As we know, two words that are different by only a single sound and have different meanings are called minimal pairs (Finegan, 2015). Confusion in the use of words that are minimal pairs could result in misunderstandings but also hilarious and potentially awkward situations. The following excerpts of stories are taken from a website where ‘expats’ or foreigners working in Indonesia share their experience using Bahasa Indonesia incorrectly resulting in funny situations. Each story will be followed by a phonological analysis of the minimal pairs to show how the funny situation arose.
Story 1
My first year with a friend in central Java. We got on a bus and the driver asked us to sit up in the 'nice' seats in front. I turned to my friend and said: "Ahh, seperti binatang".
In this situation, the word that the foreigner used to refer to himself and his friend was ‘binatang’ meaning animal. So what he actually said was “Ahh, like animals”. What the foreigner really meant to use was the word ‘bintang’, meaning star because the driver offered the seats located in the front of the bus which are usually much more comfortable. Thus, the words bintang [bɪntʌŋ] and binatang [bɪnʌtʌŋ] are minimal pairs.
Story 2
My most embarrassing Bahasa bloopers story: I was working as a pilot with a domestic airline. The crews were transported between their homes and the airport in a fleet of company owned mini-buses with very polite drivers who would try very hard not to show amusement at some of my early efforts to learn the language. My best blooper was just a bit much for some of them (sniggers gave way to a few guffaws) when I burst into the transport section office, and in front of half a dozen drivers who were hanging about having a smoke, I said that I was expecting some pubic hairs at 7.00am tomorrow!
To understand the hilarity of this story, it is important to know that pubic hairs in Bahasa Indonesia are called ‘jembut’. This word is just one sound different from the word ‘jemput’, meaning to pick up. Thus, the words jemput [ʤəmpʊt] and jembut [ʤəmbʊt] are minimal pairs.
Story 3
On first arrival I spent a fraught few minutes searching for a carrot (wortel) rather than a telephone service (wartel) which amused some locals. I also called a tailor (penjahit) a criminal (penjahat).
In this story, there are two different minimal pairs, namely wartel [wʌrtel] and wortel [wɒrtəl] as well as penjahit [pənʤʌhɪt] and penjahat [pənʤʌhʌt]. Based on the author’s explanation, you can see why the locals are confused. The mistake in the use of ‘wartel’ in the first situation is certainly amusing, and in a worst case scenario would only lead to the locals showing him a place to buy carrots. However, for the second situation, the circumstance could certainly be more problematic.
Story 4
Bahasa Teacher: “What do you say to a waiter when you want to order ice lemon tea?”
Expat student: “Saya mau es teh manis? I don’t know lemon in Indonesian.”
Bahasa Teacher: “You can say lemon as lemon. But lemon in Bahasa is actually jeruk nipis.”
Expat student: “Got it. Jeruk pipis…”
Bahasa Teacher: “Huh?”
Expat student: “Jeruk pipis?”
Bahasa Teacher: *laughing* “Seriously, I wouldn’t recommend ordering that!”
In this dialogue between a foreigner learning Bahasa Indonesia and the teacher, the comical situation arose from the students’ mispronunciation of a word which was ‘pipis’. ‘Pipis’ in English means pee, while ‘nipis’ as in ‘jeruk nipis’ refers to lime (not lemon, actually). You can see why the teacher responded by saying “Seriously, I wouldn’t recommend ordering that!”. We can then conclude that nipis [nɪpɪs] and pipis [pɪpɪs] are minimal pairs.
Story 5
I've asked what time the kereta sapi leaves for Yogya.
If translated literally, ‘kereta sapi’ means cow train. The foreigner had confused the word ‘sapi’ with ‘api’ in ‘kereta api’ which means train (‘api’ on its own means fire). Thus, from this story it is clear that sapi [sʌpɪ] and api [ʌpɪ] are minimal pairs.
References
Finegan, E. (2015). Language: Its structure and use (7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Faux Pas and other Bahasa learning bloopers. Retrieved from http://www.expat.or.id/info/bahasafun.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment