Consultative Assembly.<\/p>\n
He then strongly urged the National Center for Language
\nDevelopment (Pusat Pembinaan Bahasa Indonesia) to immediately
\nfind the Indonesian equivalent for the foreign words used.<\/p>\n
During the New Order era, the invasion of the English language
\nwas perceived by many as a new form of colonialism. They argued
\nthat borrowing from Western languages might cause linguistic
\nsegregation between the elite and the common people.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, they contended that new lexical terms of bahasa
\nIndonesia should be derived from Sanskrit and Arabic, as the
\nMalay language has done throughout its long history of borrowing.
\nSuch borrowing would maintain Indonesian traditions and culture,
\nand promote feelings of nationalism among Indonesian people.<\/p>\n
Such a reflection of the spirit of nationalism has urged
\ncentral authorities to prohibit the use of all English words
\nemployed mainly on billboards, in shopping center names,
\nbuildings, and companies.<\/p>\n
Such attitudes toward Western languages, especially English,
\nencouraged Indonesian language specialists to use Sanskrit, which
\nis used primarily in Indonesian national and political life.<\/p>\n
It is important to note that Indonesia's political and
\nmilitary leaders deem the era of Buddhist and Hindu influence as
\nnot only a representation of Indonesian culture but also the mark
\nof the zenith of Indonesian political power in Southeast Asia.
\nTherefore, words stemming from Sanskrit command considerable
\nrespect as legacies of the powerful kingdoms and empires of
\nIndonesia's past.<\/p>\n
In addition, many newly-coined terms from Sanskrit have been
\nincreasingly used, particularly in the political domain as the
\nsymbol of the nation state, and are intended to rubber-stamp the
\nlegitimacy of the leaders' power.<\/p>\n
The use of Sanskrit terms dealing with the Indonesian
\npolitical sphere include Saptamarga (the seven pledges of the
\nIndonesian army), Pancasila (the five principles of Indonesia's
\nideology), dwiwarna (the two colors of the Indonesian flag), Bina
\nGraha (the office housing the meetings of the president and his
\nministers) and Graha Purna Yuddha (the building of the veterans),
\nto mention a few.<\/p>\n
The influx of foreign languages, particularly English
\nloanwords or borrowing, has so far increased significantly and
\nuncontrollably in various domains such as in politics, economics,
\ncommerce, the mass media, government administrations and higher
\neducation.<\/p>\n
The crucial question here is, does such flourishing borrowing
\nindicate that we have been linguistically colonized? Is it always
\npossible to substitute all the established foreign words into
\nbahasa Indonesia? If it is possible, is it preferable? And does
\nthe use of English by Indonesians portray a lack of nationalism?<\/p>\n
Linguistically, we should not be embarrassed to admit that
\nbahasa Indonesia is undergoing a \"lexical crisis\", and it sounds
\nthat the importation of words from foreign languages is badly
\nneeded so as to suffice the semantic field of bahasa Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Joan Rubin, in 1977, argued that there are three motivating
\nfactors as to why language borrowing occurs. There are linguistic
\nmotivations, which include changes in a language for the purpose
\nof improving communicative efficiency, semi linguistic
\nmotivations, which include changes in a language for improving
\ncommunication for social, political, or economic purposes and
\nextra linguistic motivations, which include furthering social
\npolitical causes by focusing on language problems.<\/p>\n
In addition, the frequent occurrence of English borrowings in
\nbahasa Indonesia is inevitable as they cannot be appropriately
\nsubstituted by ordinary words in bahasa Indonesia. Therefore,
\nsuch political terms as provokasi (provocation), politisi
\n(politician), delegasi (delegation), and revolusi (revolution)
\nare necessarily borrowed because no immediate equivalence in
\nbahasa Indonesia can be found to replace them.<\/p>\n
Another factor motivating Indonesian society to adopt English
\nis concerned with \"euphemistic\" purposes. There is a tendency
\namong Indonesians to substitute existing bahasa Indonesia words
\nwith English since the latter has finer connotations than the
\nformer. Accordingly, many adopted English words such as asisten
\n(assistant), komisi (commission), and \"ex-\" as in ex-presiden
\n(ex-president) are frequently employed instead of the respective
\nIndonesian words pembantu, upah, and bekas, which are considered
\ncoarse in the community.<\/p>\n
Language is a social phenomenon and therefore the process of
\nlanguage borrowing is not solely determined by linguistic
\nconditions alone, but is also influenced by the attitude of
\nspeakers of a given language community. If speakers of the
\nrecipient language show a positive attitude towards the donor
\nlanguage and its community, borrowing is more likely to occur.<\/p>\n
It is thus ironic to forcibly substitute the established
\nEnglish words into Bahasa Indonesia because the Indonesian
\ncommunity has a positive attitude toward English. This attitude
\nis obviously reflected in the third principle of word-coining
\npolicy, which stipulates that in case of no appropriate terms for
\nthe borrowed words in bahasa Indonesia or its language family, an
\nindigenous or local language, the terms can be taken from a
\nforeign language.<\/p>\n
From a sociolinguistic perspective, many politicians and
\neducated people are motivated to use English words to accentuate
\ntheir roles as modern political leaders and to mark the group in
\ntheir speech, particularly when talking with other educated
\ninterlocutors. In other words, they prefer to use English as a
\nmeans to display their social status as a member of the modern
\neducated elite.<\/p>\n
The prevalent use of English can interestingly be seen in the
\nIndonesian mass media. Such a phenomenon is driven by the nature
\nof the work of journalists and those who present news, commentary
\nand advertisements to the public, which requires the immediate
\nunderstandings and responses from their interlocutors or readers.<\/p>\n
Thus, spontaneous utterances containing clusters of words
\nrepresenting thoughts, ideas, and references from various sources
\nand spheres of life are common in journalistic language.<\/p>\n
Accordingly, they do not always have the leisure to express
\ntheir thoughts in well-chosen and accurate words in bahasa
\nIndonesia. The tendency here is to borrow or adopt words or terms
\nthat do not exist in a particular language and even to replace
\nexisting words that are no longer felt to be accurate.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, the process of foreign language borrowing in
\nBahasa Indonesia, either spoken or written, should be viewed as
\nan interesting and natural language phenomenon and as a means to
\ndevelop and eventually to enrich the lexicon of bahasa Indonesia.
\nOn the other hand, cultivating chauvinistic and sentimental
\nattitudes against foreign languages is inconceivable as we enter
\nthe next millennium, which is characterized by advanced science
\nand technology.<\/p>\n
The writer is a lecturer at the English Department of the
\nFaculty of Education, Atma Jaya Catholic University, Jakarta.<\/p>",
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