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A PHENOMENON OF CODE SWITCHING AND CODE

MIXING IN INDONESIAN SONGS

Zuanita Arifin (112154021)


English Literature’11
The Faculty of Language and Art
State University of Surabaya

ABSTRACT

A phenomenon of code switching and code mixing has already spread in


Indonesia. Not only in spoken language, this phenomenon also occurs in written
language, such as in lyrics of songs. Some musicians put other language in the
lyrics of their songs, such as English, Japanese, and Korean. But the most
common switching or mixing is with English language because Indonesian people
have already been familiar with English. This paper will discuss this phenomenon
in 9 Indonesian songs, such as Aishiteru by Zivilia Band, Sarangheyo by Sule,
Dirimu Satu by Ungu Band, Guardian Angel by Cinta Laura, My Heart by Acha
and Irwansyah, Lady Sky by ST12, Broken Heart by Setia Band, Fallin’ in Love
by J-Rocks, and Love is You by CherryBelle.

Keywords: Code-Switching, Code-Mixing, Indonesian Songs

A. INTRODUCTION

Code switching and code mixing are two important terms in


sociolinguistics. The concept of code switching and code mixing refers to the
code which means language in speech community where people can use two or
more languages. In this circumstances, when code switching and code mixing
occur, people can understand that knowing two or more languages is a necessary.
In society, people sometimes switch code within a domain or social situation.
When some obvious changes occur in the situation, such as a new person comes,
it is easy to explain the switch.
Code switching and code mixing not only occur in spoken language but
also in written language, such as the lyric of songs. In this case, a phenomenon of

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code switching and code mixing often occur in Indonesian songs. Many musicians
in Indonesia create songs with mixing some other languages in the lyrics, such as
English, Japanese, Korean, and many others. The most common mixing is with
English language because Indonesian people have already been familar with
English since it is the international language.
This paper discusses the phenomenon of code switching and code
mixing in Indonesian songs that is already spread nowadays. The writer gives
example of nine songs that use some switching and mixing to other languages,
such as Aishiteru by Zivilia Band, Sarangheyo by Sule, Dirimu Satu by Ungu
Band, Guardian Angel by Cinta Laura, My Heart by Acha and Irwansyah, Lady
Sky by ST12, Broken Heart by Setia Band, Fallin’ in Love by J-Rocks, and Love
is You by CherryBelle. This paper uses Holmes (1992) and Wardhaugh (2006)
theory about code switching and code mixing to analyse the data.

B. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

1. Code Switching
Code switching is the absolute consequence of bilingualism or more
generally multilingualism. People who know more than one language and can
interact with other people use more than one language choose between them
according to circumstances. First consideration for that of course in which
language will be comprehensible to the person address. In common, a person
chooses a language which the other person can understand. In multilingualism
community, people usually use different languages in different circumstances and
control the choice according to the social rules. Typically, one language is
reserved exclusive for use at home and another is used in the wider community.
Once, Holmes said that a switch may also reflect a change in the other
dimensions, such as the status relations between people or the formality of their
interaction. (Holmes, 1992, p.42). As Gal (1988, p. 247) also says, ‘codeswitching
is a conversational strategy used to establish, cross or destroy group boundaries;
to create, evoke or change interpersonal relations with their rights and
obligations.’ We will now look more closely at this phenomenon. Some also say

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that code switching occur in purpose, for example when an English teacher is
teaching, sometimes he uses Indonesian to emphasize what he actually means.

2. Code Mixing
Code mixing occurs when a fluent-bilingual changes. Language without
any change in situation while speaking to another fluent bilingual for the correct
effect, this kind of alternation is called code-mixing. The purpose of code-mixing
is to symbolize ambiguous situation for which neither language an on it’s would
be quite right. To get the right effect. The speakers balance the two languages
against each other as a kind of linguistic cocktail. A few words of one language
then a few words of the other, then back to the first for a few more words and so
on. the changes generally take place more or; less randomly as far as subject
matter is concerned , but they seem to be limited by sentence structure.
While, Wardhaugh (2006, p.101) says, ‘code mixing is same as code
switching, that is selecting a particular code whenever people choose to speak,
and they may also decide to switch from one code to another or to mix codes even
within sometimes very short utterances and thereby create a new code’. Some also
say that code mixing occur out of purpose, for example when a girl talks to her
teacher in school, she sometimes mixes up Indonesian with Javanese.

