Sociolinguistics final exam paper 2

MULTILINGUALISM:
IN DEPTH ANALYSIS FROM SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE
LILIK HANDAYANI
8212712032
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
GRADUATE SCHOOL
WIDYA MANDALA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
2013
SOCIOLINGUISTICS FINAL EXAM PAPER

Multilingualism: In-depth Analysis from Sociolinguistics Perspective Page 1
MULTILINGUALISM:
IN DEPTH ANALYSIS FROM SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE
I. INTRODUCTION
1.1. The Background of the Study
Indonesia can be categorized as a multilingual country, regarding the trend of
bilingual in Indonesian and English in our society recently which is triggered by education.
Besides, a speech community of ethnic languages in Indonesia still keep preserving their
proficiency in mother tongue or first language for example, Javanese, Madurese, Malay etc.
At the individual level, bilingualism and multilingualism refer to the speaker’s competence to
use two or more languages. At the societal level, the terms bilingualism and multilingualism
refer to the use of two or more languages in a speech community and it does not necessary
imply that all the speakers in that community are competent in more than one language
(Gorter, 2013).
Multilingualism is becoming a common and growing phenomenon in present day
society which can be studied from different perspectives. The purpose of the study is to focus
on multilingualism and language as a cultural asset and to explore the relationship between
multilingual people and their different ways of thinking in mediating their world and
experience. The further impacts of multilingualism on linguistic etiquette or language
politeness will be analyzed as well as its impact on culture in general. The factors triggering
the development of multilingualism in our society are also remarkable to discuss. One of the
most essential factors stimulating multilingualism might be education. Since pursuing the
higher education encourages people to master either the official language of their nation
namely Indonesian or English as an international language which is world widely used as the
main language of scientific academic text book references and on-line material resources. In-
depth analysis is thus conducted to review the phenomenon of multilingualism particularly
from sociolinguistic perspective.
The usage of several diverse languages in the multicultural society within Indonesian
and Javanese dominating the speech communities in Surabaya and nearest surrounding towns
might be potential for conflict to those bilingual or even monolingual people. Therefore, the
underlying theories of Sociolinguistics including language and the mediation of experience,
linguistic etiquette, language identity, sociolinguistic variables, language conflict, language
and education are used to analyze the phenomenon of multilingualism comprehensively.

1.2. Method of the Study
The qualitative study is applied to analyze and explore the research variable i.e. the
phenomenon of multilingualism in the society of Surabaya and nearest surrounding towns
including Gresik and Mojokerto. Multilingual people who live in these areas are supposed to
use more than two languages including Javanese as their mother tongue, Indonesian as their
official language, and English as their expanding language proficiency. In order to gain more
accurate data, the multilingual people are compared to the other groups: Indonesian-
Javanesebilingual and Javanese monolingual.
Regarding the large amount of population, the samples of the study are chosen by
Purposive Random Sampling. This technique according to Hadi (2000) is chosen to represent
a group of population (i.e. multilingual people) based on particular features related to the
previously known characteristics. The samples of the study are then identified as follows:
1. Group of Multilingual Respondents
a. Respondent 1 is a woman at the age of 40. She is English lecturer graduated from
Master Degree of Surabaya State University. She lives in Surabaya and works at
Surabaya Shipbuilding State Polytechnic. She is proficient in Javanese,
Indonesian and English. She communicates in all those three languages every day
either in spoken or written.
b. Respondent 2 is a 37 years old woman. She is English lecturer graduated from
Master Degree of Surabaya State University. She lives in Gresik and every day
commutes to work at Surabaya Shipbuilding State Polytechnic. She is proficient in
Indonesian, Javanese and English. Since she lives in Randuagung Residence of
Gresik, she often speaks Indonesian in daily activities and communicates in
English during the lectures; meanwhile her Javanese is only used in certain
situational contexts.
2. Group of Bilingual Respondents
a. Respondent 3 is a 40 years old woman. She is a housewife who lives in
Mojokerto. She graduated from the Vocational Senior High School (SMK-
SMEA). She is Javanese-Indonesian bilingual person. Her Javanese is used in
daily life; meanwhile Indonesian language is only used in certain situational
contexts.
b. Respondent 4 is a housewife at the age of 35. She graduated from the Vocational
Senior High School (SMK-SMEA). She lives in Mojokerto. She is Javanese-
Indonesian bilingual person. Her Javanese is used in daily life; meanwhile

