Morphological Analysis of Hybrid Language of Surabayanese-Chinese

A Case Study
I.

Introduction
The existence of Tionghoa ethnic in Indonesia had long been recognized

before the independence of Indonesia. There were many Chinese people who
came to Indonesia and stayed for several generations. Nowadays, they play an
important role in economy, politic, education, social, and other aspects of
development. They assimilate into local and national culture and live side by side
with other ethnics in Indonesia. Therefore, Chinese people especially IndonesianChinese are no longer considered as strangers or minorities.
From 1910 to 1946, Surabaya has the biggest Chinese communities in
Indonesia after Jakarta. As one of the biggest city for trading in Indonesia,
Surabaya attracts many people to come. The social life in Surabaya is very
complex because it has multiethnic citizens such as Surabayanese, Maduranese
(Pegirian), Chinese (Kya-Kya, Kapasan, Pabean), and Arab (Ampel) who
dominate certain areas as shown in the parentheses and create noticeable patterns
of social life and communication.
Indonesian-Chinese who live in Java mostly are able to speak and use
Indonesian language. They often mix with local dialect for their daily means of
communication. Such language has been termed as the hybrid language (Rafferty,
1984). The varieties of the hybrid language can be differed among IndonesianChinese because the ones who are still Chinese oriented, who are western
oriented, and who tend to be more integrated to the local culture mix the
languages in different ways.
There are two distinct classifications of Chinese in Surabaya: the
peranakan Chinese and the totok Chinese. The peranakan speaks Bahasa and/or
one of the local dialects. The majority have lost command of the Chinese
language. The totok Chinese are still culturally Chinese in the sense that they still

speak Chinese and/or one of the Chinese dialects. The totoks who were born in
Indonesia before World War II, are likely to stay totok, while those who were born
in the 60s have become peranakan and followed the general peranakan patterns
(Suryadinata, 1997).
Myra Sidharta (1992) classified Chinese in Indonesia based on their
educational background. Chinese with Dutch education was the most progressive
group. They adopted western lifestyles and established close relationships with
their Dutch friends. The second group was those with Malay/Indonesian
education. They did not like being colonized by the Dutch and hated Dutch
education system. Moreover, they were more nationalist and tend to assimilate to
local culture. The third group was the Chinese educated group who attempt to
maintain the culture and models from their homeland (China). They think that the
two other groups are being un-Chinese since they did not speak Chinese and did
not know much about Chinese history.
Several studies conducted by Esther Kuntjara, 2001; Dreyfuss and Oka,
1979; Wolff, 1983; Rafferty, 1984; dan Oetomo, 1987 examined the language
spoken by the Chinese in Central and East Java. They showed that the Chinese
speak hybrid language at home and among friends by combining Indonesian and
ngoko (the low level of Javanese) mixed with the local language accent. Most of
the content words are Indonesian, while the affixes are Javanese. In Western Java
and Jakarta, their language is a mixture of Indonesian and the vernacular, such as
Sundanese or Jakartanese.
This hybrid language is related to their educational and social
backgrounds. Those who are now in their 70s and older, who experienced Dutch
education, speak a mixture of Indonesian, Javanese, and Dutch, especially when
talking with their peers; those who are in the 50s and had Chinese education,
could be categorized as totok Chinese. They have a strong Chinese minded and
might speak Chinese or a mixture of Mandarin and Javanese among their peers
and children; and those who are younger than those two groups mostly study in

local private or public schools. They also learn English, and speak a mixture of
Indonesian, Javanese, sometimes English, with some local language accents.
Nowadays, many Chinese especially the young generations started to learn
Chinese.
This multilingualism and complex social and family background create
more complex structure of the hybrid language where more than two languages
are mixed. It results complicated word formations which might involve multiple
morphological process. In this paper, I would like to examine the phenomenon of
this hybrid language through morphological analysis on how words are borrowed
and combined with affixes which come from different language with the base or
root. The analysis focuses on morphological processes such as affixation,
reduplication, compounding, and other derivational processes (blending, clipping,
etc) but the analysis of morphemes functions and meaning might be added by the
writer. This is a case study observing the hybrid language of a SurabayaneseChinese woman who grows up and live in Surabaya for her entire life. The type of
the data is spontaneous spoken text. In addition, other data are taken from the
previous studies to enrich the analysis.
1.1

Statements of the problems

1. How are the morphemes combined in the hybrid language of
Surabayanese- Chinese?
2. What are the most productive affixes used in the hybrid language of
Surabayanese-Chinese? What are the meaning and function of those
affixes?

