16
5 Intentions for Clarifying
Intention of clarifying the speech content for interlocutor. It means to make the content of a speech run smoothly and can be understood by the
listener.
3.2 Code-mixing made by Information Center Desk Officers
Within an intra-group context an individual may demonstrate an alternation of code between Malaysian language and English language. As part of
their communicative competence, it is also assumed that speakers are able to recognize which types of code-mixing are acceptable and which are not.
As one of the biggest airports in Asia, Kuala Lumpur International Airport has a lot of information centers. When the information center officers announce
some announcements, they are not doing a code-mixing but they do code- switching. At first, they announce the announcements in Malay language, then
they switch it into English language, example: “Minta perhatian, panggilan terakhir untuk penumpang pesawat AirAsia dengan nombor penerbangan AK 395
destinasi ke Kualanamu Medan sila menuju pintu P7. Terima kasih. ”, then they
do code- switching into English language, such as “Your attention please, the final
call for the passengers of AirAsia with flight number AK 395 heading to Kualanamu M
edan please head to gate P7. Thank you.”. Beside announce some announcements, the information center officers are also giving information to
passengers who ask some information such as the transportation from the airport to the city, the nearest hotel, the restaurants or cafe, etc. Code-mixing is used
when the information center officers tell the passengers about the information
17
they ask for such as the passenger who ask to the information center officer “Excuse me, I nak pergi to city in KL Sentral, apa saja transportation yang boleh
I pakai and I nak tambang yang cheap lah? ” Excuse me, I would like to go to
city in KL Sentral, what transportations I can use and I want the cheap fare., then one of the information center officers replies “Ada banyak transportation you
boleh pakai. You boleh pakai bas yang tambangnya RM 8 and you juga boleh pakai
train which the fare as RM 80.” There is much transportation you may use. You may take the bus which the fare as RM 8 and you may also take the train
which the fare as RM 80.. Like code-
switching, „borrowing‟ has also been used extensively in different senses, one of which is: the adoption of an element of one language to
the other either with or without being assimilated into the linguistic system of the borrowin
g language. The use of the term „borrowing‟ in such a sense has, however, raised the question of whether one can distinguish „borrowing‟ and
„code-switching‟ from language mixing-data. Gumperz 1982:66 says, “Borrowing can be defined as the introduction of single words or short frozen,
idiomatic phrases from one variety into the other. The items in question are incorporated into the grammatical system of the borrowing language. They are
treated as part of its lexicon, take on its morphological characteristics and enter into its synthetic structures. Code-switching, by contrast, relies on the meaningful
juxtaposition of what speakers must consciously or subconsciously process as strings formed according to the internal rules of two distinct grammatical
syste ms.”
18
According to Gumperz, the characteristics of borrowings are that they are assimilated into the recipient language, mostly single words or idiomatic
expressions and have become parts of the lexical inventory of the recipient language.
Of several other phenomena of language- mixing, „integration‟ probably
deserves its own place in the analysis since word-integration is a common feature of the speech of Malaysian bilinguals. Many words from English language as well
as from other languages have been integrated into the morph-syntax of Malay language. They are widely used by some particular sections of the community,
especially within professional circles. The inclusion of word-integration in the study of language-mixing,
however, will pose a problem about the nature of the phenomenon and what type of word-integration should be taken into account. As words have been fully
integrated into the recipient language, they are no longer „foreign‟ to that language. The words have become part of the lexical inventory of the recipient
language which, in turn, makes the analysis of language mixing inappropriate. However, it may be relevant to the analysis if any deviations from word-
integration rules are considered parts of language-mixing. Unlike code-switching or borrowing, word
–integration may occur in the speech of those with only monolingual competence.
Obviously, language mixing involves at least two languages. One of these languages always constitutes the base language of the discourse while the other
one stands as the source language of the mixed elements.
19
Other examples of code-mixing in sentences which are used by the information center officers to their workmates or the passengers of Kuala Lumpur
International Airport such as: 6
“You boleh ambil maps ini for your travel guide.” You may take these maps for your travel guide.
7 “If you nak pergi to Salak Tinggi by train, at first you must pergi ke Terminal 1
and then you boleh take train of KLIA Transit then stop at stesen Salak Tinggi
.” If you want to go to Salak Tinggi by train, at first you must go to Terminal 1 and then you may take train of KLIA Transit then stop at Salak
Tinggi station. There are many reasons why the information center officers at Kuala
Lumpur International Airport do code-mixing, such as: 1
In Malaysia, mixing more than one language in single sentence is quite common and sometimes speaking Malay language is more difficult than
speaking English language. 2
Being Malaysian and working at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, they always hear when people are speaking in two languages, Malay language and
English language. 3
They can speak English but just a little, while they are speaking English and do not know what the next words would be said, and they would say Malay words.
It means that code-mixing is occurred naturally.
20
3.3 Code-mixing made by Malaysian Travelers