Indonesian language is often used in certain situational contexts such as handling
PKK and Playgroup Education Program of Posyandu.
3. Group of Monolingual Respondents
a. Respondent 5 is a 57 years old woman. She is a merchant and lives in Mojokerto.
She had ever studied at the elementary school. She can’t read and write
Indonesian text fluently, but she can read Arabic alphabet of the holy Qur’an. She
is only able to speak in Javanese, but she sometimes understands Indonesian
language from Islamic Religious TV Program, Sinetron or Indonesian TV movies.
b. Respondent 6 is a 67 years old woman. She lives in Mojokerto. She had never
studied at the elementary school, she is illiterate but she can read Arabic alphabets
of the holy Qur’an. She is only able to speak in Javanese, but she sometimes
understands Indonesian language from Islamic Religious TV Program and
Sinetron or Indonesian TV movies.
The whole respondents of multilingual, bilingual and monolingual are interviewed
dealing with the language used or spoken to the doctor when they were sick and had troubles
in health. This topic is chosen since most of the people from the diverse groups had
experience of going to the doctor to cure their diseases. The different languages used by those
respondents in communicating to the doctor, nurses and pharmacists reflect an amazing
multilingual phenomenon which is exciting to explore from sociolinguistic perspective.
II. FINDING AND DISCUSSION
2.1. The Data of Language Usage Diversity
2.1.1. Group of Multilingual Respondents
Both respondents of this multilingual group speak in Indonesian language to the
doctor, nurses and pharmacist. They think that the formal situation at the hospital or clinic
encourages them to use the official language of the nation, i.e. Indonesian. They can explain
various kinds of laboratory test to diagnose the diseases recommended by the doctor quite
well, they mention: Tes darah termasuk widal test untuk tiphus dan urine test untuk infeksi
cervix/mulut rahim. When they were being hospitalized or one of their families was being
hospitalized, they also talked to the doctor, nurses, and pharmacist in Indonesian language.
The most notable thing is dealing with the medicine prescribed by the doctor. The
multilingual respondents aware of the name of the medicine must be taken and consumed to
cure their diseases. Although the names of the medicine especially antibiotic are complicated
enough to remember because of several diverse classes of antibiotics and some medicine

have derivative substances such as asam afenamat or mefinal. When the allergic reaction
occurred to them after consuming the certain medicine, they usually tells the doctor politely
about the effect of the medicine prescribed to themby mentioning the name of the medicine
(respondent 1 has allergic reaction to Cloramphenicol, and respondent 2 has allergic reaction
to Antalgin and the derivative substances of Asam Afenamat) and let the doctor makes
conclusion then prescribes another medicine. From their experience dealing with the
medicine, when they started to feel illness with certain symptoms they know well, they try to
take medicine recommended previously before going to the doctor. They only need to go the
drugstore since they even remember the names of the medicine with certain dosage such as
Flamar 50mg combined with Solaxin consumed three times a day to release painful and cure
neuritis.
2.1.2. Group of Bilingual Respondents
Both respondents of this bilingual group speak in Indonesian language to the doctor,
nurses and pharmacist. They think that the formal situation at the hospital or clinic
encourages them to use the official language of the nation, i.e. Indonesian. They will obey to
take various kinds of laboratory test to diagnose the diseases recommended by the doctor,
they mention: Tes darah dan tes kencing. They know later on the functions of those
laboratory tests after the doctor explaining the result of the tests and recommend them to be
hospitalized. But they don’t know exactly the names of the laboratory tests have been done.
When they were being hospitalized or one of their families was being hospitalized, they also
talked to the doctor, nurses, and pharmacist in Indonesian language.
The bilingual respondents are not aware of the name of the medicine must be taken
and consumed to cure their diseases. Since the names of the medicine especially antibiotic are
complicated enough to remember andthose medicine names are usually in English. Indeed
they know some English words and expressions such as I love you, study, blackboard,
teacher etc. because they have ever studied English at Junior and Vocational Senior High
School. Nevertheless, their English competence is not adequate to communicate and less
proficient because it is almost never used.When the allergic reaction occurred to them after
consuming the certain medicine, they usually come back to the doctor and complaint about
the medicine which they think it didn’t work. They bring and show the medicine to the doctor
and ask another medicine. They sometimes decide not to come back to that doctor and move
to other ones to gain different medicine which is effective to cure their diseases. They can

