THE DOMAIN OF LANGUAGE USE IN MULTICULTURAL LIFE AT SEBELAS

MARET UNIVERSITY ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Abstract
This qualitative research seeks to validate Joshua Fishman's theory of domains of
language use in relation to multicultural life in the English Education Department (EED)
Study Program at Sebelas Maret University (UNS), as well as to identify potential factors
influencing language use in each domain of language use. In this study, the five domains of
language use were family, friendship, education, relationship, and transaction. The
respondents were asked to express their way of speaking based on five categories of language
use. The researchers analyzed the various factors influencing the participants' language use in
the five domains of language use. The finding shows that EED students at UNS implemented
Joshua Fishman's theory of domains of language use in relation to multicultural life. Another
finding revealed that domains of language use and addressees influenced word choice when
formality and politeness were present in the discourse.
Keywords: domains of language use, multicultural life, EED students OF UNS

Introduction
Students in the English Education Department (EED) come from a variety of speech
communities. They express themselves in various ways when asking their parents for pocket
money. However, the differences often make some misunderstandings between the speaker
and listener. One of the examples is a term used in daily discussion among EED students.
Interlocutors can grasp the message when they use their mother tongue to explain particular
things. Nonetheless, even when they understand the message, they are frequently offended by
the way the speakers communicate.
The above example is a phenomenon connected to language use domains. According
to Joshua Fishman (1972), language use is classified into five domains: family, friendship,
religion, education, and employment. The researchers used modified language domains in
this study.
The change was made based on the research participants, who were EED students. As
a result, the following five language domains were used in this study: family, friendship,
educational setting, relationship, and transactional. Speakers will target various listeners in
each domain of language use. The speakers will also utilize a variety of expressions to
convey the idea. There are also specific contexts in each domain of language, such as asking
for pocket money, inviting friends to lunch, informing that the class is already over, dating,
and purchasing something.
The researchers would like to study Joshua Fishman's theory on domains of language
use in relation to multicultural life in EED in this study. The researchers' research questions
are as follows: 1. To identify the various expressions used by EED students in specific
domains of language in specific contexts; 2. To identify the possible factors that influence
language use in specific domains of language in specific contexts; and 3. Domain
implementation in multicultural life.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

1. Multicultural
“Multiculturalism is the way to describe how social structures create and
maintain different cultures in a society” (Wekker, 1998: 44 as cited in Blom, Maussart
& Ernste, 2006). Multiculturalism has been applied in Indonesia since the national
motto “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” that means Unity in Diversity. As a result of the
before explanation, Indonesia is classified as a multicultural and multilingual country.
According to Todd (2008) ‘each multilingual country has its own unique set of
characteristics’ (p.4).
Related to multiculturalism that language is an identity marker of speaker in
Sebelas Maret University especially in English Education Department has many
students that come from many ethnicities, races, religions/believes, and languages.
Multiculturalism also affected the language use of each student in English Education
Department.

2. Domains of Language Use

The two forms of diglossia are kept completely separate in their functions,
which is a crucial distinguishing feature. One is used in one set of circumstances and
the other in a completely different set.
“Domain is a sociocultural construct abstracted from topics of communication,
relationship between communicators, and locales of communication, in accord with
the institution, of a society and the area of activity of speech community in such a way
that individual behavior and social patterns can be distinguished from each other and
yet related to each other” ( Fishman, 1972:20 as cited in Marjohan A. 1988). Domain
of language was proposed for the first time in 1932 by Schmidt-Rohr. Therefore,
There are many factors that influence the language that we use, there are topics, role
relations, and locale. (Fishman, 1972). In multilingual settings, the topic can be a
regulator of language use. For example : When someone discusses certain topics, they
change their language to the interlocutor’s language. Role relation means that the
language you are using is determined by the interlocutor you speak with. (Marjohan
A. 1988). For example : father speaks to mother, child speaks to mother, and mother
speaks to child. Marjohan states that the language that you use is also influenced by
the place where you take the conversations.
There are several factors of choice to be setting in locale, there are content or
topic, social distance and motivation factor.. (Tanner 1967 as cited in Marjohan A.
1988). There are two dimensions in the social distance : vertical and horizontal
dimensions. In the vertical dimensions, language use are determined by the relative
position of someone that is compared with others. We should respect someone who is
above you in terms of status, age or marital status. On the other hand, the horizontal
dimensions refer to the relative closeness of someone with others. (Marjohan A.
 1988). You typically use a low code while speaking to someone who is close to you in
terms of friendship, sex, ethnicity, or educational background. When a person is eager
to converse with others or is enthusiastic about the subjects at hand, motivating factors
are present.

