Inference of Indonesian Uttered by Indonesian Chinese in Semarang

INTERFERENCED INDONESIAN UTTERED BY INDONESIAN
CHINESE IN SEMARANG1
Dian Suryani and Dwi Wulandari
English Department Faculty of Letterrs Diponegoro University

Abstrak
Masyarakat WNI Keturunan Cina merupakan pengguna Bahasa Indonesia yang
menggunakan Bahasa Indonesia sebagai bahasa sehari-hari. Namun, di dalam Bahasa
Indonesia tersebut, terdapat unsur-unsur bahasa lain yaitu Bahasa Jawa dan Bahasa
Mandarin yang menyebabkan adanya penyimpangan terhadap Bahasa Indonesia yang
disebut dengan istilah interferensi. Tulisan ini membahas tentang tipe-tipe interferensi
dalam tuturan Bahasa Indonesia Masyarakat WNI Keturunan Cina di Semarang beserta
faktor-faktror penyebabnya.
Kata-kata kunci: interferensi, WNI Keturunan Cina, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Jawa,
Bahasa Mandarin.

1

Published in Kajian Sastra, Vol 33 no.1 May 2008

1


the real name of Zheng He was Sam

1. Introduction
Indonesian people consist of many

Poo Tay Djien.

ethnics who are widely spread in its

The first Chinese immigrants are

thousands of islands. There are original

called as “Totok Chinese”. They were

ethnics and comer ethnics who live

the


together as one community. One of

Meanwhile,

their

the

called

“Peranakan

comer

ethnics

is

Indonesian


native

as

speaker

of

Mandarin.

descendants

are

Chinese”.

Chinese ethnic. According to Hidajat

“Peranakan Chinese” is the native


(1993), the first Chinese came to

speaker

Indonesia was Fa Hien, a Buddist

“Peranakan Chinese” has integrated

Monk. He came to Java Island in 413

into Indonesian people, they are also

A.D. Meanwhile, in 1412 A.D several

called as Indonesian Chinese or WNI

army fleets leaded by Zheng He

Keturunan Cina (Oka, cited in Sudja’i,


anchored in Bintan, Bangka, Blitung,

et all 1986).

of

Indoesian.

Since

Karimata, Semarang, and Madura.

When Mallacca became the center

Zheng He’s arrival had a mission to

of trading in South East of Asia, Malay

find a Chinese ambassador who was


became a commerce language used in

lost in Indonesia (based on Sam Poo

Indonesia. The Totok who mostly had

Kong’s relieft wall’s story). After his

proffesion as traders were forced to

departure, in 1417-1419, hundreds of

master regional language and Malay in

ships sailed from China Mainland

the swame time. In this case, they

(from Fukien and Kwantungregions


created

mostly) to Indonesia. Most of the

variation mixed from Malay, regional

immigrants work as traderes since the

language

biggest ethnic, Hokkian, worked as

Sundanese, etc) and Mandarin (Go,

traders. The other ethnics, Teochius got

Swan Djien cited in Sudja’i, et all

jobs as farmers while Cantonese


1986).

opened

hotels,

restourants,

and

workshops (Hidajat, 1993).
To

honor

Zheng

Chinese

Malay;


(such

as

Malay’s

Javanese,

Next, by the time of Netherland’s
colonialization, the Dutchman used

He’s

Chinese

immigrants

as


brokers

commendable. Indonesian Chinese in

between colonial and local residents in

Semarang built a temple named Sam

trading imported commodities. This

Poo Kong. It is named “Sam Poo” for

position has made them have strong

2

role as traders in Indonesia’s economic

Wang state that Indonesian is their


until now.

main language. Based on the research
a

done by them, the Indonesian language

separation between Chinese and local

which is used by Indonesian Chinese

residents. They must live with their

has characteristics as follows (1991):

own ethnics in the certain place called

1. They usually use Indonesian mixed

The

Dutchman

also

made

“Pecinan”. Today, Pecinan as the

from

place of Chinese community still exists

Indonesian’s elements.

in several places in Indonesia (Hidajat,

language’s

and

2. When their regional language is
honorific language, they only use

1993).
In the early of 18

th

century,

Hokkian School was opened for the
Chinese

regional

immigrant.