identify the medicine from the colour, the tablet strip package and the explanation of
pharmacist recommending them to consume the whole antibiotics.
2.1.3. Group of Monolingual Respondents
Both respondents of this monolingual group speak in middle level Javanese (Krama
Madya) to tell the doctor, nurses and pharmacist about the symptoms they feel. They think
that it will be polite to speak Javanese (i.e. Krama Madya) to show respect to the doctor,
nurses, and pharmacist although the respondents are older than those doctor and colleagues.
They will obey to take various kinds of laboratory test to diagnose the diseases recommended
by the doctor, they mention: Tes darah dan tes kencing. They don’t know the functions of
those laboratory tests although the doctor explaining the result of the tests in mixed Javanese
and Indonesian language recommend them to be hospitalized. They are able to understand
about their disease and the laboratory test after one of their families can explain it in simple
way. When they were being hospitalized or one of their families was being hospitalized, they
also talked to the doctor, nurses, and pharmacist in Javanese (Krama Madya).
The monolingual respondents are not aware of the name of the medicine, even the
dosage and the rules of consuming that medicine. They can identify the medicine from its
colour and shape, but they don’t know how many times a day they must take and consume
the medicine and which medicine effective to decrease their fever. They are really dependent
on their families particularly their children and grand-children who able to read the notes
from pharmacist.
2.2. In-depth Analysis on Language Usage Diversity from Sociolinguistic Perspective
The data obtained from the interviews with various kinds of respondents representing
diverse group of multilingual, bilingual and monolingual people in the society of Surabaya
and nearest surrounding towns will be analyzed based on the ground theories of
Sociolinguistics. Those different group communication style and attitudes indicate the
language usage diversity which can further investigated and discussed from sociolinguistic
perspective.

2.2.1. The Different Ways of Thinking in Multilingual Society
The language usage diversity among multilingual and bilingual people can be based
on two essential concepts of categorization and selection according to Stubbs (1997: 358).
Every time they talk about their health condition or the disease they are suffered from, the
words they use select some features of the world in this case symptoms they have
experienced, ignore or play down others. Thus, the categories of language and of thought are
not necessarily the same.
Nevertheless, both multilingual and bilingual respondents have much basic
experiences and perceptions in selecting the Indonesian language to talk to the doctor, nurses,
and pharmacist. They think that the formal situation of the hospital or clinic stimulates them
to speak in Indonesian, although the respond of the doctor, nurses and pharmacist can be
spoken in different language. Let’s see that the professional in medication at the hospital or
clinic in Surabaya and Gresik usually speak in Indonesian language as the official language at
their workplace since most of their patients come from different multicultural society.
Meanwhile the doctor, nurses, and pharmacist who work at a clinic of Trowulan or Mojokerto
are commonly trained to speak either in Indonesian or Javanese, but they tend to speak in
Javanese in responding the patients who talk to them either in Indonesian or Javanese.
The Indonesian-Javanese bilingual patients and professionals in medication speak
different languages, but they don’t perceive the language differently when they switch from
Indonesian to Javanese. The other group, monolingual patients can mediate their health
condition and the disease they are suffered from by using only Javanese. Their way of
thinking is quite simple and not as complex as the other groups, bilingual or multilingual
respondents.
How can we analyze that those multilingual, bilingual and monolingual patients or
respondents have different ways of thinking? It is absolutely can be observed from the
language that they use. The multilingual respondents use more complex language including
the scientific terms or medical jargons with correct lexis and grammar such as cervix, urine
test, widal test, antibiotics, etc. They have a good awareness in memorizing the names of the
medicine prescribed to cure their diseases. Halliday and Martin (1993) discuss the functions
of lexis and grammar in scientific language. Two clear facts of the scientific terms involve:
(1) scientific and everyday language are very different, the certain syntactic features such as
passive and nominalization are commonly used in the scientific terms. (2) Scientific and
everyday world views are very different; indeed science often rejects common-sense
understandings.