3. Dialect
Dialect is a subset of a language that is utilized by a certain group of speakers and
is identified by systematic markers such as syntactical, phonological, and grammatical
markers. Regional dialects and social dialects are two types of dialects that are
commonly seen in the speech community.
According to Elfenbein, Lévesque, Beaupré, and Hess (2007), p. 131, Francais
(1992) and Romaine (1994) state dialects are the varieties of a language used by
several speakers who are geographically or socially distant. The same thing takes
place in Bahasa Indonesia. Even though residents of Java Island, Sumatera,
Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, Bali, NTT, NTB, and Papua admit to speaking Bahasa
Indonesia, in reality, they speak its dialects rather than the official language. Bahasa
Indonesia can differ because to the geographic nature of Indonesia, which is made up
of several islands. Every island has a unique culture.
METHODOLOGY

1. Qualitative Research
In this study, the researchers used qualitative research methods. Why did the
researchers use qualitative rather than quantitative research methods? Several experts
presented several definitions of what qualitative research is, which resulted in the
qualitative research method matching the characteristics of this study.
According to Holliday (2002), “Qualitative research presents a statement about
reality and social life that has to be continually argued and reaffirmed.” (p. 1). This
argument was suitable for the characteristics of this research because the case of this
research was drawn from the reality and social life that occurred in the English
Education Department Study Program Sebelas Maret University. The researchers
investigated one language phenomena, namely the five domains of language use:
family, friendship, educational environment, relationship, and transactional.

2. Sampling
The researchers used random sampling to collect data for this study.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

1. Family
The first discussion is related to the first domain of language use: family. To
achieve the data for the first domain, all of the respondents were asked to express their
way of asking their parents for pocket money. The researcher found that all of the
participants used forms of address such as ‘Pak’, ‘Buk’, and ‘Mama/mah/ma’ in the
beginning of sentences they uttered e.g. “Ma, minta uang”.
These addresses were used to demonstrate respect and politeness. When
asking for pocket money, using a form of address was regarded as more polite than
just saying "minta uang." However, sometimes this form is used for negative
purposes. Using those forms of address was most likely done with a hidden intention.
The participants attempted to make a good impression on their parents by being polite
in order for their request to be approved.
In the context of culture, the utterance 'minta uang' was considered an
imperative in both Bahasa Indonesia and numerous dialects. It was considered
impolite in Javanese society to speak to older people in imperative ways. The person
who said it will be remembered as being rude.

Table 1: Expression used when requesting pocket money

Participant Expression Form Language

of
address

1 Pak, minta uang Pak Bahasa Indonesia

2 Buk, minta uang Buk Bahasa Indonesia

3 Ma hehe biasa, transfer duit Ma Bahasa Indonesia

4 Buk, kula nyuwun arto Buk Javanese

5 Mama, sa uang su habis bisa minta Mama Papua

dikirim lagi kah

6 Buk, njaluk 100k Buk Javanese

7 Mah, minta uang Mah Bahasa Indonesia

8 Buk, dua puluh ribu ada? Buk Bahasa Indonesia

According to table 1, there were alot of participants who asked for pocket
money in Bahasa Indonesia. We have variety way for them to asking for pocket
money; from straight forward asking it like ‘Pak, minta uang’, stating that their
money have ran out ‘Mama, sa uang su habis bisa minta dikirim lagi kah’, and asking
questions as a sign that their money has run out ‘Buk, dua puluh ribu ada?’.
 Javanese language came in three forms; Ngoko (low level), Krama Madya
(intermediate level), and Krama Inggil (high level). However, in this study, the
researchers classified Javanese language styles as Ngoko and Krama. The reason for
this was that Krama already represented the polite level, whereas Ngoko represented
the impolite level. Krama should be utilized when speaking to persons who are older
than them. They demonstrated respect and politeness by doing so.
Five of the seven participants chose to communicate in Bahasa Indonesia
rather than their dialects. The projected explanations were as follows:
1. Despite having significant understanding of their dialects and even being able
to talk fluently in their dialects, if they were used to speaking in Bahasa
Indonesia, they would unconsciously use the language when speaking with
their parents.
2. They knew very little about their dialects. As a result, they decided to use
Bahasa Indonesia in order to avoid mistakes that could lead to
misunderstandings.

