International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World

(IJLLALW)
Volume  15  (2),  June  2017;  107-­‐113                                                                                                                                                    Heridayani.,  &  Julhelmi  Erlanda    
EISSN:  2289-­‐2737  &  ISSN:  2289-­‐3245                                                                                                                                                                                                            www.ijllalw.org                                          
THE ACCEPTANCE OF STANDARDIZING LANGUAGE IN
SOCIETY

Heridayani
English Applied Linguistics Study Program Postgraduate School, State University of Medan,
Medan, Indonesia
E-mail: [email protected]

Julhelmi Erlanda
English Applied Linguistics Study Program Postgraduate School, State University of Medan,
Medan, Indonesia
E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
This research dealt with the acceptance of standardizing Indonesian language in society. The
objective of this study was to describe the application of the standardizing of Indonesian
language in society. This research applied qualitative research design. It was conducted in Setia
Budi Makmur I Residence. There were 20 participants in this study. The instrument used by the
researcher in this research was a test, while a recorder also was used to record the participants’
answer. The data were collected through observing, interviewing and testing the participants.
The findings of this study have revealed that: the participants in society were more familiar to
non-standardizing language (50.5%).
.

KEYWORDS: Language Planning, Language Standardization, Society

INTRODUCTION
Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation in the world, with an estimated population of nearly
250 million. It consists of over 13,000 islands, stretching along the equator between Southeast
Asia and Australia. There are a significant number of distinct ethnic groups, speaking an
estimated 600 languages. The size and diversity of Indonesia’s population has presented
challenges for uniting the nation and developing a national language. The selection of the
language variety, which could provide the basis for the standard, is an intentional act that also
involves political, demographic and economic factors. Therefore, the process of standardization,
from a socio-political standpoint, according to Moreno Cabrera (2008: 50), involves the choice of
the language varieties associated with high-prestige centres of power.

Moreover, only the most powerful social groups will be capable of imposing language
codifications, promoting and ensuring the use and dissemination of the standard. Thus,
standardization, as well as being a complex process in linguistic terms, is an ideology (Milroy
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 International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World
(IJLLALW)
Volume  15  (2),  June  2017;  107-­‐113                                                                                                                                                    Heridayani.,  &  Julhelmi  Erlanda    
EISSN:  2289-­‐2737  &  ISSN:  2289-­‐3245                                                                                                                                                                                                            www.ijllalw.org                                          
1991), the goal of which is to ensure that a given linguistic variety is codified via the selection of
a series of grammatical, orthographic, lexical and phonetic rules in order to create a common
language, intended to become the standard, and to expand its sphere of use.

But, most Indoensian people do not apply the standardization of language in formal or non formal
situation, they mostlikely use non standardizing language. For example, local society in Setia
Budi Makmur I Residence, most of them still use their own language than the standardizing
language. This study was to answer how was the application of standardizing Indonesian
language in society. This research was limited on standardizing language in society in Setia Budi
Makmur I Residence. The specific investigation and discussion of this study were accordingly in
line with the research problems.

However, as far as the researcher knows, the acceptance of standardizing language in society has
not been studied earlier. This phenomenon was interesting to be explored more deeply. The
objective of this study was to describe the application of the standardizing of Indonesian
language in Setia Budi Makmur I Residence.

RIVIEW OF LITERATURE
Language Planning
Kaplan (2013) state that language planning is an activity, most visibly undertaken by government
(simply because it potentially involves such massive changes in a society), intended to promote
systematic linguistic change in some community of speakers.

Language Standardization
Wolf (2000:332) stated language standardization is means in language development, selection
and promotion of variants with a language. It is one of the major concern of language planning. it
usually involves development of language related activities like grammars, spelling books, and
dictionaries, and literature. It is also changing some spoken from of a particular language to be
written down in an offial manner with the intention of making this particular veriety the preferred
variety.Herbert (1995: 2) stated “standardization concerns the establishment and promulgation of
language norms. the norms typically concern issues of ‘correctness’ in matters of orthography,
word voices, and usage”. Language standardisation refers to the development of a given dialect
or group of dialects as a norm for the language in question” Bamgbose (1991:109)
“Standardization as an activity goes beyond mere selection or allocation of function to a variety
or varieties, but it has to involve the actual fixing of the norm by elaborating and by implication
prescribing rules of ‘correct’ usage”. Based on those it can be concluded that language
standardization is one of the major concerns of language planning thatconcerns establishment and
promulgation of language norms.In Addition, process by which conventional forms of a language
are established and maintained.

