CHAPTERI INTRODUCTION - Kinship terms in Mandarin dialect used by the third generation of Chinese Indonesians in Surabaya - Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya Repository

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1.1

Background of the Study

Language
language

is

a

means of communication. People use

in social interaction to contact

with

family


members, friends, or strangers-everyone that people meet
in

the

people
various

course of a day. One interesting way
use

language

in daily living is

terminology,
the

to


kinds of kin. It is not surprising;

that there is a considerable

world

in

literature

which

refer

therefore,
on

kinship


describing how people in various parts
refer to brothers, sisters,

to

uncles,

of

aunts,

cousins, and so on. Therefore, each language has its own
kinship terms. Kinship terms are the terms used to
one· s

relatives.

Some language have

terms than some others, for


example

··richer"
the

name

kinship

kinship terms

of Chinese language.
Chinese

people has settled in Java since the

century

(Skin6er,l958:1), but


traders

before

the

Sriwijaya

the

Chinese

Kingdom

of

came

14th

as

Palembang

(Mackie and Coppel 1976). The Chinese people have always
been an urban population because

of

economic and legal

2

factors.

They

came

as


traders

and

have

remained

merchants and traders because their travel, and place of
residence were restricted to the cities by the Dutch.
As
groups:

people

know, Chinese consists of

Foochow,


Cantonese,

Hinghwa,

Hainanese

Hokkien,

and

many

ethnic

Teochew,

Hakka,

Yu-


(Chang

Mandarin

hung.,1979:191). Each ethnic group has its own

dialect;

therefore, it will also have its own kinship terms which
is different from one another. In English, for
to

example,

address one s relatives one simply uses for

example

"uncle'' for his parents'brothers and brothers-in-law and
"aunt"


for his parents 'sisters and

Mandarin

dialect;

terms, which
Chinese

are

however, there are
complicated

dialects,

sisters-in-law.

used


several

In

kinship

and different from other

to address

one s

family

and

relatives. For example, one addresses his father's older
brother
brother.

"a-pek" and "su-suk" for his

fa.ther · s

younger

But he addresses all his mother's brothers

by

using one term ''ciu-ciu''.
this
I~-

thesis, the writer is
in

inter~d

studying

the

curious

Chinese

and

kinship

very
terms,

especially the kinship terms in Mandarin dialect used by
the

third

generation

Surabaya.

The

Mandarin

dialect

reasons
is

of

Chinese

are, first
uncommon

for

Indonesians
of
some

all,

in

because

people

in

3

Indonesia because of
are

the

special characteristics which _

different from other Chinese dialects.

The

second

one is because it is one of the six biggest languages of
the

world (Chinese,

English,

Hindi-Urdu,

Spanish,

Russian, and German) (West,Fred.,l975:42). Mandarin
Putonghua
used

(common language) is the oldest

language

in

the world today. It

or

continuously

also

has

more

speakers than any other language in the world. The third
reason

is

common

because Mandarin has been
spoken

language

(Afendras,Evangelos.,1979:268).
Mandarin

-------

promoted

for

all

The

choice

as

the

Chinese
fell

because the capital of China has been

on

located

several millenia in a Mandarin-speaking region and since
the Sung Dynasty it has been located in Peking. Jhe last
reason

is

Chinese

because nowadays many young

Indonesians

tradition

do

not

keep

generations

the

old

of

Chinese

tightly anymore in using the proper terms

to

address their family members and relatives. For example:
many

of

young generations today
or

sisters
reasons
are,

brothers

by

address

their

using names. They

older

may

have

for doing that, however! whatever

the

reasons

it is inappropriate according to the

old

Chinese

tradition.

4
1.2 Statements of the Problems
The statements of the problems under discussion are
formulated as follows:
1. What
by

are the kinship terms in Mandarin dialect
the

third generation of Chinese

Surabaya

to

address

their

Indonesians

family

used
in

members

and

2. Is there any change of the kinship terms used by

the

relatives up to three generations ?

third

generation

with

the

standard

form

in

the

Chinese dictionary ?

1.3 Objectives of the Study

This
terms

study

in Mandarin

is
d~alect

intended

to find out what kinship

used by the third

generation

of Chinese Indonesians in Surabaya are, to address their
family members and relatives up to three generations and
to

find

terms

out whether there is a change of

used

by the third generation with

the
the

kinship
standard

form in the Chinese dictionary or not.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The findings of this study is expected to give some
contribution to the field of Sociolinguistics. Moreover,

5

the

writer

information

also
to

hopes
Mandarin

that

it

gives some

Chinese

helpful

Indonesians

in

particular.

Through the findings, they will be able

know

proper

the

kinship terms in

Mandarin

dialect

clearly.

Besides that, she hopes that it gives a

picture

to

the

other

ethnic

groups

to

of

clear
Chinese

Indonesians and Non-Chinese too about the proper kinship
terms.
want

Hopefully, they will not be confused
to

address their friends"families who

when

they

belong

to

Mandarin ethnic group.