2. Friendship
Friendship is the second domain of language use. In the second domain of
language use, each participant was instructed to invite their friends to lunch. The
researchers discovered that three of the individuals used the address forms. The
researchers discovered that three of the individuals used the address forms ‘Dab’,
‘Ndes’, or ‘Teman-teman’. 'Dab' or 'Ndes' were acceptable forms of address. Utilized
by participants from Java to request eating lunch with their pals. These methods of
addressing have expressed "hi buddies." Forms of address such as "Dab" or "Ndes,".
However, it has adverse effects on civility. Because they viewed those forms of
speech as being used to address people, interpretation was occasionally necessary for
some people. They possess less dignity than the speakers do.
There are several reason, why the participant typically not address their friends
using by their name when they want to have luch together :
a. the participant addressed more than one of their friends
b. the participants needed as much answer as possible from their friends so the
participants would have friends to accompany them in having lunch.
There were seven participants that went straight to the point when inviting
their friends to have lunch together; they said "Makan yuk" or "Ayo makan." The
sentence means, "Let’s have lunch." It indicates that they are very close in terms of
their relationship because they directly ask their friends.
There was a participant that used small talk, such as asking a question when
inviting their friends to have lunch together; they said, "Eh, ndes, ngelih ra kowe?"
The sentence means, "Hey friends, are you hungry?" It implies that they are very
close in terms of their relationship because there is an implicit intention for the
participant to treat their friends to having lunch together.
3. Education
In this domain, conversation between speakers and listeners was related to
educational institutions, as per school or college. As stated by Fishman (1972), the
factors which influence the concept of domain are topic, role relation and locale. In
this study, the topic is they were asked to express asking permission to their lecturers,
in which they had to leave a class due to important errands. Next, the role relation in
this study is between students and lecturers. Then, the locale is associated with
conversation’s setting. In terms of locale, this educational language domain was set in
a campus where the participants study English Education Department students.
The results showed that most of the participants spoke both English and
Indonesian to their lecturers, because their major study was English Language
Education but also their mother tongue is Indonesian. The study discovered only
seven participants, out of ten, spoke in Indonesian language to inquire permission.
Upon delivering their inquiry, all participants were considerably polite, as
shown from their expression. All of them started their inquiry by intentionally
addressing politeness to their lecturers, such as “Mohon maaf, Ma’am/Sir”, “Sir, I’m
truly sorry to interrupt”, and “I’m sorry for interrupting, Sir/Ma’am”
Furthermore, all of them chose the elect the pronominal “Sir”, or “Ma’am” to
address their lecturers instead of directly address their lecturers’ name. They were
aware that the use of those pronominal forms would share their respect to the
lecturers; similar to a theory suggested by Wardaugh (1992) on the politeness
influenced the choice of pronominal forms in speaking.
In the end, the research came up with the conclusion that the education used
polite language. The power and distance (Wardaugh, 1992) between the speakers and
listeners become the main factors which influenced the politeness. . In terms of
power, the listeners, in this case lecturers, have strong power in this domain. In the
educational institution, the lecturers have roles as the educators in which they had
higher position in educational level than the speakers, the participants, as students

4. Relationship
Related to the fourth domain of language use, relationship, the participants
were asked to express the way they asked their girlfriends or boyfriends for dating.
The researchers found that two participants used the forms of address “babe” or ‘mas’
to start the conversation with their girlfriends or boyfriends. The use of free forms of
address had specific purposes. The use of free forms of address, such as ‘babe’ or
‘mas’ was to remember the participants’ boyfriends or girlfriends. It also showed that
there is special closeness between the participants and their boyfriends of girlfriends.
In order to maintaining good relationship with their girlfriends or boyfriends,
five of the participants used small talk as the preliminary before they asked their
girlfriends or boyfriends for dating e.g. “Ntar dirumah aja? Gabut ga?” or “Kamu lagi
sibuk ngga?” In English it means “When do you have a spare time?” There were
seven participants who directly said their intention when they asked their girlfriends
 or boyfriends for dating. It showed close relation between the participants with their
boyfriends and girlfriends. All of the participants spoke in Bahasa Indonesia to their
girlfriends or boyfriends when they asked for dating. By speaking Bahasa Indonesia,
the participants used informal style of speaking which was to respect their boyfriends
or girlfriends. And at the same time, the used of Bahasa Indonesia avoid the sense of
rudeness.