2.2.2. The Effects of Multilingualism on Linguistic Etiquette
The language in this case Javanese used by monolingual patient to the doctor, nurses
and pharmacist is supposed to be polite one (Krama Madya of Javanese). Although the
professionals in medication are usually younger than those monolingual patients, they are
supposed come from the middle and high social status and identified as educated people
therefore the old patient speak to them as politely as they could. The Javanese in Krama
Madya (middle level politeness) reflects the identity of the interlocutors in this case the
monolingual respondents who are commonly illiterate and have no adequate educational
background.
The Indonesian-Javanese bilingual respondents who tend to talk to the professional in
medication in Indonesian would like to identify and reflect themselves as educated people by
using the official language which acquired through schooling. They also use Indonesian
language to speak moderately polite and try to implement the linguistic etiquette in speaking
to the doctor, nurses and pharmacist since most of the respondents who live in Surabaya and
nearest surrounding towns can’t speak in the highest level politeness of Javanese (i.e. Krama
Inggil). They tend to less-polite in coping the problem when the medicine didn’t work
effectively to cure their disease. They decide to move to other doctor to gain other medicine
or even come and complaint to the same doctor about the medicine and their getting worse
physical condition.
The multilingual respondents can post themselves as a client and patient who should
speak politely to the doctor, nurses and pharmacist. When they have allergic reaction to some
certain medicine they tell the doctor politely about the side effect of the medicine on them
and let the doctor makes conclusion and prescribe other medicine which is more effective to
cure their diseases. They tend to implement the Gricean Cooperative principles (CP) which
consist of four maxims (Maxims of Quantity, Maxims of Quality, Maxims of Relation, and
Maxims of Manner), and Geoffrey Leech’s politeness principle with conversational maxims
(politeness maxims) concern with six maxims: tact, generosity, approbation, modesty,
agreement, and sympathy (Kasper, 1997).
Regarding the variables in linguistic etiquette which involve assessing social
relationships along the dimensions of social distance or solidarity, relative power or authority,
and the degree of formality, we need to understand the social values of a society in order to
speak politely. These two dimensions also provide the basis for a distinction between two
different types of politeness: (1) positive politeness which is solidarity oriented and
emphasizes shared attitudes and values, and (2) negative politeness which by contrast, pays

people respect and avoids intruding on them. Using title pak dokter + name to the doctor and
pak or bu to address the nurses and pharmacist and to older people they don’t know well, are
supposed as the expression of negative politeness (Holmes, 2001).
2.2.3. The Factors Triggering Multilingualism
Nowadays, multilingualism develops rapidly in our multicultural society of Surabaya
and nearest surrounding towns. Since people are tend to move and live in some regions to
earn money for living and increase their economic welfare. People come from other islands
of Indonesian and work in Java especially the metropolis city, Surabaya and nearest
surrounding towns: Gresik, Sidoarjo, Mojokerto. They interact with native Javanese people
and acquire Javanese rapidly since they are exposed to Javanese at the whole of 24 hours at
their surrounding environment.
The other factor encouraging multilingualism can be mass media communication
represented by newspaper and TV program. By watching the news TV program, infotainment
and Indonesian or English movies, people are exposed to the language pragmatically used in
the real contextual world. They acquire the language and understand the message although
their performance in using that language is not as good as their competence because of their
less-language proficiency.
Nevertheless, the most triggering factor of multilingualism is stimulated by education.
Since the students are exposed to the Indonesian or Arabic language as well as English or
Mandarin language at their school. They are demanded to gain the knowledge about the
language and practice how to use the language directly at the classroom. The bilingual and
multilingual respondents show that they retain in either Indonesian or English proficiency
from learning at educational institution.
Language is at the center of the school curriculum because language is used to learn
across the curriculum, it is used as the main media to explain and transfer the knowledge and
science. Learning is supposed as an active process in which learner construct ideas about
language as they engage in communicative academic settings. The higher level of education,
the easier people will learn the languages. Clyne (1997: 310) conclude from Kloss’ ground
theories that in multilingual society people with a high educational attainment can learn the
majority of language more easily and do not need the first language so much for
communicative purposes, since they do not have to devote so much time to acquiring the
dominant language. But they have more chance to maintain the first language.

