Objective
The
purpose of this study is to investigate the difference of frequency the use of
code mixing between males and females that use one of the social networks that
are available which is Facebook. In addition, we also want to identify the
context in which code mixing mostly occurs.
Methodology
Our research is conducted based on
previous study done by Judy Woon Yee Ho (2007), “code-mixing: Linguistic form
and socio cultural meaning” in which she investigated the usage of code mixing
in the diaries 52 tertiary students in Hong Kong. The method that we use in
this research is observation. We log on to two of our group mates’ Facebook
account and we chose comments and statuses randomly; we chose 20 random
comments and statuses from males and another 20 from females hence the total of
40 participants. We randomly selected the data on April 16th 2012,
from 10pm until 11.30pm at Human Science Square using the Internet. The age,
program that some participants take in IIUM factor were not put into account
which taken randomly.
Framework
CMC
or computer-mediated communication means any communication via various
technology usages such as instant messaging, electronic mail or e-mail, social
networks like facebook, twitter, tumblr etc; blogs and weblogs. Nowadays people
communicate not just through spoken language alone, even with the invention of
mails, people of today’s modern world converse more frequently with the help of
technologies. However, despite with all the technologies that we have some
people use their language wrongly, for instance, Malaysian especially Malays
tend to use code mixing a lot not just in their spoken language but also in
written language.
Facebook
is one of the CMC that we want to focus upon and the framework that we want to
use in order to analyze is code mixing. According to Musyken (n.d.) code mixing
means “to refer to all cases where lexical items and grammatical features from
two languages appear in one sentence.” In order to further clarify this definition
matter Judy Woon Yee Ho (2007) states “code-mixing is the change of one
language to another within the same utterance or in the same oral/written text.”
Findings
|
Gender/
Language
|
Male
|
%
|
Female
|
%
|
|
Malay
|
111
|
36.9%
|
101
|
33.6%
|
|
English
|
56
|
18.6%
|
33
|
11%
|
The
figure above shows the number of words was used in Facebook, from the table
above we could see that males are the one that frequently use code mixing when
posting comments or statuses than females. As much as 111 or 36.9% of the
postings are made of entirely from Malay while 56 or 18.6% are English. Females
on the other hand use 101 or 33.6% Malay words and 33 or 11% English words;
this kind of result is to be expected of.
Discussion
From the data that we collected, we would
like to discuss code mixing regarding on several aspects. We chose 15 random
comments from the males and another 15 comments from the females and firstly,
we would like to discuss on the frequency of code mixing according to gender
differences. From the data, it is believed that males tend to use code mixing
more than females. Males code mix several English words in one sentence while
females usually code mix by using many English words in a sentence. For
example, a male student comments “Untunglaa uthman dpt konsert free”(Uthman is
lucky to have free concert). In this sentence, he only uses two English words
and compared to one of the comments from the females which is, “First time
without asking people rindu ain X?”First time, without asking, do you miss me?,
We could see that females tend to use almost full English sentence and only
several Malay words are present in her sentence.
The use of code
mixing can be analyzed through the situations which the speakers are in. From
the data and observation we made, we see that code mixing is frequent in
informal situation. Speakers use code mixing more in everyday life routine such
as conversation between family members and friends where the situation is spontaneous
and it is not planned. However, the use of code mixing can be reduced or
stopped being used when speakers are in formal situations such as in politics,
business administration and lectures. For example, a professor would speak
English more in a public lecture and students would speak full English when
they are doing presentation in the classroom. Regarding on the situations the
speakers are in, they could utilize the use of code mixing freely.
Then, it is
assumed that Malay speakers use code mixing because Bahasa Melayu is not
expressive enough for the context that they want to convey their message to.
The problem is not that Bahasa Melayu does not have enough vocabulary to
express something but the speakers believe that it “does not feel right” in
other words some would feel it is not “hip” or “young” to use the standard
Bahasa Melayu. For instance, many speakers would choose to say “I love you”
instead of “Aku cintakan kau” because the former phrase has always been exposed
in the media like in dramas and films and it is instilled in the speakers’
attitude of using it. The attitude of the speakers themselves contributes to
the use of code mixing. Like the previous example, one might feel shy to utter
“Aku cintakan kau” because he believes that it is not expressive enough and it
gives a little bit of “goosebumps” feeling when someone hears it.
The frequent use
of code mixing also can be the reason of the speakers who always use English
terms in their life. They adapt many English words which they hear and use
daily into their written and spoken language. From the observation, many Malay
speakers would say busy rather than sibuk because it is heard daily and the
word is infused into the speakers’ brain. Besides, the presence of English
words in a code mixing sentence is because of the words are used in a specific
situation or field. For example, a male comments on “Salam kepada wakil kelab yang terlibat dengan proposal
Dana Belia 1 Malaysia, anda diminta bersedia untuk pembentangan projek anda
yang dijadualkan dalam minggu hadapan. pembentangan secara berperingkat(
1peringkat 4 club)”. He uses the word proposal instead of kertas kerja because the word proposal is commonly used in programs
and many students and staffs have adapted the word.
To sum everything
up, males dominate when it come to code mixing. Females tend to use almost
complete English sentence with a bit of Bahasa Melayu in their postings. Code
mixing usually occurs when they are in informal context like between friends
and family where the scenarios are spontaneous. Then when people see that they
are in a formal context they will reduce the use of code mixing and will try to
use the standard, be it Bahasa Melayu or English. The problem lies not in the
number of vocabulary that the Bahasa Melayu has but rather the attitude of the
speakers. They feel that Bahasa Melayu is not expressive enough hence looking
for the most expressive language that they could which happen to be English.
Other than that, a lot of English words have taken over in the Malay speakers’
daily conversation like the word ‘busy’ for ‘sibuk’.
Bibliography
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Retrieved April 16, 2012, from
http://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/71689/excerpt/9780521771689_excerpt.pdf
Sabbah, M.
A.-K. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2012, from
http://www.linguistics.fi/julkaisut/SKY2008/Al-Khatib et al NETTIVERSIO.pdf