5. Transactional
The final type of language use is transactional. Participants were asked to
express how they buy something from a street vendor in this domain of language use.
When expressing how they buy something, all of the participants used the forms of
address "Mas", "Buk", or "Kak" to begin the conversation with the vendors.
There were three participants who stated explicitly what flavor they want to
purchase. Three participants explicitly stated they pancong doneness, and all the
participants use Indonesian when they want to purchase the Pancong.

Table 2: Expression used when buying something from street vendors

Participant Expression Form Language

of
address

1 Mang, keju susu setengah mateng 1 Mas Bahasa Indonesia

2 Kak, mau beli pancongnya 1 yaaa, Kak Bahasa Indonesia

terima kasih

3 Buk, beli pancong satu Buk Bahasa Indonesia

4 Mas, chocomaltine keju setengah Mas Bahasa Indonesia

mateng 1 ya.

5 Bang beli pancong rasa coklat satu Mas Bahasa Indonesia

ya.

There are various way to address the street vendor who are men; 'mas',
'Abang/bang' and 'Mang'. There is a use of the word 'Kak,' which does not indicate
gender. The participants used the word "Buk" to address the female street vendors.
From tabel 2 we can see that all the participants use Bahasa Indonesia. It is
because not all the street vendor speaking Javanese and also not every students in
EED can speak Javanese, to make the transaction less confusing they use Bahasa
Indonesia.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

The researchers discovered through their study that specific terms are used by English
Education Department students in particular linguistic situations and domains. In this study,
there were five language domains: family, friendship, educational, relationship, and
transactional. The participants ask their parents for money in the first language domain used:
family, using polite manners of address. In the second area of language use, friendship, the
participants did not use their friends' names when inviting them to lunch. For the third
domain of language use, education, the majority of participants asked their instructors for
permission in English to avoid any misinterpretation.The participants used Bahasa Indonesia
to communicate with their partners in the fourth language category, relationships,to request
dates. It is thought to prevent a rudeness-related feeling because not all street vendors and
students are Javanese, participants tended to speak Bahasa Indonesia in the final language use
domain, transactional. This helped them sound more neutral.
For the speakers and the listeners, the researchers recommend that we have to
understand one and another when we are speaking. It is because we are from different
regional parts of Indonesia. We have different culture, language, and dialects of Bahasa
Indonesia. Thus, we have to know how they speak first before coming to the conclusion that
they are not polite
REFERENCES

Holliday, Adrian. (2002). Doing and writing qualitative research. London: SAGE Publication

Holmes, J., & Wilson, N. (2017). An introduction to sociolinguistics. Routledge.

Poedjosoedarmo, S. (1979). Tingkat tutur bahasa Jawa (The speech levels of Javanese). Jakarta:
Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa DEPDIKBUD (Centre for Language Development and
Maintenance of The Department of Education and Culture).

Todd, L. (2007). Choices facing a multicultural society with regard to language, literature and
education. In K. Harrow & K. Mpoche, (Ed.), Language, literature and education in multicultural
societies: Collaborative research on africa (pp. 3-23). Retrieved June 6th, 2013, from http://www.c-s-
p.org/ flyers/9781847185631-sample.pd

Budiarsa, I. M. (2015). Language, Dialect And Register Sociolinguistic Perspective. RETORIKA:

Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa, 1(2), 379-387.

Valentino, Y. B., Sari, M. E., Nugraheni, R., & Santika, S. P. N. (2013, July). Joshua Fishman’s
Domains of Language Use in relation to Multicultural Life in English Language Education Study
Program Sanata dharma University. In Undergraduate Conference on ELT, Linguistics, and
Literature (p. 50).