Last but not least, the other factors supporting multilingualism development are
religion, historical awareness or family unity. Fishman (1985) further suggested that the most
fruitful language maintenance occurs in multilingual societies for whom language is
intertwined as a core value with other core values such as religion and historical
consciousness or family cohesion, rather than those for whom language stands in segregation
as identity maker.
2.2.4. The Potential Language Conflict in Multilingual Society
Language contact in multilingual society can promote language conflict which might
be brought about by changes in an expanding social system when there is contact between
different language groups (Inglehart and Woodward in Nelde, 1997: 290). Nevertheless, the
multilingualism and the language usage diversity in the medical treatment settings will not be
the major sources of conflict. Since the principal focus of medical treatment can be
implemented as far as there are fund available to cover the health insurance fee. However, the
linguistic etiquette and language politeness used by multilingual respondents in talking to the
doctor, nurses and pharmacist will influence the quality of treatment service given by those
professional in medication to the multilingual patients.
III. CONCLUSION
The phenomenon of multilingualism in Surabaya and nearest surrounding towns, Gresik and
Mojokerto is an amazing fact which can be further explored from other perspectives. The
multilingual society and their interaction dealing with the professional in medication which
are studied and analyzed from sociolinguistic perspective provide some highlights:
1. The multilingual, bilingual and monolingual patients or respondents have different
ways of thinking. It is absolutely can be observed from the language that they use.
The multilingual respondents use more complex language including the scientific
terms or medical jargons with correct lexis and grammar such as cervix, urine test,
widal test, antibiotics, etc. They have a good awareness in memorizing the names of
the medicine prescribed to cure their diseases.
2. The multilingual patients with a high level of education tend to behave and
communicate politely. They usually implement the Gricean Cooperative principles
(CP) which consist of four maxims (Maxims of Quantity, Maxims of Quality, Maxims
of Relation, and Maxims of Manner), and Geoffrey Leech’s politeness principle with

conversational maxims (politeness maxims) concern with six maxims: tact,
generosity, approbation, modesty, agreement, and sympathy.
3. There are some factors promoting multilingualism, among them are: economic aspect,
mass media communication especially TV and newspaper, education, religion,
historical awareness or family unity.
4. The most triggering factor of multilingualism development is education. Since
pursuing the higher education encourages people to master either the official language
of their nation namely Indonesian or English as an international language which is
world widely used as the main language of scientific academic text book references
and on-line material resources.
5. The multilingualism and the language usage diversity in the medical treatment
settings will not be the major sources of conflict, but the linguistic etiquette and
language politeness used by multilingual respondents in talking to the doctor, nurses
and pharmacist will influence the quality of treatment service given by those
professional in medication to the multilingual patients.
REFERENCES
Clyne, Michael. 1997. Multilingualism. In The Handbook of Sociolinguistics by Florian
Coulmas.Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Fishman, J.A. 1985. The Rise and Fall of the Ethnic Revival. In The Handbook of
Sociolinguistics by Florian Coulmas.Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Gorter, Durk. 6 March 2013. Benefits of Linguistic Diversity and Multilingualism. The
Netherlands: Fryske Akademy. www.susdiv.org/uploadfiles/RT1.2_PP_Durk.pdf .
Hadi, Sutrisno. 2000. Metodologi Research (Sendi-sendi Experimen). Yogyakarta: Fak
Psikologi UGM.
Halliday, M.A.K. and Martin, J. 1993. Writing Science: Literacy and Discursive Power. In
The Handbook of Sociolinguistics by Florian Coulmas. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Holmes, Janet. 2001. Introduction to Sociolinguistics. 2nd
Ed. Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.
Inglehart, R.F. and Woodward M. (1967). Language Conflicts and Political Community. In P.
Gigliodi (ed), Language and Social Context. New York: Penguin.
Kasper, Gabriele. 1997. Linguistic Etiquette.In The Handbook of Sociolinguistics by Florian
Coulmas. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Nelde, Peter Hans. 1997. Language Conflict. In The Handbook of Sociolinguistics by Florian
Coulmas. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Stubbs, Michael. 1997. Language and the Mediation of Experience: Linguistic
Representation and Cognitive Orientation. In The Handbook of Sociolinguistics by
Florian Coulmas. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

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