The

Hokkian

the lowest level of it. It happens in
Sunda, Java, and Madura.
3. They insert Mandarin’s words to

dialect became the language in school.

their

Then, in 1901, Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan

(especially Hokkian language) is

(THHK) that was schools for Totok

used to refer certain things such as

Chinese was opened widely. It used

numeral,

Mandarin as its language in school.

concept, cultural practices, and

Meanwhile, the Peranakan Chinese

object.

studied in Public School using Malay

Mandarin’s words indicates that

language. This situation makes not all

they maintain Chinese identity.

Chinese

Indonesian.

relationship,

The

Mandarin

cultural

maintenance

of

mastering

This phenomenon attracted the

Mandarin anymore (Cushman, Jennifer

writers to search it. In Central Java

& Wang Gung Wu, 1991).

Province, for instance, Indonesian

of

immigrants

In 1965, THHK were closed. Next,

Chinese are able to speak Indonesian

Indonesian became national language.

and Javanese as local residents are.

In that time, Chinese immigrants had

Usually, they only master Ngoko.

named as Indonesian Chinese (WNI

Some of them even still maintain

keturunan

used

Mandarin. Those languages are their

Indonesian as their solidarity language

colloquials. In this case, the Javanese

(Cushman, Jennifer & Wang Gung

and the Mandarin languages which

Wu, 1991). Their Indonesian consisted

they have give some influences to their

of Indonesian, regional language, and

Indonesian. In using the Indonesian

Mandarin. Furthermore, Cushman and

language, Indonesian Chinese tend to

Cina).

They

3

insert some Javanese elements and

semantic, and elemental (elements of

borrowed Mandarin words into their

word, phrase, and clause). In this case,

Indonesian. Thus, their Indonesian is

Javanese and Mandarin give influnce

the mixing from Indonesian, Javanese,

in Indonesian. To understang the

and Mandarin This phenomenon is

changes or the distortion happen in it,

called interference. Interference firstly

the Interferenced Indonesian (II) is

stated by Weinrich to call a language

compared to Javanese (J) and standart

phenomenon in which a language

Indonesian (I). The meaning of it is in

system had changed as the result of

English (M).

language contact done by bilingual
speakers (cited in Chaer, Abdul and

2. 1. Phonological Interference

Leoni Agustina, 1995).
Meanwhile,

considering

that

2.1.1. The changing of vowels

Semarang is the place where many
Chinese immigrants firstly arrived in

2.1.1.1 The changing of vowel u [u]

Indonesia hundreds of years ago, that

into o [o]

Chinese culture is still held strongly in
this city, and that there are many
Indonesian Chinese who are able to

Data

who assemble in this city, the research

I

J

M

h

(i)

[turon]

[turun]

[mə
d on]

go down

(ii)

[tə
ros]

[tə
rus]

[tə
ros]

then

[payoŋ]

[payuŋ]

[payoŋ]

Umbrella

[jatoh]

[jatuh]

[tibɔ]

Fall

speak Indonesian and Javanese, who
are still maintain Chinese culture and

II

(iii)

down
[tidor]

[tidur]

[turu]

Go to

about Interferenced Indonesian uttered

sleep

by Indonesian Chinese is carried out in
Semarang city. The research has two

From the table, we can see that

purposes; to find types of interferences

vowel u [u] located in the last sillable

and to find factors causing it.

of the words changes into o [o]. The

2. Type of Interferences

Javanese

pronunciation

influences

Interferenced Indonesian uttered by

Indonesian pronunciation as in Data (i)

Indonesian Chinese in Semarang can

and Data (ii), vowel o [o] in [mə
dhon],

be

[tə
ros] and [payoŋ] that are Javanese

devided

into

six

types

of

interference stated by Suwito (1983).

word are applied in Indonesian.