1.2.

The objectives of the study

This paper aimed to examine the functions and meaning of the affixes of

the hybrid language of Surabayanese-Chinese together with the morphological

processes on how the morphemes are combined. To describe the complete

morphological phenomena of the hybrid language, further research is needed to

collect more data because the writer only has limited time to do this paper.
II.

Data Collection Method

The data in this paper consist of a spoken corpus recorded from the

participant and the data from the previous studies to enrich the analysis. The
participant is Christinadewi Hermawan aged 34 who is a peranakan
Surabayanese-Chinese. She was chosen based on the principles to determine a
good participant for the research (Samarin: 1967). The data were obtained through
conversation and recorded without the recognition of the participant to maintain
the naturalness of the conversations.
The data were analyzed by (1) determining the complex structures in the
corpus, (2) determining the words categories, (3) determining the functions and
meaning of the affixes, (4) analyzing the morphological processes in the corpus,
and (4) making generalization of the hybrid languages morphology.
III.

The analysis of the Hybrid Language

From 19th century to early 20th century, the language spoken by the
Chinese in Indonesia was called Bahasa Melayu Tionghoa. It was a mixture of
Malay and Mandarin or Indonesian-Chinese dialect, or Malay and Dutch. This is
an example taken from an advertisement in a famous newspaper Sin Po in 1926:
Batikhandel Borneo Pekalongan
Saban hari trima batik model baroe, kasar dan haloes sedia sampe TJOEKOEP.
Pesenan dikirim dengen post rembours, dalem Hindia Olanda pesen f 400.atawa kirim oewang lebih doeloe f 300.- vry ongkost. Loear Hindia tida bisa
dapet vry ongkost. Pada langganan dapet rabat bagoes dan presen.
Pakket reclame Kirim oewang f 50.- bisa dapet 10 saroeng bagoes roepa-roepa
matjem, ongkos vry. Rembours tamba ongkost kirim dan tida dapet rabat.
[Batik manufacture Borneo Pekalongan receive new models of batik every
day, from the coarse to the soft are ENOUGH. The order will be sent by
reimbursed postage within Holland Indies order as much as f 400.- or send your
money first for f 300.- free shipping. Outside Holland Indies is with fee.
Customers will get discount and tip. Advertisement package send f 50.- will get
10 various batiks, with free shipping. Reimbursed package is with shipping fee
and no discount.]

Phenomena
trima
sedia
pesen
kirim
dapet
handel
rembours
post
reklame
presen
packet
Saban

Grammatical
Category
Verb
Verb
Verb
Verb
Verb
Noun
Noun
Noun
Noun
Noun
Noun
Adverb

Morphological
Processes
Zero derivation
Zero derivation
Zero derivation
Zero derivation
Zero derivation
Borrowing
Borrowing
Borrowing
Borrowing
Borrowing
Borrowing
Borrowing

Generalizations
It often uses the base
form of verb although it
is
not
imperative
sentence.
It often borrows words
form Dutch, English,
and few from vernacular
(Jakartanese).

A famous magazine, Star Weekly, was also read by most IndonesianChinese in 1950s. It used a lot of Dutch terms mixed with Malay language, such
as the following sentences taken from Star Weekly, which was published in 1950:
Untuk melukisken effectnja arosol behandeling kita tjeritaken riwajatnja sala
satu patient dari Dr. Gerrits: Patient B., 40 umurnja, waktu umur 22 taon
menderita pleuritis dan waktu umur 30 taon longonsteking.
[To describe the effect of handling aerosol, we will tell the experience of one of
Dr. Gerrits patients: Patient B, 40 years old, when he was 22 years old, he
suffered from pleuritis and when he was 30 years old from lung disease.]
Phenomena
effectnja
melukisken
tjeritaken
riwajatnja
longonstekin
g
behandeling
pleuritis

Grammatical
Category
Noun
Verb
Verba
Noun
Nomina
Verba
Pronomina

Morphological Processes

Generalizations

Borrowing&Suffixation
(effect+nya)
Suffixation -kan
Suffixation -kan
Suffixation -nya
Borrowing&Compundin
g
Borrowing
Borrowing

The affixation is mostly

taken from Indonesian
rather than vernacular.