Process of Standardization
According to Haugen (1996), the process of standardization of Indonesian language, they are:
Selecting

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 International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World
(IJLLALW)
Volume  15  (2),  June  2017;  107-­‐113                                                                                                                                                    Heridayani.,  &  Julhelmi  Erlanda    
EISSN:  2289-­‐2737  &  ISSN:  2289-­‐3245                                                                                                                                                                                                            www.ijllalw.org                                          
Selecting means the language that will be standardizing is chosen from certain language or
dialect. It also can be from a language that has already been used in the past and has been popular
in trading and so on. Example, Indonesian language that is adopted from Malay language and
Malay dialect.

Codification
The process of codification relates to make a role for a language that will be standardizing. It
might be the pronunciation or utterance and grammar as well. The purpose is in order to the user
has guidance in using that language appropriately. It is not only for the spoken language that is
used in daily activity but also in literary and journalistic terms. In the process of standardizing of
Bahasa Indonesia, codification is marked by appearing Ejaan yang Disempurnakan (EYD). It is
one of the guidance in using Bahasa Indonesia as nation language of Indonesia. It contains many
things about Bahasa Indonesia. For example; the use of appropriate grammatical
function.Another, the appearance of KamusBesarBahasa Indonesia of famous with KBBI is being
one process of codification in Bahasa Indonesia. Since, KBBI contains groping of vocabulary
that is usually used by Indonesians. Through KBBI, we may know any word about Bahasa
Indonesia.

Further, many studies that gain aspect of language from Bahasa Indonesia in order to make a
perfect language in usage. Even this is for academic importance.

Elaboration
In this process we have to know the appearance of new terms of language. In other hand, the
original language is explore more; can be enrich by new words or terms. They may be taken from
local language or foreign language. Moreover, in this process we will take a term called
“borrowing”. George Yule (1987) stated that borrowing is take new word for certain language
from another language.

Further elaboration of Bahasa Indonesia is marked by appearing of literary works, such as in

writing a letter, newspaper, religious books, and canonical literature. For this matter, Bahasa
Indonesia appears as the creative and rich language. Since, appear many role and new terms in
Bahasa Indonesia.

Acceptance
In the end of the standardization of a language there are process called acceptance.It is after all
the process has been passed, the new language must be approved by the society as their nation
language. If it has been in this stage, standard language has power to unite a nation, it can be a
symbol of independency, and it must be an identity of a nation that differ a country to another. In
short, Haugen (1966)also stated that acceptance is the standard language that can be approve by
the community at large of the code as the standard form.

Based on Indonesia Language history in the first page, Bahasa Indonesia has started to be used by
Indonesians since pra- independency. Further, it has become familiar since the Youth Oath day in

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 International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World
(IJLLALW)
Volume  15  (2),  June  2017;  107-­‐113                                                                                                                                                    Heridayani.,  &  Julhelmi  Erlanda    
EISSN:  2289-­‐2737  &  ISSN:  2289-­‐3245                                                                                                                                                                                                            www.ijllalw.org                                          
28 October 1928. It is in line with the three statement of the Youth oath, which says Bahasa
Indonesia is as the national language of Indonesia.

Society
According to Talcott Parsons “society is a total complex of human relationships in so far as they
grow out of the action in terms of means-end relationship intrinsic or symbolic”. Morris Ginsberg
defines “society as a collection of individuals united by certain relations or mode of behavior
which mark them off from others who do not enter into these relations or who differ from them in
behavior.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
How was the application of standardizing Indonesian language in society?

METHODOLOGY
This study was analyzed by using qualitative design which understanding the phenomenon based
on the collection data and analysis of non-numerical data. According to Gay and Eurasian (2000),
Qualitative approach is based on the collection data and analysis of non-numerical data such as
observations, interviews, and other more discursive sources of information. Furthermore, Lexy J
Moleong stated (2009) “Qualitative research is the research that’s means to understand the
phenomenon about what is the subject research undergone by using natural method”.Based on the
objective of research, this research was conducted by using descriptive qualitative to explore and
clarify one phenomena or social reality by describing some variables related to the problem
identified.

According to Gay and Peter (2000) “Descriptive research is a descriptive study determines and
describes the way thing are”. Bogdan and Biklen (1982) stated “qualitative research is
descriptive, the data collected are in the form of words. The written results contain quotations
from data to illustrate and substantiate the presentation. The data include the interview
transcripts, field notes, personal, documents, and official records”.

The researcher conducted purposive sampling as the sampling to determine the subjects.
According to Riduan (2005) “purposive sampling is one of technical that can be used by
researcher if researcher have some considerations take the certainly sampling to get the aim”. So,
the researcher decide 20 persons of all of society in Setia Budi Makmur I Residence which have
the different background of education as the subject and ask them to determine which one of
standard and non standard words based on KBBI.

The technique of collecting data used in this research are:

Observation
According to Anne (2010) “observation is used to get information about phenomenon that
occurs”. In this study, the researcher used direct observation which is assessment team collects

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 International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World
(IJLLALW)
Volume  15  (2),  June  2017;  107-­‐113                                                                                                                                                    Heridayani.,  &  Julhelmi  Erlanda    
EISSN:  2289-­‐2737  &  ISSN:  2289-­‐3245                                                                                                                                                                                                            www.ijllalw.org                                          
data on naturally occuring behavior within their usual context. This is achieved by observing
conditions and specific features of an affected site from arrange of viewpoints and locations to
provide an overall view of the affected area.

Interview
According to Fontana (2005) “interviews are a widely used tool to acces people’s experiences
and their inner perceptions, attitudes, and feeling of reality”. In collecting the data, the researcher
applied an unstructured interview because there is no a specific set of predetetermined questions,
unstructured interviews flow like an everyday conversation and tend to be more informal and
open-ended, so the interviewee will answer the question effortlessly and accurately without
feeling intimidating.

Test
Brown (2004) defines “test as a method of measuring a person’s ability; knowledge or
performance in a given domain”. In this study the researcher decided 20 words which consist of
standard and non standard based on KBBI and asked 20 persons as subject to determine which
one of standard or non standard words.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The data of standardizing language was taken from Kamus Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian
Dictionary) that released by Pusat Bahasa Departemen Pendidikan Nasional (Language Center
of Ministry of National Education) in Jakarta on 2008. This dictionary contains around 91000
word of standardizing language. The table below shown the list of standardizing and non
standardizing language as instrument for the correspondence in determining standardizing and
non standardizing language.

Table 1: List of Standardizing and Non-Standardizing Language

No Standardize Language Non- StandardizeLanguage

1. Atlet Atlit
2. Atmosfer Atmosfir
3. Diferensial Differensial
4. Ekspor Export
5. Ekuivalen Ekwivalen
6 Ekstrem Ekstrim
7. Embus Hembus
8. Esai Esay
9. Frekuensi Frekwensi
10. Insaf Insyaf
11. Impor Import
12. Standardisasi Standarisasi
13. Jendral Jenderal
14. Khotbah Khutbah
15. Konkret Konkrit
16. Kualitas Kwalitas
17. Kuitansi Kwitansi
18. Menerjemahkan Menterjemahkan
19. Nasihat Nasehat
20. Risiko Resiko
*For further explanation about standardizing language can be seen in appendix.

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 International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World
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EISSN:  2289-­‐2737  &  ISSN:  2289-­‐3245                                                                                                                                                                                                            www.ijllalw.org                                          
The researcher took 20 participants to determine which one was standardizing and non
standardizing language in society around Setia Budi Makmur I Residence, Medan. All of the
participants were from different background, such as university students, teacher, house wives,
businessman and government employee. The table below had shown the participants’ answer in
determining standardizing and non- standardizing language