Interference happens in phonology,
morphology,

syntax,

vocabulary,
4

Furthermore, both Indonesian and

Vowel a [a] located in the last

Javanese have almost same words

sillable of the words changes into e

showing in Data (ii) like [tə
rus] and

[ə]. In Data (i) we can see The Almost

[tə
ros], [payuŋ] and [payoŋ]. Haugen

Same Diamorph phenomenon, for

says that this phenomenon could make

instance “cepat” [cə
pat] and “cepet”

the speaker identify them as the same

[cə

t]; “tetap” [tə
tap] and ‘tetep”

thing

in

[tə

p], etc. In this point, interference

choosing the appropriate word between

occurs when the speaker use Javanese

them. This phenomenon is called by

pronunciation in Indonesian sentence

Haugen

since Indonesian has the parable

which

as

creates

The

mistakes

Almost

Same

Diamorph that is morphemes with the

words.

same meaning and the almost similar
form (cited in Hastuti: 2003).

Meanwhile, the overgeneralization
is applied in Data (ii).

Next, in Data (iii), interference
occurs as the overgeneralization (Ellis,

2.1.1.3 The changing of vowel i [i]

1992) from what happen before in

into e [e] or e [ε]

Data (i) and Data (ii). The word

D

II

I

J

M

“jatuh” is pronunced [jatoh]; word

(i)

[tules]

[tulis]

[tules]

Write

“tidur” is pronunced [tidor]. The rule

(ii)

[cincen]

[cincin]

[ali-ali]

Ring

[kə
maren];

[kə
ma

[wiŋi]

Yester

[kə
marε n]

rin]

[mobel]

[mobil]

of changing vowel u [u] into o [o] in
the last sillable of the words is
extended eventhough in Javanese, its

day
Car

[mɔn
tɔr]

words are different.

In this point, vowel i [i] changes
into e [e] or e [ε] since e[e] has two

2.1.1.2 The changing of vowel a [a]

alophones; e [e] and e[ε] (Moeliono, et

into e [ə]

all, 1988). Thus, vowel i [i] can occur

D

II

I

J

M

(i)

[cə

t]

[cə
pat]

[cə

t]

Quick

[tə

p]

[tə
tap]

[tə

p]

Constant

[lə
ŋə
n]

[lə
ŋan]

[lə
ŋə
n]

Arm

[pinjə
m]

[pinjam]

[silε h]

Borrow

[datə
ŋ]

[dataŋ]

Come

[iŋə
t]

[iŋat]

[tə
kɔ]
[eleŋ]

(ii)

Remem
ber

as e [e] or e [ε]. Those changes occur
in the last sillable of the words.
Javanese’s influence and The Almost
Same Diamorph phenomenon can be
seen

in

Data

(i).

Meanwhile

overgeneralization is applied in Data
(ii).

5

2.1.2 The changing of diphtong

D

II

I

J

M

2.1.2.1 The changing of diphtong au

(i)

[isa]

[bisa]

[bisɔ];

Able

[udah]

[sudah]

[isɔ]
[uwes];

Already

[a] into vowel o [o] or o [ɔ]
D

II

I

J

M

(i)

[kalo]

[kalau]

[nε k]

If

[atɔ]

[atau]

[ɔpɔ]

Or

[walɔpun]

[walaupun]

[mbɔk]

Though

[wes]

(ii)

[napa]

[kə
napa]

[nɔpɔ]

Why

[lapan]

[də
lapan]

[wɔlu]

Eight

The deleting of phonemes takes
From the table above, it can be

place in the first sillable of the words

seen that diphtong au [au] changes

as descripted in the table above. In

into vowel o [ɔ] or o [o]. It could

Javanese,

happen since Javanese has no diphtong

the

word

“bisa”

is

pronunced [bisɔ]. The first phoneme of

(Widada, et all, 2001) and for o[o] has

it usually is deleted. Sometimes, it is

two allophones; o [ɔ] and o [o]

uttered as [isɔ]. This phenomenon also
goes on in word “uwis” which is

(Moeliono, et all, 1988).

pronunced [uwes] or [wes]. In this

2.1.2.2 The changing of diphtong ai
[ai] into vowel e [e] or e [ε].

ocassion, word “bisa” is pronunced
[isa], and word “kenapa” is pronunced
[napa] as the result of Javanese’s

D

II

I

J

M

(i)

[sampε ?]

[sampai]

[ŋanti]

Till

[rame]

[ramai]

[rame]

Noisy

[pakε ?]

