Entry 2: Slang Used by Indonesian Youths

In the book Language: Its Structure and Use, Finegan (2015) discussed about social boundaries and dialects in which dialect was defined as a variety of language typical of a certain region or social group. In Indonesia, Indonesian youths (typically those who are of ages 15-28) who we can consider as their own social group, use slang in their everyday oral and written discourse. In my opinion, the slang that Indonesian youths use could be considered a different dialect on their own, due to the distinct group that uses it (Indonesian youths) and the number of words in the ‘dialect’ which continuously increases in number. 

This issue is of particular interest for me because of my current situation as a graduate student in the U.S. Even though I can be considered as part of the Indonesian youth, there are many slang words that I still don’t know. Thus, I believe when I am back in Indonesia in two years time, the number of slang words that I don’t know will definitely rise. 

For this entry, I searched online for a list of slang words that emerged in 2015. It was interesting to find out that there are blog posts that gives updates on new slang words and even an app that tracks new slangs and provides its definition. Perhaps, due to the rapid development of Indonesian slangs, there is a need to document these slang words online so that people can be constantly up to date. 

A quick look at the list of slang words that I found online showed that some of these words are a result of blending. The following are examples of Indonesian slang words formed through blending:

Slang	Origin	Slang Definition
Cogan	Cowok (Guy) + Ganteng (Handsome)	Handsome guy
Cecan	Cewek (Girl) + Cantik (Pretty)	Pretty girl
Baper	Bawa (Bring) + Perasaan (Feelings)	Involve emotions
Gabut	Gaji (Salary) + Buta (Blind)	Not working properly but still receiving a salary
Demus	Dengar (Listening) + Musik (Music)	Listening to music
Nofi	Nonton (Watching) + Film (Movie)	Watching a movie

Based on the data in the table above, we can identify several slang words that are either nouns (Cogan and Cecan) or verbs (Baper, Gabut, Demus, and Nofi).

There are also slang words that are initialisms. Below are some examples of these words.

Slang	Expanded Form	Slang Definition
DL	Derita Lo	Its your problem
PHO	Perusak Hubungan Orang	Relationship destroyer
PHP	Pemberi Harapan Palsu	Someone who gives false hope
PDKT	Puasa Doang Kagak Taraweh	Only fasting but not praying (Context: The Islamic religious month where moslems fast and go to mosques to pray together)

I also found some Indonesian slangs that have English origins. However, these type of slang words are not merely ‘loan words’, they are still slang words in that their use are specifically for very informal discourse and are used by Indonesian youths. Additionally, the English words have undergone several changes. The following table describes some examples of these type of slang words in more detail.

Slang	Origin	Additional Processes
Groufie	Group + Selfie	Blending of the words ‘group’ and ‘selfie’.
Gaes	Guys	The orthographic form is slightly changed. I believe this is to reflect the way Indonesians would pronounce the English word ‘guys’.
Woles	Slow	The word ‘slow’ is reversed to ‘wols’ with an e added to form ‘woles’. I believe this is to reflect the way Indonesians would pronounce the English word ‘slow’.
Saiko	Psycho	The ortographic form is drastically changed. Again, this is to reflect how Indonesians would pronounce the word ‘psycho’.
Sekem	Scam	The orthographic form is slightly changed. I believe this is to reflect the way Indonesians would pronounce the English word ‘scam’.

We can see from the data above that Indonesian slang words that are formed through borrowing English words tend to change the orthographic form of the English word to reflect its Indonesian pronunciation. This is because Indonesian pronunciation usually reflect the orthographic form, unlike many English words. Additionally, the Indonesian language does not allow consonant clusters. Thus, Indonesians tend to add a vowel in between the consonants.

References

Arti kata gaul: Kumpulan bahasa gaul terbaru 2015. Retrieved from https://artikatagaul.wordpress.com/

Bahasa gaul anak-anak ABG yang bikin ngakak. Retrieved from http://blog.ryanmintaraga.com/bahasa-gaul-anak-anak-abg-yang-bikin-ngakak/

Finegan, E. (2015). Language: Its structure and use (7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Kamus bahasa gaul dan alay terbaru 2015. Retrieved from http://www.arenasahabat.com/2013/05/kamus-kata-gaul-dan-alay-terbaru-istilah.html