Table 2: Percenatage of Standardizing and Non-Standardizing Language

Standardizing Language Non – Standardizing language

No The number of The number of
Item word % Item word %
people people
1. Atlet 15 3.75 Atlit 5 1.25
2. Atmosfer 11 2.75 Atmosfir 9 2.25
3. Diferensial 11 2.75 Differensial 9 2.25
4. Ekspor 11 2.75 Export 9 2.25
5. Ekuivalen 12 3 Ekwivalen 8 2
6 Ekstrem 5 1.25 Ekstrim 15 3.75
7. Embus 7 1.75 Hembus 13 3.25
8. Esai 8 2 Esay 12 3
9. Frekuensi 15 3.75 Frekwensi 5 1.25
10. Insaf 10 2.5 Insyaf 10 2.5
11. Impor 9 2.25 Import 11 2.75
12. Standardisasi 9 2.25 Standarisasi 11 2.75
13. Jendral 11 2.75 Jenderal 9 2.25
14. Khotbah 7 1.75 Khutbah 13 3.25
15. Konkret 10 2.5 Konkrit 10 2.5
16. Kualitas 12 3 Kwalitas 8 2
17. Kuitansi 10 2.5 Kwitansi 10 2.5
18. Menerjemahkan 10 2.5 Menterjemahkan 10 2.5
19. Nasihat 9 2.25 Nasehat 11 2.75
20. Risiko 6 1.5 Resiko 14 3.5
Total 198 49.5 202 50.5

From the table above, it could be seen that the standardizing language of atlet (athlete) and
frekuensi (frequency) were more popular or dominant in which around 15 people got correct
answers (3.75 %), meanwhile non standardizing language of ekstrim (extreme) was familiar for
them (3.75%). There were 15 people got the incorrect answers (3.75%), they just thought ekstrim
(extreme) as the standardizing language. So it could be seen that society in Setia Budi Makmur 1
Residence were more familiar with non standardizing language (50.5%) based on the percentage
above, meanwhile there were around 49.5 % people familiar with the standardizing language.

CONCLUSION
After analyzing all the data based on the theory used, the study now can draw the following
conclusions.
1. The standardizing language that most familiar used by the society are atlet and frekuensi
around 3.75%.
2. The standardizing language that most unfamiliar used by the society is ekstrem around
1.25%.
3. The non standardizing language that most familiar used by the society is ekstrim around
3.75%.

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 International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World
(IJLLALW)
Volume  15  (2),  June  2017;  107-­‐113                                                                                                                                                    Heridayani.,  &  Julhelmi  Erlanda    
EISSN:  2289-­‐2737  &  ISSN:  2289-­‐3245                                                                                                                                                                                                            www.ijllalw.org                                          
4. The non-standardizing language that most unfamiliar used by the society are atlit and
frekwensi around 1.25 %.

So it could be seen that society in Setia Budi Makmur 1 Residence more familiar with non
standardizing language based on the percentage around 50.5 % meanwhile there were around
49.5% people familiar about the standardizing language. The findings of this research were
expected to be useful as a means deploying and supporting the theories presented in the study of
linguistics, especially in the field of language planning and language standardization. Finally, this
study suggests that the society in Setia Budi Makmur 1 Residence Medan should more recognize
the standardizing language than non standardizing.

Limitation of the Study

This study focused on the on standardizing language in society in Setia Budi Makmur I
Residence. The researcher tried to find out standardizing language in society in Setia Budi
Makmur I Residence based on the theory proposed by Wolf (2000).

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Burns, A. (2010). Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching. (New York: Routledge)
Fontana, A., & Frey,J.H. (2005). The Interview; Handbook of Qualitative Research.
Haugen, (1996). Taken from Peter Samuel. 2007. Sociolinguistics: resource book for student.
(London and Newyork: Routledg)
Herbert, R. (1995). Languange Policy, Languange Planning and standardisation. Handbook of
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Kaplan, R. B. (2013) Language planning: Applied Research on English Language: University of
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Lexy J. M. (2010). MetodologiPenelitiankualitatif, revised. (Bandung: PT RemajaRosdakarya,
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Riduan. (2005). Belajar Mudah Penelitian untuk Guru-Karyawan dan Peneliti
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Wolff E. (2000). Language and Society: In Nurse, D. and Bernd H.
Yule, G. (1985). The study of language and introduction. (United kingdom: Cambridge
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