[pakai]

[aŋgo]

Use

deleting
simplifications

phoneme.
or

the

Those
phoneme

deletions have a purpose to economise
and to ease the articulation. It also

In this case, vowel e [e] or e [ε]

happen in Data (ii), word “delapan”

substitutes diphtong ai [ai]. As stated

[də
lapan] deletes its phonemes into

before, vowel e [e] has alophones of e

“lapan” [lapan] which consists of two

[e] and e [ε] (Moeliono, et all, 1988).

sillables which similar to Javanese
word [wɔlu].

2.1.3 The deleting of phonemes
located in the first sillable of the
word

6

[hurop]. It is interference for [huruf] is

2.1.4 The deleting of vowel

not pronunced as it should be.

D

II

I

J

M

(i)

[sapa]

[siapa]

[sɔpɔ]

Who

[karna]

[karə
na]

[sebab]

Because

2.1.5.1 The articulating of x [x] as k
[k]

From the descriptions above, it can
be

seen

that

word

“siapa”

D

II

I

J

M

(i)

[tip ε k]

[tip ex]

-

Stationery

is

functioning to

articulated [sapa]. In this case, ia [ia]

correct wrong

in “siapa” is not a diphtong. Vowel i

letters.

[i] in ia [ia] is deleted. Meanwhile, the

[pilɔk]

-

[pilɔx]

Stationery in form
of coloured liquid

word “karena” is articulated [karna].
The vowel e [ə] is deleted. Both

The interference happens since

“siapa” [siapa] and “karena” [karə
na]

phonemes x [x] which has integrated

consist of three sillables. Vowel i [i]

into Indonesian’s phoneme (Nababan,

located in first sillable of [siapa] and

1993) is articulated as k [k] not x [x].

vowel e [ə] located in second sillable
of [karə
na] are deleted. The deletion

2.1.6 The adding of nasal in front of

makes Indonesian words which consist

the words

of three sillables change into two

According to Suwito, the adding

sillables as Javanese’s has. Again, the
aim

of this

simplification

is

of nasal occurs when Javanese people

to

utters some name of places (1983). In

economize and to ease articulation.

Interferenced Indonesian, it occurs not
only for the name of places but also for

2.1.5 The identifiying of articulation

another noun and adverb.

2.1.5.1 The articulating of f [f] as p
[p]

D

II

I

Note

(i)

[mbali] ( m +

[bali]

Name of

D

II

I

J

M

bali)

(i)

[hurop]

[huruf]

[hurop]

Letter

[mbañumanek]

[bañuma

Name of

(m +

nik]

place (noun)

[jagalan]

Name of

The phoneme f [f] in Indonesian is

banyumanik)

identified by phoneme p [p] in

[njagalan](n +

Javanese, thus “huruf” is articulated in

bagalan)

the same way with Javanese’s that is

(ii)

[mbakso] ( m
+ bakso)

place (noun)

place (noun)
[bakso]

Name of
food (noun)

7

(iii)

[mbesok] (m +

[besɔk]

besok)

Tomorrow

utterance. It is different from “lha iyo”

(adverb)

or “ha yo” (Javanese) or “iya”
(Indonesian). It shows that her habit in

The nasal occurs not only for the

uttering Mandarin is taken along in her

name of places. It is overgeneralized

Indonesian.

for food (as in mbakso) as we can see

interference in Indonesian. Bassically,

in Data (ii) and for tomorrow (as in

it

mbesok) as can be seen in Data (iii). In

Indonesian.

has

It

parable

is

counted

word

as

“iya”

in

this case, “mbakso” [mbakso] ussualy
is used in Javanese as verb means eat

2.2 Morphological Interference

meatball (eat bakso). But, in the

The

morphological

interference

sentences shown above, “mbakso”

occurs in affixation; the Indonesian’s

[mbakso] is used as noun to say

affixes are substituted by Javanese’s

“bakso” [bakso]. Meanwhile, the word

affixes (Suwito, 1983). It can happen

“besok”

[besok]

is

pronunced

in prefix, suffix, and konfix, such as:

“mbesok” [mbesɔk] with the adding of
nasal m [m]. It is almost similar to

2.2.1 Prefix meng- is substituted by

Javanese’s way in which word “sesok”

N-

[sesok] or “esuk” [esok] pronunced as

According to Subroto, in Javanese,

the Javanese’s way in uttering “sesok”

prefix N- has morphophonemics such

[sesok] or “esuk” [esok] sometimes

as nge- [ŋə], ng- [ŋ], ny- [ñ], m- [m],

occurs as “ngesok” [ŋesok] with the

n- [n] (1991: 35-36). Meanwhile, in

adding of nasal ng [ŋ].