There is a tendency to
borrow foreign words.

This is another sample taken from a book written by Tjamboek Berdoeri,

known as Kwee Thiam Tjing, a Chinese descent, entitled Indonesia dalem Api
dan Bara firstly published in 1947 and republished in 2004.
Ada baccarat, ada dji-iet, ada tjapdji Dalem praktijknja tudjuan buat bantu
memang benar diusahakan, tetapi buat bantu orang jang mendjadi pegawai dari
5

Nanyang Societeit, bantu pemegang2 saham2nja, buat garuk keuntungan.

Sedang si voorzitter goblok tjuma boleh makan dan minum prei di buffet.
[There are places for gambling like baccarat, dji-iet, and tjapdji In practice,
there is indeed an intention to help, but it is done to help the share holder
members of Nanyang Social Organization to make profit. Meanwhile the stupid
chairperson can only get free meal and drink at the buffet.]
Phenomena
ada
bantu
garuk
buffet
societeit
voorzitter
goblok

Grammatical
Category
Verb
Verb
Verb
Noun
Noun
Noun
Adjective

Morphological
Processes
Zero derivation
Zero derivation
Zero derivation
Borrowing
Borrowing
Borrowing
Borrowing

Generalizations
The verb is often bare
infinitive.
It tends to borrow Dutch
words rather than the
vernacular.

This data were taken from the casual conversation among Chinese
Indonesians in the study of Oetomo (1987) in Pasuruan, East Java:
Kalo, kalo beli nggon tempat ksklusif Cuma dirken piro, sitoq Pokoq
Bu Bni itu beli zonder tabong firtegh doesen. Beli sitoq twaelf en half. Twaelef
en half itu dngen isin lho itu. Jij nk beli gas tw doesen dadi berarti tien
doesen mkan.
[If, if you buy the container, they only charge you, how much do they charge you, if
its included in the purchase of a stove, how much Anyway Mrs. Bni bought
one without a container, for Rp. 40,000.- If you buy one, its Rp. 12,000.- They
charge you Rp 12,500.- including the contents, you know. You can buy the gas for
Rp 2,000.- so that means the container only costs Rp 10,000.-]
Tk, koh. W di sini sekarang. Sudah lama, molai taon nempuluh satu. Ya cuan
ciaq, koh, sekarang. Pasuruan ini nq ndak, apa, koh? Bisa cuan ciaq itu.
[Tk lives there. I live near here now. Its been a while now. Since 1961. Well we
can make both ends meet now. What do you expect of you live in Pasuruan. To
make both ends meet]
Lha moro moro anu, gini, nasi rawon, gini-gini-gini, o, ya piro-piro-piro, jinggo.
Lha kita ndak tahu itungan to, Np. Ya ndak? Samp pulang itu tak rkenrken.
Piro regan iki? Makan gini mosok jinggo. Tros akhir banyak orang bilang
ngegok, mbales, Np.
[You, suddenly they total up the bill, nasi rawon, this-this-this, Rp 1500,- Well, we
dont know the calculation, right? On the way home I kept on calculating, how

much is the price? I could not have spent Rp 1500,- just eating those things. Later
on a lot of people told me they over-charged. So I took revenge on them.]
Phenomena
ksklusif
zonder
tabong
jinggo
dirken
gas
isin
nggon
mbales
nempuluh
ndak
rkenrken
gini-gini-gini
piro-piro-piro

Grammatical
Category
Adjective
Noun
Adjective
(Numeric)
Verb
Noun
Noun
Noun
Verb
Adjective
(Numeric)
Adverb
Verb
Demonstrativ
e
Interogative

Morphological Processes

Generalizations

Borrowing
Borrowing&Compoundin
g
Borrowing
Preffixation
Suffixation
Suffixation
Suffixation
Simulfix
Blending

The borrowing words

from foreign language
are still dominant.