1.5 Scope and Limitation'of the Study
Being

aware

study

would

limit

it.

Mandarin

of

how

broad the discussion of this

be, the writer finds it
The writer discusses the

is

necessary

kinship

dialect since Mandarin dialect is
language

Supreme

Language, language which is used in the

society

defined by national and

writer

chooses

Chinese

the third

and

the

spoken

The

for

teTms

generation

in

common

considered as

political

to

the

larger

boundaries.
of

Chinese

Indonesians as the subject because many of them tend not
to

use

or do not know the appropriate

kinship

terms

anymore. The writer also limits the setting, that is
Surabaya, since Surabaya is a big city where the

in

amount

6

of Chinese Indonesians is considered many.

1.6 Research Methodology
In

doing

this

study, the

writer

used

the

theories

of

Sociolinguistics research.

1.7 Theoretical Frameworks

This

study

is

Sociolinguistics,
Variables

in

based

on

Language and

the
Dialect,

Sociocultural

Chinese Tradition, Mandarin

Dialect

and

Kinship Terms.
Chaika
study

of

(1982:2)
the

ways

states ''Sociolinguistics
people

use

language

in

is

the

social

interaction.··
Language is a conventional system of habitual vocal
behavior

by

which members of a

community

communicate

with one another (Yuen Ren Chao,1968:1).

A dialect
with

a

is a variety of a

-----

particular

intelligible

with

group

of

other

language

speakers

associated
mutually

and

(Wardhaugh,

varieties

Ronald. , 1972: 22)
Concerning
Tradition,

the

organizations, and

Sociocultural
writer

Variables

chooses

authority

as

in

lineage,
the

Chinese
regional

most fundamental

7

considerations (Chang;1979:221) ..
Mandarin
which

dialect is a variety of Chinese

exists

important

as

in
the

Indonesia. It is by
native speech

of

dialects

far

the

the

most

majority

of

Chinese and the recognized vehicle of oral communication
between

all

Chinese

(Encyclopedia

officials

Britannica,1768:567).
Kinship
542)

Greenberg

(1966:541-

are the terms used to name one's relatives. It

reasonable
to

terms, according to

to distinguish between relatives who

the nuclear family and who don't

is

belong

(Kottak,1991:203).

All languages distinguish at least three characteristics
in relatives: generation, blood relationship, and sex.

1.8 Definition of Key Terms

To
terms

avoid misunderstanding, there are
used

in

this thesis to

define

several

before

key

further

discussion is proceeded.
1. kinship:
defines
cared

Encycopledia Britanica

(1947,vol.13,p.403)

kinship as birth, suckling, and
bestowed

establish

bonds

by the parents
of union

on

the

their

tender

offspring

between the members of

family, both in human and in animal society.

a

8

2. term:

a word or phrase by which something fixed

definite

is

expressed (The

Webster

and

Reference

Dictionary Of The English Language,l983:1217).
3. address:
either

to gneet directly using a

prescribed

form

in speech or in writing (Webster's Third

International

Dictionary

Of The

English

New

Language,

1986:24).
4. dialect:

~nteligb

a variety of a language associated

~articul

group

of

speakers

with other varieties

and

with

a

mutually

(Introduction

To

Linguistics,1972:221).
5. Mandarin

dialect: is a variety of

Chinese

dialects

which exists in Indonesia. It is the variety that has
been

chosen

for some

reasons,

perhaps

political,

social, or economic, or some combination of
to

serve as either the model or the norm

varieties.
called
language

a

As

a result, the standard is

dialect

at all, but is

reasons,
for
often

regarded

itself. One consequence is that

other
not

as

all

the
other

varieties become related to that standard in some way
and

may

be regarded as
dialect~

of

that

standard

(Wardhaugh,Ronald.,1986:36).
6. the first generation of Mandarin Chinese Indonesians:
are those Mandarin Chinese Indonesians who were

born

in Indonesia but their parents were born in China.

9

7. the

second

Indonesians:
who

generation

of

Mandarin

are those Mandarin Chinese

were born in Indonesia and their

Chinese

Indonesians

parents

were

also

born in Indonesia, but their grandparents

born

in

were

China.

8. the third generation of Mandarin Chinese Indonesians:
are those Mandarin Chinese Indonesians who were

born

in Indonesia and their parents and grandparents

were

also born in Indonesia.

1.9 Organization of the Thesis

This

thesis consists of five chapters.

The

chapter is Introduction which explains about

first

Background

of the Study, Statements of the Problems, Objectives
the

study,

Limitation

Significance
of

the

Study,

Theoretical

Frameworks,

Organization

of

with

The

Earlier

Review
Studies

discusses

of

the

Study,

Research

Definition

of

the Thesis. The second
of the Related
of Kinship Terms.

Scope

and

Methodology,
Key

Terms,

chapter

Literature
The

deals

and

Some

third

chapter

The Research Methodology. The fourth

chapter

is Data Analysis and the last chapter is Conclusion
Suggestion.

of

and