Indonesian,

prefix

morphophonemics
2.1.7

The

pronunciation

using
in

like

meng-

has

me-

[mə],

Chinese’s

mem- [məm], men- [mə-], meng-

Indonesian’s

[məŋ], meny- [məñ] (Moeliono, et all,

of

1988: 87-90). In this case, prefix N-

utterance
The word “haya” is used to

subsitutes prefix meng-.

precede the sentence. This word has
function

to

confirm

an

idea.

It

originally comes from Mandarin. One
speaker, who tends to use Mandarin at
home, uses it in her Indonesian’s

8

D

II

I

J

M

(i)

[mbawa] (N-

[mə
mbawa]

[ŋgɔwɔ]

Bring

+ bawa)

(meng- +
bawa)

(ii)

[ndarat]

[mendarat]

(N- + darat)

(meng- +
darat)

[ñari]

[mə
ncari]

(N- + cari)

(meng- +
cari)

[ŋə
rasa]

[mə
rasa](m

(N- + rasa)

eng-+ rasa)

ended by consonants, suffix –ne will

gawa)

(N- +

ne
If suffix –e attaches to roots

(N- +

[nibɔ]

2.2.3 Suffix –nya is substituted by –

Fall
in

attach to roots ended by vowels
D

II

I

J

M

(i)

[makane]

[makaña]

[mulane]

That

(maka + -

(maka + -

(mula-

is

ne)

nya)

+ne)

why

[lamane]

[lamaña]

[suwene](

Long

(lama + -

(lama + -

suwe- + -

time

ne)

nya)

ne)

tibo)
[ŋgɔlε k]
(N-

To
find

+golε k)
[ŋrɔsɔ]
(N- +
rasa)

Feel

2.2.4 Suffix –an
When suffix –an attaches to

2.2.2 Suffix –nya is substituded by –e
Here, suffix –e (Javanese) attaches

vowel, it changes into –nan, while it
attaches to consonant, it is unchanged

to roots ended by consonants and

D

II

I

J

M

substitutes suffix –nya (Indonesian).

(i)

[tiganan]

[sə
kitar

[tə
lunan]

Around

(tiga + -

jam

(tə
lu +

three

(n)an)

tiga]

(n)an)

o’clock

Look at the table below:
D

II

I

J

M


mpatan]

[sə
kitar

[papatan]

Around

(i)

[jalane](ja

[jalanña]

[dalane]

The

(empat +

jam

(papat + -

four

lan + -e)

(jalan + -

(dalan +

way

-an)

ə
mpat]

an)

o’clock

nya)

-e)

[gigitane]

[gigitanña]

[cɔkɔta

[limanan]

[sə
kitar

(gigitan + -

[limɔnan]

Around

(gigitan +

jam

nya)

ne]

(lima + -

-e)

(cokot +

(n)an)

lima]

Its bite

five

(limo + -

o’clock

an)

-e)
[takute]

[takutña]

[wə
dine

(takut + -

(takut + -nya

] (wedi

e)

+ -e)

Afraid

Here, suffix –an is used to explain
approximating

time.

Actually,

in

Indonesian, approximating time is
explained by using word “sekitar”,
such as sekitar jam empat, sekitar jam
tiga, etc. It is interference for the

9

speaker applies Javanese’s way in term

phenomenon is called The Almost

of Indonesian.

Same Diamorph.