Clipping
Perfect Reduplication
Perfect Reduplication
Perfect Reduplication

The affixation starts to

be dominantly taken
from Javanese (-e).

There is also tendency

to shorten the words.
The
base
completely
duplicated.

is

Below are a few examples used consecutively by older and educated

Chinese and Dutch women:
Dulu yang punya mobil cung kuo ren kan isa diitung dulu itu taon enampuluh
lebih, enampuluh lebih itu wo barusan cie fen.
[In the past Chinese people who owned cars were just a few that was in the
60s, it was when I just got married.]
Itu ipar Om itu, dia juga mbikin, tapi modl lan sama ndk ik ini, ndik tacik
itu ada modl-modl ada aplikasi-aplikasi gitu lho lha dia ini hanya
gebloom-gebloom dikasii watercraf gitu ya
[She is my husbands sister-in-law, but the model is different from mine. Mine
has its own models with some applications while hers is just flowers with
some water color]
Phenomena
ipar
modl
aplikasi-aplikasi
gebloom-gebloom
modl-modl

Grammatical
Category
Nomina
Nomina
Nomina
Nomina
Nomina

Morphological Processes

Generalizations

Suffixation
Suffixation
Reduplication
Reduplication
Reduplication&Suffixation

The words are still

dominantly
borrowed
from
foreign language

dikasii
Verba
Suffixation
but the affixes are
gitu
Demonstrative Clipping
from Javanese.
isa
Verba
Clipping
barusan
Adverb
Suffixation
cie fen
Verba
Borrowing
watercraft
Nomina
Borrowing
A local TV station in Surabaya, JTV, broadcasted a special news program
presented by an Indonesian-Chinese using typical Chinese Indonesian hybrid language
and dialect. These are the opening and closing of the program:
Wei. Selamat sor! Ni hao ma pemirsa JTV. Ketemu lagi ambik wo Dominique ndik
Pecinan sing ngabarno berita kegiatan n masyarakat etnis Tionghoa ndik Jawa
Timur. Pemirsa segini sik ketemuan kn. Ow Dominique ambik kabh kru
sing kerja nyampikno mban-mban kamsia keja liak acara ini. Kn ketemu lagi
minggu depan ndik program ambik waktu sing sama. Cai cin.
[Hi, Good afternoon! How are you viewers of JTV? I, Dominique meet you again
at Pecinan news which will report the activities of Chinese community in East
Java. This ends our meeting today. I, Dominique, and the crew here thank you so
much for listening to this news. Well meet again next week in the same program
and at the same time. Bye.]
Phenomena
ndik
segini

Grammatical
Category
Preposition
Demonstartive

sik
kne

Adjective
Pronomina

ngabarno
nyampikno
kegiatan n
ketemuan
kerja
ketemu

Verb
Verb
Nomina
Nomina
Verba
Verba

Morphological
Processes
Simulfix N+di
Suffixation & Blending
se+begini
Borrowing
Suffixation & Blending
Kita+ne
Suffixation
Suffixation
Suffixation
Suffixation
Zero derivation
Zero derivation

Generalizations
Zero derivation is still
maintained for the verbs
and
now
Javanese
affixations are dominant
as they tend to shorten
the words.

From the conversation with a peranakan Chinese woman conducted by the

writer, the hybrid language can be analyzed as follows:
No
1

Phenomena
ribuan
gedean
janjian

Grammatical
Category
Noun
Adjective
Verb

Proses Morfologis

Generalizations
The affixations are
mostly taken from
Javanese.

berapaan
Print-prinan
foto-fotoan
pink-pingan
pesenan
sisaan
kasii
dikasii
bibandoi
ngewangi
biasane
tutupe
isine
anune
nggone
atase
roke
pulange
suguhane
mocoe
bantale
maune
bulue
katae
motonge
ukurane
koyoke
mbuate
jadine
mangkane
tutupe
rangkae
namae
jarene
fotoe
nggone
bee
gae
hargane
digawe
kapanane

Interrogative
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Noun
Noun
Verb
Verb
Verb
Verb
Adverb
Noun
Noun
Noun
Noun
Noun
Noun
Noun
Noun
Verb
Noun
Verb
Noun
Reference
Verb
Noun
Conjunction
Verb
Conjunction
Conjunction
Noun
Noun
Noun
Adverb
Noun
Noun
Conjunction
Verb
Noun
Verb
Adverb

The simulfix sometimes

works to adopt local
dialect (Javanese) and it
creates distinctive
characteristic of
Indonesian-Chinese
dialect.

