Use of English in Nightclub Banners in Yogyakarta

27 Long. Off only at Boshe VVIP Club All Day All Night Long except Special Event, and example [7], Get Discount Up to 60 For All Beverage All Nite Long. Those phrases implied that nightclub management ordered customers to buy their beverages because there were discounts offered and the highest discounts were 50 and 60. Yet, the order also meant as suggestion to come to the club because they would get discounts for all beverages. Perhaps, in other clubs they could drink the same beverages with higher price. Of course, customers should have paid attention to the information about the discounts, beverages, and times when the discounts were offered. Further, Geis 1997: 43 said that the language of advertising used generic claims to strengthen the information. This also happened in the language of nightclub banners. Most of the banners used generic claims to give the real evidences to customers about the events and the things dealing with them. For example, banner designer wrote example [4], Host from all campus. This implied that there would be hosts coming from all campuses in Yogyakarta in the event. Example [13], These things bellow are not allowed: Weapon, Pants, Sandals, Camera, Drink and Food from Outside, Jacket also showed the generic claim about the rules entering the club. Another example was example [23], Model from Netherland. This was also such generic claim in order to give the real evidence that there would be a fashion show performed by the models coming from the Netherlands. Of course, those claims needed to be proved by the customers themselves. 28 Such claims became a type of offer for customers. Geis 1997: 44 said that an offer needed the real evidence and did not only give information. The event name such as example [6], Addopted Sound of Zeus did not only inform the event name, DJs, dancers, or rules but also offer customers to join the event that performed certain music as packaged in the title Addopted Sound of Zeus with the whole performers. Example [14], Black Out Valentine also illustrated the event that was a Valentine party in black nuance and offered customers to join this new kind of Valentine party that was usually dominated by pink color. Finally, the language in nightclub banners referred to the tendency that human beings “read into what is said as much as is consistent with the literal meaning of what is said and the context which it is said” Geis, 1997: 43. The example was example [9], Locally Session. Locally Session implied that this was related to the Indonesian word, Lokalisasi. This was strengthened by Respondent 1. “Once, we published an event named Locally Session. Actually, this is the English slang from Lokalisasi in Indonesian. Locally means lokal, and session is sesi. This is an event for local indie bands in Yogyakarta.” Respondent 1, Interview The statement showed banner designers knew that people would recognize Locally Session was not the correct translation of Lokalisasi. Yet, people were able to identify Locally Session because it was related to the word Lokalisasi in their mother tongue. It seemed that banner designers tried to make customers draw the inference from the phrase. 29 Therefore, it could be concluded that there were three characteristics of advertising language in the language of nightclub banners in Yogyakarta. First, the language of nightclub banners contained the advertising register. The expression used was imperatives as suggestions. Second, the language of nightclub banners used generic claims to strengthen the message. Third, the language of nightclub banners was a type of offer.

B. Reasons of Using English in Nightclub Banners in Yogyakarta

This section discussed banner designers’ reasons in using English in their banners. Based on the results of the interview, there were three main reasons why banner designers used English. First, English held high prestige in nightclub community. Second, English conveyed message more precisely rather than Indonesian. Third, English provided creativity for banner designers to create such phrases and words that were able to grasp customers’ attention. Those reasons implied that there was a tendency to publish banners in English as they could accommodate nightclubs’ needs. Later, those reasons were analyzed according to the social factors of choosing certain language proposed by Holmes 2001. Holmes 2001: 8 mentioned eight social factors that influenced people when choosing certain language. The factors included the participants, the setting or social context of interaction, the topic, the function, the social distance, the status relationship between people, the formality, and the function or goal of interaction. Those social factors explained why nightclub management used English in their banners. 30 Based on the social factors mentioned by Holmes 2001: 8, participants consisted of who are speaking and who they are speaking to. In nightclub banners, the participants of the intended language in nightclub banners were banner designers that represented nightclub management and their customers. Here, banner designers attempted to communicate with their customers in accordance with the need to inform nightclub’s events and products. The customers of nightclub mostly consisted of young people in Yogyakarta, specifically university students and young executives. Those were the group of people that learnt and were familiar with English. Therefore, they needed such language that was not only able to communicate the message but also held high prestige in nightclub community. Customers would pay more attention to prestigious language in the banners rather than the language that was considered ordinary. Hence, nightclub management chose English. The phrase like example [23], Model from Netherland brought the matter of prestige rather than translating the phrase into Indonesian. It was supported by the statement of Respondent 2: “…We use English to increase people’s curiosity on our events, get more customers, and maintain our prestige.” Respondent 2, Interview Further, as part of the attempt to communicate the message to customers, nightclub management needed the language that was able to convey message directly to customers. In this case, English was seen as the right language as it was able to convey message to young community. This supported the second reason of using English in nightclub banners. The example was example [14], Black Out