RETORIKA: Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa

Vol. 4, No. 2 Oktober 2018, Page 132-

P-ISSN: 2406-9019
E-ISSN: 2443-0668
Available Online at https://ejournal.warmadewa.ac.id/index.php/jret

Slang in “If You Know What Happened in MCI”

Intan Riany Mandala*

Magister Linguistic, Postgraduated Program, Universitas Warmadewa, Denpasar-Bali, Indonesia

*intanmandala05@gmail.com
Received: 25/05/2018 Revised: 04/07/2018 Published: 31/10/2018
How to cite (in APA style):
Mandala, I, R.(2018).Slang in “If You Know What Happened in MCI”. RETORIKA: Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa, 4(2), 132-. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.22225/jr.4.2.741.132-137

Abstract—This study classifies the form and formation of slang as a kind of an extra-linguistic form. To
achieve the objective, the theory of word formation (Ridwan, 2003) was used. Data were obtained from “If
You Know What Happened in MCI” novel. Referential method was made use in analyzing the data. The
results of data analysis show that slang language occurs not only at the word level, but also at phrase and
clause level. The majority, however, occurs at the word level. Language types included in the slang
construction are not bound to one language but of many kinds, such as Indonesian, English, local language,
mixture of two different languages and some of unrecognizable languages which were intensely code-mixed.
Slang are formed through ten processes: coinage; borrowing; compounding; blending; clipping; conversion;
back formation; acronym; derivation; multiple processes. Future nature of language would be adding on the
existing theory of word formation, particularly that of morphological process of new words formation.

Keywords: Slang; word for mation; “If You Know What Happened in MCI” novel

frequety appear (Muliady & Distance, 2012).

I. INTRODUCTION As part of the language, it is natural that there
There are a large number of studies that should be a classification of forms and
have been conducted on slang as one of the processes of slang formation from one aspect
extralinguistic form of language. (Labov, of language (morphology), to provide insight
1972). In the last three decades, studies have into the phenomenon of the emergence of new
been conducted focusing on the conditions and language variations that enrich vocabulary in
situation of development and classification of languages that live in a community. It is
slang languages based on the field of the actually the arbitrary nature of the language
human profession (Belascq, 1979; Ensz, 1985; that leads the emergence of variations of it, one
Grossman & Tucker, 1997; Angelov, 1999; of which is known as 'slang' (Klerk, 2006).
Hill, 2005; Valencia & Ancha, 2006; Klerk, The absence of a mandatory relationship
2006; Roth-gordon, 2007; Lighter, 2012). Most between the symbol (the tangible sound) and
of the results of the previous studies did not entities it symbolizes causes the existence of
clearly cover the form and formation of slang various languages in this world (Klerk, 2006;
in the languages used by small community Epoge, 2012; Lighter, 2012). Thus, one
groups, which should add to the new theories example showing that language is arbitrary is
of linguistic. In fact, slang is a linguistic the one manifested in the presence of slang
phenomenon that is always encountered in used in communication (Stern, 1939;
daily human communication activities, and Izmaylova, Zamaletdinova, & Zholshayeva,
even in the corpus or database of languages 2017). Slang belongs to non-standard language
stored on a website that operates online, slang used by certain social groups for internal

Copyright © 2018 RETORIKA: Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa ISSN 2406-9019; EISSN 2443-0668 Page 132
Slang in “If You Know What Happened in MCI”