C. RESEARCH METHOD

This research was a kind of descriptive research because it described data


and characteristics about the population or phenomenon being studied. Furchan in
Erna (2008) explained that descriptive research is a descriptive study designed to
obtain information about the status of a phenomenon when research is conducted.
Descriptive research had characteristics as proposed Furchan in Erna (2008) that
(1) descriptive research tends to describe a phenomenon as it is by reviewing on a
regular basis-tight, giving priority to objectivity, and done carefully. (2) the
absence of a given treatment or controlled, and (3) there is no of hypothesis
testing. Based on the theory above, this research analyzed the phenomenon of
code switching and code mixing in Indonesian songs.

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The writers use four ways in this analysis: 1. Identifying the data, finding the
songs that use code switching and code mixing; 2. Classifying the data, whether
belongs to code switching or code mixing; 3. Analyzing the purpose of code
switching and code mixing in the songs; 4. Cocluding, includes finding the result
of the study.

D. FINDING AND DISCUSSION


In this section, the writer will put the lyrics of nine songs that have
code switching and code mixing that have already mentioned above. Then, the
writer will analyse each of the three songs whether they belong to code switching
or code mixing.

1. Aishiteru (Zivilia Band)

musiklib.org › Z › Zivilia Lyrics

4th stanza:
Kekuatan cinta kita takkan pernah rapuh
Terhapus ruang dan waktu
Percayakan kesetiaan ini
Pada ketulusan a a ai aishiteru

9th stanza:
Kimita tuokukitemo
Kiminoi shuaguaratala
Shiniteruyo shiniteruyo

Back to [*][**]

Wo wo wo..
Wo wo wo..a a ai aishiteru

Analysis:

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In the first and the second stanza, the singer of the song uses Bahasa
Indonesia fully. Then, in the fourth stanza, the lyric got mixed with a word from
Japanese “aishiteru” which means “aku cinta kamu” in Bahasa Indonesia and “I
love you” in English. The writer considers that the code mixing is happening in
the line “Pada ketulusan a a ai aishiteru”. It is because the lyric of that line is
only mixed with one different word. As a theory said that in code mixing, the
mixing occur from few words of one language then a few words of the other, then
back to the first for a few more words and so on.
Then, in the last stanza, the lyrics is full in Japanese. The writer considers
that code switching is happening in that last stanza because the singer switch the
language from Bahasa Indonesia to Japanese in purpose. The singer wants to
emphasize the meaning of the previous lyric in Japanese. Thus, the meaning is the
same, as we can se below:

Kimita tuokukitemo Walau raga kita terpisah jauh


Kiminoi shuaguaratala = Namun hati kita selalu dekat
Shiniteruyo shiniteruyo Percayalah..percayalah..
So, in this song, both code switching and code mixing are happening.

2. Saranghaeyo (Sule feat Eru)


www.wowlirik.com › Sule

Yeee...hoo baby...
Bila matahari saat ini tak terang
Itu mendung, itu mendung
Bila bunga di taman tidak kehujanan
Itu layu itu layu

I can't believe this is happen to me baby...


Aku tidak percaya
I can't believe
All distance to me baby
I can't believe, teu percanteun..

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Saranghaeyo...aku cinta padamu
Saranghaeyo...aku sayang padamu
Saranghaeyo...abdi bogoh ka salira
Saranghaeyo...kulo tresno sliramu
oh my darling kamsahamnida
yeee....

Duh gusti nyanggakeun sadaya daya


Kalau cinta kita akan berakhir
Teu na naon, biarkanlah

Saranghaeyo...aku cinta padamu


Saranghaeyo...aku sayang padamu
Saranghaeyo...abdi bogoh ka salira
Saranghaeyo...kulo tresno sliramu
oh my darling kamsaheyo
yeee....

Saranghaeyo...aku cinta padamu


Saranghaeyo...aku sayang padamu
Saranghaeyo...abdi bogoh ka salira
Saranghaeyo...kulo tresno sliramu
Oh...my darling kamsaheyo
Oh my darling kamsaheyo
Oh my darling kamsaheyo

Analysis:
In this song, Sule uses five languages, they are Bahasa Indonesia,
Javanese, Sundanese, English, and Korean. In the first stanza, Sule has already
mixed the lyric by using a word from English “baby”, it is called as code mixing.

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Then, in the second stanza, code switching is happening. Look at the lyric of the
second stanza below.
I can't believe this is happen to me baby...
Aku tidak percaya
I can't believe
All distance to me baby
I can't believe, teu percanteun..

