He pointed out the fact that 9 out of 10 Indonesian words are loan words from other language. Well, it might be surprising for most of the people. However, for those studying sociolinguistic, this might not be very shocking. Why? Well, looking back at the history, we would see that Malayan language (a.k.a. the root of Indonesian language) is in fact a pidgin, for the sake of commerce.
I think I need to explain what pidgin is, for the sake of most readers. Well, according to Holmes (2000), pidgin is actually a lingua franca formed as a means of communication between people who do not have a common language. It seems particularly likely to arise when two groups with different language are communicating in a situation where there is also a third dominant language (Holmes, 2001). In the case of pidgin, it has no native speakers, whereas creole is a pidgin which has native speakers. (Sorry for the wordy composition. It was taken directly from my thesis!)
Made up language! Yup, in short this can be considered as that. However, as time goes by, Indonesian has grown into a creole, since there are many native speakers of it. In fact, most of the modern languages are also a creole. When we are talking about loan words, most of the words in every language is actually interrelated and interdependent one another.
Indonesian? Wew, it took words from many languages. Need the list? Javanese, Sundanese, Arabic, Sanskrit, Chinese, English, Dutch, Latin, any many others. Most surprisingly, you can even find the similarity of Indonesian words to those of Fiji islands! (Those interested to study this, I suggest studying Ka Kha Ga Gha Nga, Pa Pha Ba Bha Ma, etc……..)
Reflecting from my experience with Pakistan Army, there were many similar words in Indonesia and Urdu. And those words are mostly the words taken from Arabic. Loan words, anyone? The most important thing is, whether we take it raw or adjust it to develop the language.
Well, I have to admit that the strict rules of government in the New Order to adjust the foreign terms into Indonesian in one hand had its own benefit. It avoids the raw adaptation of some words. Yet, we also cannot avoid the fact that some of the adapted words sound weird (even the recent adaptation! Tetikus for mouse? Mengunduh for downloading? Then what else? Batang Gembira for joystick???? ^_^’ )
This weird thing is actually a pride in disguise though. Many linguists and experts has claimed that Indonesian can replace English as the language of science (Yeah, surprising…….). And why is that? Simple, because it progresses! It adopt even the scientific terms to Indonesian. From the simplest thing, we have sungut for insect antenna. Zigot for zygote. Kelembaman for inertia. See? That’s why experts have suggested the use of Indonesian in the scientific meeting as the alternative of English.
Hmmm, I don’t know about the readers. But upon writing this one, I just have this idea, supporting Indonesian into the scientific language. Hard? Surely. We also need to sacrifice our ear’s comfort zone of ‘cool’ register and pronunciation. But, we will have the prestige of being Indonesian native speakers… Hehehehe!!! (PS : Who knows that someday Indonesian will be equal to latin?? Hahahaha, dream on, bro!)
Last part, there might be a question dwelling within the readers. If I suggest supporting Indonesian, why would I write it in English? Ummm, there are several reasons. First, I am a student of English Department, which means I need to deal with English often, in order to use it fluently. Second, I’m trying to find an adjusted words for the development of Indonesian language (Okay, this reason is not okay. I just made it up to justify myself! Hehehehehehehehe!!!!!!)
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