Nowadays, Chinese
people tend to borrow
and mix the morphemes
from Javanese.
Moreover, they often
shorten the words
through Clipping and
Blending that build its
characteristic.
The reduplication
processes are varied
and no longer
dominantly use perfect
reduplication.

dipamerno
didodohno
ngeterno

Preposition
Preposition
Conjunction
Fatis
Demonstrativ
e
Demonstrativ
e
Preposition
Demonstrativ
e
Numeric
Prepposition
Interogative
Verb
Adverb
Adverb
Verb
Verb
Verb

liat
dateng
kasih
bestonan
pengajian
garapan
gantian
Dulurku
tonggoku

Verb
Verb
Verb
Noun
Noun
Noun
Verb
Noun
Noun

12

Misua

Noun

13

tiba-tibo

Adjective

14

nganterin

Verb

beliin
buatin

Verb
Verb

10

11

nok
nang
nek
yo
gini
iku
tak
gitu
nam
ndek
yaapa
nyoba
ntik
ndak

Clipping

Clipping
Clipping
Blending
Simulfix

Circumfix
Circumfix
Simulfix&Suffix
(N+antar)+no
Zero derivation
Zero derivation
Zero derivation
Suffixation
Suffixation
Suffixation
Suffixation
Borrowing&Suffixation
Borrowing&Suffixation
Reversing the last
syllable with the first
syllable
Suami Misua
Borrowing (tibo) &
reduplication of the last
syllable
Simulfix&Suffixation
N+antar ngantar+in
Suffixation
Suffixation

IV. Conclusions

10

Based on the data taken by the writer and the previous researchers, it can
be concluded that:
1. In the past, Indonesian-Chinese tend to borrow words from foreign languages
such as Dutch and English and tend to borrow the affixes from Bahasa
Indonesia (effectnya) rather than the vernacular such as Javanese, Sundanese,
or Jakaratanese.
2. Nowadays, in contrast, they tend to borrow words and affixes from the
vernaculars such as Javanese, Sundanese, or Jakaratanese rather than Bahasa
Indonesia or foreign languages (tunjukno, biasane).
3. A lot of morphemes in hybrid language are combined through more than one
morphological processes that might be confusing for the listeners who are not
familiar with it. First, the morpheme (usually the root or base) is borrowed
from Bahasa Indonesia. Second, the base is combined with one or more affixes
from the vernacular (Javanese) or different language origin with the root. Third,
before combined with a suffix, sometimes there is a simulfix which gives the
local accent or dialect (ngopi, nganter, minjem).
4. Zero derivation is significantly use for the verbs. Therefore, it is often found
that the base forms of verb are use in the affirmative sentences. The meaning
and function are not to ask someone to do something or to form imperative
sentences.
5. The most productive affixes used in the hybrid language of Indonesian-Chinese
are suffixes no, -an, -in, -i, -e and ne which mostly derived from Javanese.
Suffix in is combined with the base form of verb to form verb. It means that it is
an inflection because it doesnt change the words class or category. The function
of suffix in is to form imperative sentence (beliin, masukin, buatin). Suffis no
also has the same meaning and function as suffix in. Suffix an involves
derivational process because it change the word category into Noun (pengajian),
Adjective (gedean), Verb (janjian), and interrogative (berapaan). Suffix i is used
to form verb (kasii, ngewangi) without changing the category. Suffix ne is used
11

to form noun (ukurane), verb (motonge), adverb (kapanane), adverbial adjunct

(biasane), and conjunction (mangkane) which is a derivational affixes. Suffix e
is more predictable which is used to form Noun (modele, ipare).

12