The first line, Sule use English, then he wants to emhasize what he means
in the next line by using Bahasa Indonesia. And, in the last line of the second
stanza, Sule use English and Sundanese words that have same meaning, I can’t
believe = teu percanteum, so it is also code switching.
Then, in the third stanza, Sule also use code switching to emphasize what
he means in other language. This stanza has the most various languages, they are
Korean, Bahasa Indonesia, Sundanese, Javanese, and English. Sule combines all
those languages in one stanza. Look at the third stanza below.
Saranghaeyo...aku cinta padamu
Saranghaeyo...aku sayang padamu
Saranghaeyo...abdi bogoh ka salira
Saranghaeyo...kulo tresno sliramu
oh my darling kamsaheyo
yeee....
In the lyric above, a code mixing is happening only in the last line, “oh my
darling kamsaheyo”. Sule mixed English and Korean. The lyric means “oh my
darling I love you” in English and “oh sayangku aku cinta kamu” in Bahasa
Indonesia. The mixing with Korean language is because Sule sings this song by
duet with an original Korean people, Eru. Beside that, Korea fever has already
spread in Indonesia, especially in teenagers by Korean Drama, Movies, and K-Pop
songs.
So, in this song, like the first song before, both code switching and code mixing
are happening.

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3. Dirimu Satu (Ungu Band)
lirik.kapanlagi.com/artis/ungu/dirimu_satu

1st stanza
I will always love you kekasihku
dalam hidupku hanya dirimu satu
i will always need you cintaku
selamanya takkan pernah terganti
3rd stanza
i will be the last for you
and you will be the last for me

Analysis:

In this song, the singer begins the lyric with code mixing. We can see in
the very first line I will always love you kekasihku. A code mixing is happening in
this line because it used the combination between English and Bahasa Indonesia.
Thus, after the sentence I will always love you, the singer uses “kekasihku”
instead of “my darling”, so it is considered as code mixing.

Then, in the last line of this song, code switching is happening. The singer
wants to emphasize what he means from the previous lines by using English.

So, once again, in this song, both code switching and code mixing are happening.

4. Guardian Angel (Cinta Laura)


musiklib.org › C › Cinta Laura Lyrics

2nd stanza:
Akhirnya ku temukan
You’re my guardian angel
Ku mohon selamanya
Seindah ini

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3rd stanza:
Akhirnya ku miliki
You’re my guardian angel
Terjawab segalanya
Kau yang ku nanti
Baby i love you
Love you

Analysis:
In this song, the first stanza is in Bahasa Indonesia. And then, the second
stanza is mixed with English in the second line, “You’re my guardian angel”. It is
considered as code mixing because the singer of this song only puts some English
words in that stanza. There are no lines before and after that have the same
meaning as the English words. So, it is considered as code mixing. Then, in the
third stanza, code mixing also happens in second and fourth line. The singer
prefer uses English words to Bahasa Indonesia in that line.
So, in this song, there is only code mixing that the singer uses.

5. My Heart (Acha & Irwansyah)


musiklib.org › A › Acha Dan Irwansyah Lyrics

The last stanza:

If you love somebody, could we be this strong


I will fight to win our love will conquer all
Wouldn’t risk my love even just one night
Our love will stay in my heart
My heart

Analysis:

In this song, there are some English words in the last stanza. As we can
see the lyric above, the last stanza is full of English words. The writer considers
that it is called as code switching. Because it has purpose of using English words
in that stanza. The purpose is to emphasize what the singer means in the previous

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stanza, so the singer use other language to explain it, that is English. Thus, the last
stansa has the same meaning as the previous one:

Bila kita mencintai yang lain


Mungkinkah hati ini akan tegar
Sebisa mungkin tak akan pernah
Sayangku akan hilang

So, this song only use code switching.

6. Lady Sky (ST12)


lirik.kapanlagi.com › ... › LIRIK ST12 - LADY SKY

1st stanza:
Kau forever to me
Kau kau to me
And kau my lover to me
Kau kau to me

2nd stanza:
Kau look into my eyes
Kau look into my heart
And kau always in my dream
Kau

3rd stanza:
Sungguh sampai kini ku sangat merindukanmu
Dan cepat-cepat datanglah cepat kemari hei
Lady sky (lady sky) lady sky (lady sky) lady sky
I still really love you

Analysis:
In this song, there are a lot of code mixing process. In the very first line of
this song, we can find the line says “Kau forever to me”. In the real English, it
should be “You’re forever to me”, but the singer mixes Bahasa Indonesia and

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English. The singer omits the verb “are”, “adalah” in Bahasa Indonesia. Then, the
same thing also happens in the second line “kau kau to me”. It is a redundancy of
the word “kau” or “you” in English. Then the singer mixes with English words “to
me”. In the original English, the sentence should be “you’re to me”. The singer
also omits “are” in this line. The next line “And kau my lover to me”, it is obvious
that a code switching process happens in this line. Because in the original English,
the sentence should be “and you’re my lover”.
Then, in the second stanza, there are also some code mixing processes in
the lines. The first line “kau look into my eyes”. In the original English, the
sentence should be “you look into my eyes”. Then, in the second line “kau look
into my heart” should be “you look into my heart”. And the third line “and kau
always in my dream” should be “and you’re always in my dream”. The code
mixing process happens in this stanza without break the original sentence
structure. The same thing also happens in the third stanza, that is code mixing
process.