2.2.5 Suffix –i

2.2.7 Konfix se-/-nya substituted by
sa-/-ne

D

II

I

J

M

(i)

[saŋka?i]

[saŋka]

[arani]

Gu

D

II

I

J

M

(sangaka

(aran +

ess

(i)

[sa?adane]

[sə
adaña]

[sa?ɔnɔne]

Exist

+ -i)

-i)

(sa-+ada+-

(se-+ada+-

ne)

nya)

Word

”sangka”

is

(sa-+ana+ne)

Indonesian

word. It is usually used to express
people’s guess. In Indonesian, it will
occur as “ku sangka” without any
suffix. In interferenced Indonesian,
“sangka” occurs with suffix –i as it

In this affixation, prefix –sa occurs
with

phoneme

[?]

to

ease

the

articulation as there are two vowels
which are near one and another, like
[sa?ɔnɔne]. In this point, the speaker

takes Javanese’s way.

maintains Indonesian root and uses
2.2.6 Konfix meng-/-i is substituted

Javanese’s konfix in the affixation

by N-/-i

process.

D

II

I

J

M

(i)

[ŋlayani]

[mə
layani]

[ŋladε ni]

Ser

(N-

(meng-

(N-

ving

+layan+-i)

+layan+-i)

+laden+-i)

[ŋlewati]

[mə
lewati]

[ŋliwati]

Pass

(N-

(meng-

(N-

ing

+lewat+-i)

+lewat+-i)

+liwat+-i)

(ii)

2.3 Syntactical Interference

2.3.1 The applying of Javanese’s
structure in Indonesian
The Javanese structure sometimes
is applied in Indonesian. To show the
Javanese structure in Interferenced

Here, N-/-i (Javanese’s konfix)

Indonesian,

which occurs as ŋ-/-i substitutes meng-

Interference

/-i (Indonesian’s konfix). In Data (ii),

Javanese (J) and Indonesian (I) while

both Indonesian and Javanese have the

(M) is its meaning in English.. The

almost same word in their vocabulary

bold letter is the inserted Javanese’s

those are “lewat” [lewat] and “liwat”

structure.

[liwat].

As

stated

before,

the

writer

Indonesian

compares
(II)

to

this

10

ence

II

Nanti kita kumpul di depan gereja
karena ruang ini dipakek sama e…lupa
aku.

J

I

Nggon Lukas mungken ndak ya?

J

Nggon Lukas mungken ora yo?

I

Di rumah Lukas, mungkin atau tidak
ya?

Mengko dhewe padha kumpul ning
ngarep greja amargo ruang iki dinggo

E

At Lukas‘s home, it is possible, isn’t it?

karo… lali aku.
I

E

Nanti kita berkumpul di depan gereja

2.3.3

karena ruang ini dipakai oleh..saya lupa

conjunction

siapa yang akan memakai.

Indonesian’s

Next time, we will gather in front of the
church since this room is used by… I
forget who uses it.

The

using

of

to

Javanese’s
substitute

II

Nek dipakek, walopun lama tetep biru

J

Nek dinggo, arepo suwe, tetep biru

I

Kalau cincin ini dipakai, meskipun lama,
tetap berwarna biru.

E

When this ring is worn, although it is for

II

Orang ndak ada Bali Pesona Asia.

J

Lawong ora ono Bali Pesona Asia.

I

Bukankah Bali Pesona Asia tidak ada.

E

There is no bali Pesona Asia, is it.

II

Hayo malah ndak ikut KKR semua.

Kamu siang itu jam berapa?

J

Hayo malah ora melu KKR kabeh

Ya iya sih, tapi kan maksude perjalanane sana

I

Semua orang justru tidak ikut KKR

tu jauh.

E

All people will not come.

II

Tinggal hari ini sama minggu depan

J

Kari dina iki karo minggu ngarep.

I

Tinggal hari ini dan minggu depan.

a long time, the colour is still blue

2.3.4 Deleting grammatical function
Tadi nggon sekolah mainan besi.

In the first sentence there is the
deleting of subject, while in the second
one there is the deleting of verb.
Meanwhile, in the third sentence, there
II

Cik, nanti les apa ndak?

is no preposition “ke” that it should be

J

Cik, mengko les opo ora?

“ke sana”.

I

Cik, nanti les atau tidak?

E

Cik, should we have a lesson?

