Entry 5: Sundanese People Can Pronounce [f]!

Sundanese is one of the many ethnic groups in Indonesia. One of my friends at the English Department of Iowa State University is from Indonesia and she is Sundanese. Whenever I talk to her in Indonesian or English, I sometimes find her pronouncing the [f] or [v] sound as [p]. This is because in Sundanese language, there are no [f] and [v] sounds. I was then told by her, that the phonological transfer does not only occur in speech form, there are also examples of written transfer. Thus, for this entry, I browsed on Google to find some pictures showing examples of the written transfer. The examples that I found show the ‘perceived’ written form of Indonesian or English words by Sundanese people*. Based on the examples that I found, it is interesting to note that not only does the transfer occur from [f] to [p] or [v] to [p], but transfers also occurs from [p] to [f] and [v] to [f].

Below is a table showing the correct form of the words and its written ‘version’ according to Sundanese people.

Correct Form	Written ‘version’ according to Sundanese people	English Translation
Fitnah	Pitnah	Slander
Konferensi	Konperensi	Conference
Variasi	Pariasi	Variation
Berfoto-foto	Berpoto-poto	Taking pictures
Fly-over (Refers to the fly-over bridge)	Ply ofer	Fly-over bridge
Servis	Serpis	Service
Sofa	Sopa	Sofa
Power	Fower	Power
Lapor	Lafor	Report
Pelan-pelan	Felan-felan	Slowly

Based on the data above, the following transfers can be identified:

• [f] → [p]
• [p] → [f]
• [v] → [p]
• [v] → [f]

I then attempted to do a phonological analysis on the data to see whether or not there is a pattern for this phonological transfer. The following environments were identified:

Environments of the Phonological Transfers
[f] → [p]	[p] → [f]	[v] → [p]	[v] → [f]
initial position_V (in this case the vowel is [o])	initial position_V (in this case the vowel is [o] or [ə])	initial position_V (in this case the vowel is [Ʌ])	V_V (more specifically [o]_[Ʌ])
initial position_C (in this case the vowel is [l])	V_V (more specifically [Ʌ] _[o])	C_V (more specifically [r]_[ɪ])
C_V (more specifically [n]_[ə])
V_V (more specifically [o]_[Ʌ])

Based on the environment analysis, it is quite easy for me to assume that [f], [v], and [p] for Sundanese speakers of Indonesian are all allophones of the same phoneme which is /p/, and are in free variation according to the perception of the Sundanese people. However, due to very limited data, it would not be wise to make such an assumption. They may be allophones of the same phoneme considering the fact that Sundanese people use the sounds interchangeably and do not believe that a different word meaning is produced when doing so, but it does not mean that they are in free variation. Additionally, when the vowels and consonants in the environment are examined, there are several differences. For example in the [f] → [p], [p] → [f], and [v] → [p] transfers, all three occur in initial position_V. But when we look at the vowel there are differences, except with [p] → [f] which has two possible vowels in its environments. Nevertheless, it is highly possible that with a bigger data size, a pattern for phonological transfer made by Sundanese people could be identified.

*For the analysis, it important to have in mind that in Indonesian, the pronunciation of consonants follow its orthographic form. E.g. the letter s is always pronounced [s] and never as [z].

References

andrewhinata. (2013, July 8). Re: orang bandung / orang sunda masuk atau dari daerah lain jugaboleh masuk !! [Online forum comment]. http://www.kaskus.co.id/thread/51dae47b0975b42921000005/orang-bandung---orang-sunda-masuk-atau-dari-daerah-lain-juga-boleh-masuk/

Cuma urang-urang Sunda yang paham ragam kehidupan seperti ini!. Retrieved from http://www.explorejabar.com/2014/11/cuma-urang-urang-sunda-yang-paham-ragam.html

Risadi, A. A. (2013, February 26). Sunda: F/V/P(?). Kompasiana, Retrieved from http://www.kompasiana.com/arisahmadrisadi/sunda-f-v-p_552fe4ab6ea8340d608b457f

Entry 1: A Foreigner’s Faux Pas Caused by Minimal Pairs

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