So, in this song, there is no code switching process, it is just code mixing
processes.

7. Broken Heart (Setia Band)

1st stanza-1st line:


Diriku broken heart, you make me broken heart

2nd stanza:

Kau, ku kan mengingatmu for all the time, if end tonight


I can remember you for all my life wooo
Kau, ku kan mengenangmu for all the time, if end tonight
I can remember you for all my life, if end tonight

Last stanza:

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Broken heart, you make me broken heart
Broken heart, you make me broken heart
Broken heart, you make me broken heart
Broken heart, you really take my heart away

Analysis:

In this song, there are a code mixing process and a code switching in the
first stanza in first line, “Diriku broken heart, you make me broken heart”. The
sentence should be “I’m broken heart, you make me broken heart”. “diriku broken
heart” is considered as code mixing because the singer mixes Bahasa Indonesia
with English. While the sentence “you make me broken heart” is considered as
code switching because the singer wants to emphasize what he means from the
previous sentence.

Then, in the second stanza, there are also code mixng process and code
switching process. The first line “Kau, ku kan mengingatmu for all the time, if
end tonight” should be “you, I’ll remember you for all the time, if end tonight”.
So, the first line is considered as code mixing process. Then, the second line “I
can remember you for all my life” is considered as code switching process
because the purpose of this line is to emphasize what the singer means from the
first line before.

So, there are code switching and code mixing processes in this song.

8. Falling in love (J-Rocks)

J Rock - Falling In Love Lyrics | MetroLyrics

The last stanza:

Aku jatuh cinta, tlah jatuh cinta


Cinta kepadamu, ku jatuh cinta
I'm falling in love, I'm falling in love with you

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Analysis:

In this song, there is only a code switching process in the very last line of
the last stanza. The line says “I’m falling in love, I’m falling in love with you”.
The singer wants to emphasize what he means from the previous line. The
switching is on purpose, so that is why it is considered as a code switching
process. So, there is only a code switching process in this song.

9. Love Is You (CherryBelle)

2nd stanza

Baby i love you, love you, love you so much


And i miss you, miss you when you’re gone
Baby i need you, need you, need you so much
Since i found out love is you

Analysis:
In this song, there is only code switching process. The second stanza is full
in English. Although this stanza does not have the same meaning with the
previous one, it is still considered as a code switching because the singer use the
English sentences in this stanza on purpose. So, the process that happens in this
song is only code switching.

E. CONCLUSION
In this way, we can say that the users of the language mix the codes.
The use English, Korean, Japanese, Javanese, and Sundanese words in the Bahasa
Indonesia sentences, they use it without breaking the rules of the making sentence.
Code-mixing emphasis high and the term code switching emphasize movement
from one language to another language. The switchers use English words and
expressions even when equivalents exist in Bahasa Indonesia, they feel that their
equivalents in Bahasa Indonesia might sound formal and unnatural.

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This code switching and code mixing phenomenon can happen because
Indonesia has not only the national language, Bahasa Indonesia, but also has many
languages of each region. So, the users of the language often switch and mix
language when interaction happens in the society. The switching and mixing with
foreign languages, such as English, Korean, and Japanese can also happen
because of the influence of those languages. The influences can be from
Hollywood, Korean, Japan Movies, and also from the original users of the
language who stay in Indonesia. Not only in spoken, this phenomenon also
happens in written language.

REFERENCES

Holmes, J. (1992). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London&New York:


Longman.

Wardhaugh, R. (2006). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (5th ed.). Oxford:


Blackwell Publishing.
https://www.facebook.com/Pages.Kamus.Bahasa.Sunda/posts/366222956813004

http://www.cariliriklagu.com/2010/05/lirik-lagu-aishiteru-zivilia-band/

http://www.wowlirik.com/2013/03/lirik-lagu-sarangheyo-sule-feat-eru.html

http://lirik.kapanlagi.com/artis/ungu/dirimu_satu

http://musiklib.org/Cinta_Laura-Guardian_Angel-Lirik_Lagu.htm

http://www.cariliriklagu.com/2008/02/lirik-lagu-my-heart-acha-septriasa/

http://lirik.kapanlagi.com/artis/st12/lady_sky

http://lirik.kapanlagi.com/artis/setia_band/broken_heart

http://www.metrolyrics.com/falling-in-love-lyrics-j-rock.html

http://wanto-inspirasi.blogspot.com/2012/06/lirik-lagu-follow-me-andre-feat-
sule.html

http://www.liriklagu.info/c/cherry-belle-love-is-you.html

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