2.3.5 Deleting Indonesian’s affixes
Saya bawak obat asma sendiri
Menurutku cat air itu barang prakarya, na itu
bawak

2.3.2

The

preposition
Indonesian’s

using
to

of

Javanese’s
substitute

The sentences above are incorrect
since there are prefix deletions in its

11

verb. The first one deletes prefix meng-

words: sekia (children), cicik (old

.

be

sister), kokoh (old brother), encek

voice).

(young uncle from father), encim

Meanwhile, the second one deletes

(encek’s wife), engkim (young aunt

prefix –di. It should be “dibawa”

from father), etc.

The

correct

“membawa”

verb

should

(active

(passive voice).

Furthermore, this

In this part, not all of addressers in

from

human relationship are still maintained

because

by Indonesian Chinese. For example,

there are no Javanese affixes which are

“zu mu” (grandfather), and “zu fu”

substituted Indonesian’s affixes.

(grandmother)

phenomenon

is

different

morphological

interference

are

lost

and

are

substituted by Indonesian’s words
“emak” and “engkong”. Moreover,

2.4 Vocabulary Interference
The vocabulary interference comes

there is assimilation in addresser for

from

old brother, which originally is “gege”

Mandarin. As stated before, Cushman

[kə

]. In Indonesian it changes into

and Wang Gung Wu states that those

“kokoh” [kɔkɔh], “koko” [koko], or

from

the

borrowed

words

words are used to refer certain things
such as numeral, relationship, cultural

“o’oh” [ɔ?ɔh].

concept, cultural practices, and object
(1991).

2.4.3 Concept and practices
In this occasion, the writer finds

2.4.1 Numeral

that most of Indonesian Chinese still

E. g: cepek (one hundred), san (three),

maintain certain concept linked to

etc.

Chinese’s cultures which are done with
In Mandarin, actually, a numeral

its practices for instance: shangsheng

word to say one hundred is “i pai”

(a ceremony for the death), kamsia

[i?pai].

(thank you), Sinchia (Chinese New

In

Indonesian,

it

has

assimilated into “cepek” [cə
pε k].

Year), etc.

2.4.2 Relationship

2.4.4 Object

The borrowed words occur in this
occasion comes from Mandarin. Those
words are used to refer to human
relationship,

such

as

Mandarin’s

E.g: bong (graveyard), Chungkuok
(China Mainland), etc.
In Indonesian, word that means
China Mainland is “Tiongkok”. It is a
12

loan translation for original word. It is

2.5.2 Narrowing Meaning

also almost similar with “Chungkuok”.

If there is widening meaning, there

In fact, some Indonesian Chinese

would be narrowing meaning too. The

prefer “Chungkuok” to “Tiongkok”.

narrowing

meaning

occurs

in

Indonesian words to refer to certain
things for non-Chinese’s community.

2.5 Semantical Interference

For instance, word “mas” (older
brother or men whose ages are almost

2.5.1 Widening Meaning
The widening meaning uttered by

similar with older brother) or “mbak”

Indonesian Chinese in Semarang is

(older sister or women whose ages

additive

additive

almost similar with older sister) has

meaning is used to their community

different meaning from “kokoh” or

(Indonesian

“cicik”. Those are used to address non-

meaning.

The

Chinese’s

community).

For instance, they say “bong” to refer

Chinese or local recidents.

to Chinese’s graveyard; it is different
from public graveyard (graveyard for
non-Chinese)

which

they

call

2.6 Elemental Interference
The

interference

happens

in

“kuburan”. They call “kokoh” or

elements such as in word, phrase, and

“koko” or “o’oh” (Semarang dialect)

clause (Soewito, 1983). The inserted

to refer to their old brother or Chinese

elements are signed by bold letters.

men older than they are. They use
word “i’ik” (mothers’s younger sister)
and

“engku”

(mother’s

younger

brother) to substituted “bibi” and

2.6.1 Inserted Word, e.g:
Sing disini bersedia to?
Terserah, monggo, dibebaskan

“paman” or “bu lek” and “pak lek”.
They also do not call them “tante” and

2.6.2 Inserted Phrase, e.g:

“om” as modern local recident does.

Yo wis, besok rebo minggu depan yo, ok!

Word “tante” and “om” are used to

Ndak tahu orang mana, ndak ketok, lawong

refer to Chinese women and Chinese

nama wae ndak tahu. Sing mesti cewek.

men whose ages are almost similar to

Ning nek dilepas nggon dingin, lama-lama
jadi ijo

their parents.

