Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Language as a means of communication is used by all humans to communicate, to share ideas, thoughts, feelings, and emotions with each other. In many communities in this world, there are a lot of people that are able to communicate using more than one language. This phenomenon is known as bilingualism or multilingualism. People with bilingual or multilingual ability are able to switch languages in the middle of their conversation. This phenomenon is known as code-switching. Asher 1994: 581 explains the term code-switching refers to the juxtaposition of elements from two or more languages or dialects. So someone may switch the language that she or he uses from one language to another. She or he can produce a language utterance which consists of language elements from two or more different languages. The speaker should pay attention to the appropriate contexts, style, medium and intonation. Code-switching is not only a phenomenon in a society where the members use more than one language, but also has become a necessity in that society because sometimes people find it difficult to explain something in their native language since there is no obvious word or expression in the language being used. To compensate, they decide to find the more obvious expression from other languages. They employ the more expressive or representative words or phrases from foreign languages to explain what they want to say. So they speak within two different languages. For example, the Indonesian prefers adopting an English word ‘gender’ to using the Indonesian phrase jenis kelamin. It is not strange at all to find alteration between two different languages within a single utterance, which is called code-switching, as far as the speaker has appropriate reasons to apply it. Code-switching is used by speakers to make their meaning clear. When someone considers their language is not appropriate or not successful in conveying the message, he needs to switch to a language that can be understood by other people. There is a great deal of implementation of code-switching dealing with the foreign language elements being adopted. There is apparent distinction on the range of the length of these elements which vary from only a single word up to a full sentence. Language theories are chief matters which should be obeyed as guidance toward better understanding and implementation of various kinds of code-switching. In Indonesia, the use of bilingualism and multilingualism is inseparable from the fact that Indonesia consists of so many ethnic groups with different languages and cultures. The use of the language is also affected by the entertainment programs in television. Therefore, code-switching highly likely occurs on the television. The presenters or the host of a show may speak more than one language in order to convey their messages or just to entertain their television viewers. As stated above, code switching on the television is common. A television show called Bukan Empat Mata seems to be one of many shows that have a large degree of code switching. This entertainment show is hosted by Thukul Arwana. Bukan Empat Mata makes its audiences laugh. With his comments and spontaneity, Thukul is able to combine a talk show format with his spontaneous jokes and humor. Everybody knows Thukul as an eccentric man with short hair and a long moustache like fish. He has become very famous since his talk show began airing on Trans 7. His fame grew quickly and he is now a top Indonesian presenter. His unmistakable face, actions, and jokes that flow like water are often on the television. On this hit show, Thukul uses a catch phrase namely Kembali ke Laptop back to the laptop because Thukul’s questions are provided in his laptop. Thukul comes from a village in Semarang and he does not have glamorous good looks so he can prove that physical appearance is not everything. Although he has ordinary looks and dark skin like a manual worker, he can present the show perfectly through joke and responses relying on his quick-thinking. With his apparent innocence he amuses a lot of audiences. Thukul never covers up his weaknesses and he presents the show with a great self-esteem. One interesting language feature that can be found in Bukan Empat Mata is the prominent borrowing of words, phrases, or even sentences from English language juxtaposed with Indonesian words, phrases, or sentences to create interesting comments and catch phrases. Thukul’s utterances like tepuk tangan very good, fish to fish which means to be “face to face”, dangdut night and kembali ke laptop are able to provide viewers with fun situations. These expressions are the main ammunition Thukul uses them to make his audiences laugh. All of those above expressions can be categorized as code-switching because he often switches from one language to the other. By doing that, he has successfully brought Bukan Empat Mata to the top of the Indonesian ratings. The code switching in Bukan Empat Mata show provokes the writer’s curiosity to dig deeper into Thukul’s performance in presenting the Bukan Empat Mata show, especially his code switching. He uses code switching for his quips and jokes very often so it is really interesting to analyze what he is actually doing. Based on the above description and explanation, the researcher can conclude that code switching is worth analyzing because it is a phenomenon that influences our community today. This is very interesting since Thukul lacks proficiency in English and yet he still uses it. This becomes even more interesting because his show Bukan Empat Mata has been viewed by millions of viewers in Indonesia. Nowadays, there are so many young people who are using Thukul’s ways of speaking; a lot of code-switching in their conversation.

B. Problem Formulation