13

2.6.3 Inserted Clause, e.g:

culture. Moreover, their ancestor also

Tapi kan orang Suriname biasane kan isa. He,

learned in separated school specialized

kowe neng kene. Tapi ndak mungkin Ngoko.

for them with Mandarin as language in

Aku ndak tahu. Pokoke tak ajaki sek wae

school. Those situations result in

to.

inclusive attitude between Peranakan
Chinese

3. Factors Causing Interferences

and

becomes

local

strong

recidents.

cultural

It

attitude

toward Chinese’s culture which is
3.1 Language Contact
Weinrich
contact

states
causing

derived to their descendants. Then, it
that

language

interference.

grows as their cultural attitude until
now.

Indonesian Chinese at least master two

They do not change their mistakes

languages (Javanese and Indonesian).

in using Standard Indonesian since it is

Even, there are some Indonesian

difficult to be changed (based on

Chinese who still master Mandarin.

interview

Those languages are used in home. The

Chinese). Thus, their mistakes are not

using of more than one language in

avoided and become their habit until

their home causes language contact

now.

to

some

Indonesian

which results in interference. It can be
seen from the types of interferences

3.3

explained above.

Identification

Interchanging

Elements,

Process,

and

Overgeneralization Process.
3.2 Cultural Attitude

Trudgill denotes that interference is

Partana and Sumarsono say that

caused by imperfect learning and

cultural attitude give background in

narrower language acquisition (2002).

maintaining the culture (2002). From

The narrower language acquisition

their vocabulary, it can be seen that

occurs when ancestors of Indonesian

they strongly maintain their culture.

Chinese had to master two languages

Based on history of Chinese immigrant

in the same and narrow time. They had

in

of

to master Malay and Javanese in the

colonialization, Chinese immigrants

same time. It is more difficult than

lived separately from local recident.

learning only one language. Thus,

They lived in “Pecinan” where they

some mistakes can happen in this

are free in doing their custom and

learning acquisition. In this case, the

Indonesia,

in

the

era

14

interchanging elements (Lippi-Green,

phonology,

2001)

constructing

vocabulary, semantic, and elemental.

Indonesian Sound House and Javanese

The interference itself is resulted by

Sound House because the Javanese’s

language contact between Indonesian

element are constructed in Indonesian

and Javanese

as

cultural

happens

explained

in

in

morphological

phonological,

and

interferences.

Then,

identification

of

it

morphology,

and

attitude

Mandarin; the
in

maintaining

syntactical

Chinese’s

results

in

derived to their descendants and has

and

become their cultural attitude until

Indonesian

strongly

now;

identification occurs in diaphones,

narrower language acquisition which

diamorph,

grammatical

was done by their ancestors which

identification as stated by Haugen

results in interchanging elements and

(cited in hastutui, 2003). It is still

identification process which followed

followed by overgeneralization process

by overgeneralization process. The

as can be seen in the explanations of

interference itself is not

interference’s types (Ellis, 1992).

because it becomes their habit and it is

Meanwhile,

their

habit

in

difficult

imperfect

which

Javanese as the same language. The

and

the

culture

syntax,

to

be

learning

and

stopped

changed.

shortening and simplifying utterances
by

deleting

phonemes,

subject,

preposition, etc are usual since all
language rub out their element to ease
articulation and to economize the
written (see p. 21).
4. Conclusion
Indonesian Chinese in Semarang is
a part of Indonesian community which
used Indonesian as their colloquial. In
using Indonesian, their Indonesian is
interferenced

by

Javanese

and

Mandarin. The interference happens in
their

Indonesian

takes

place

in

15

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Sam Poo Kong’s relieft wall’s story.

DAFTAR INFORMAN

Informan 1

:

Male, 14, Junior High Scholl Student

Informan 2

:

Female, 18, Senior High School

Informan 3

:

Female, 21, college student

Informan 4

:

Male, 21, college student

Informan 5

:

Female, 22, college student

Informan 6

:

Male, 26, private officer

Informan 7

:

Female, for abot 60, teacher

17