communication, with the base that none of the The design used in the research is
members of the group who do not understand. qualitative research design. The data were
Slang language has a unique shape, that is, it is obtained from Arifianti's "If You Know What
changeable according to the time or lifestyle Happened in MCI" novel published by
adopted speakers. Loveable in 2015. The novel consists of five
Dalam hati aku merasa senang karena chapters and 260 pages. The researcher was the
ada juga orang yang kepoin akun facebook-ku primary instrument in collecting data by
(Arifianti, 2015: 17-18). utilizing simak method, which includes reading
the entire contents of the novel and taking
Literal translation: notes of clauses, phrases, and words containing
In my heart, I feel happy to meet the slang expressions. Data were then classified by
person who kepoin my facebook account. putting them in a table based on type and form
In the example above, the italicized by making use of the theory of the formation of
word, kepoin, is a slang borrowed from English slang language (referral reference method). The
acronyms and added with suffix –in in data that had been inserted in the table are then
Indonesian. The word 'kepo' stands for explained descriptively. If there was an element
Knowing Every Personal Object which is of slang whose formation was not contained in
further abbreviated by taking each of the initial the theory referred to, the discussion was
phonemes in the words. provided by stating several logical and
empirical reasons based on the condition of the
To avoid misconception, clarification on available data.
what a slang is provided. Slang is a variation of
speech characterized by a newly discovered III.DISCUSSION
and rapidly changing vocabularies used by
young people or social and professional groups Slang Language Form
for communication. Slang language developing The slang forms found in the "If You
in Indonesia was formerly known with the term Know What Happened in MCI" novel
jargon or thug language (Adiwijaya, 2008). comprises word, phrase, and sentence. Word-
When viewed in its development, the formed slang is 32 items categorized as
origin of slang in Indonesia is mostly grammatical like noun, verb, adjective, phatic,
originated from local languages such as and interjection. The slang with phrase-formed
Javanese and Betawi language and foreign is 13 phrases, including attentive endocentric
languages such as English, Dutch, Portuguese phrases, attributive endocentric phrases,
and Chinese languages borrowed by modifying multilevel phrases, ordinary phrases, and
the form to suit the sound pronunciation system idiomatic phrases. A sentence or clause form of
Indonesian sounds (Muliady & Distance, slang found in the novel is 6 sentences, such as
2012). However, there are also slang languages declarative, interrogative, and imperative.
whose roots are unidentifiable because they
come from a play on a person's name, product Word-formed Slang
or combination of two or more languages (Hill, The word-formed slang language found
2005). in the novel is derived from Indonesian,
English, regional languages, bilingual, and
As the previous studies have not touched unidentifiable languages. Slang formed from
the standpoint on classifying the slang based on
the Indonesian word is amounted to 9 words. It
morphologically labelling classification, the is as displayed in Table 1.
present study seeks to offer a new way of
identifying language idendity through Table 1 tells the word-shaped slang
morfologically classification. Hence, the study originated from Indonesian consists of a
examines the forms of slang and its formation number of grammatical categories such as
process. Additionally, this study also tries to noun, verb, adjective, and phatic category. The
verify whether Ridwan’s theory of new word noun-categorized slang is three words; the verb
formation could be prevalent in every new -categorized slang is two words; adjective-
emerging words or not, those of which are categorized slang is 3 words; and slang with
coinage, borrowing, compounding, blending, phatic category is 1 word.
clipping, conversion, back formation, and In Table 2, slang originating from
multiple process (Ridwan, 2003: 46). English word-formed is amounted to 8 words.
The slang is presented as follows.
II. METHODS

Copyright © 2018 RETORIKA: Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa ISSN 2406-9019; EISSN 2443-0668 Page 133
Slang in “If You Know What Happened in MCI”

Table 1. Word-formed Slang Derived from Indonesian

Category
No Word Noun Verb Adjective Phatic Category

1 Gebetan + - - -
2 Y - - - +
3 Cendol + - - -
4 Kamfret - - + -
5 Jempol + - - -
6 Gengges - + - -
7 Nyinyir - + - -
8 Korslet - - + -
9 GEGANA - - + -

Table 2. Word-formed Slang Derived from English

Category
No Word
Noun Verba Noun Interjection
1 Plis - - - +
2 Likers + - - -
3 Kepo-in - + - -
4 Honey + - - -
5 Ba-dum-tss
- - - +
6 Dafuq - - - +
7 Selow-selow - - + -
8 Message - + - -
In the 2 table it can be seen that slang of category is 2 items. The verb-categorized slang
English word-formed consists of a number of is 2 words. The slang with adjective category is
grammatical categories such as noun, verb, 1 word and of interjection category is 3 words.
adjective, and interjection. The word with noun
Table 3. Word-formed Slang Derived from Local Languages
No Word Local Languages Category

Javanese Sundanese Betawi Noun Verb Adj

1 Greget + - - - - +
2 Mantengin - - + - + -
3 Jomblo - + - - - +
4 Ngenes + - - - - +
5 Jones - + - + - -
6 Buset - - + - - +
7 Getol-getolnya - - + - - +
In the table 3 can be seen that the slang- has noun category comprise 1 item; word with
shaped word derived from the regional verb category is 1 item; adjective-categorized
language is divided into grammatical categories word is 5 items.
of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Slang which In the table 4 it can be seen that the slang
Table 4. Word-formed Slang Derived from Two-mixed languages
Languages Category
No Word
Local-Indonesian Local-English Noun Adjective
- + -
1 Jombloversary +
LDR (Lu Doang + - +
2 -
Relationship

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Slang in “If You Know What Happened in MCI”

in the form of words and derived from the the LDR, an acronym of the sentence ‘Lu
mixture of two languages is 2 words. The first Relationship’ which is a blend of Sundanese
word of the word jombloversary is a and doang which is a Jakarta accent and
combination of the word jomblo derived from English 'relationship', which then put together
the local language (Sundanese) and the word in the form of acronym. The grammatical
‘… versary’ is taken from an English category found in these two words are the noun
‘anniversary’ fragment, which is then put category in the word jombloversary and the
together into a new word. The second word is adjective category in the word LDR.

Table 5. Slang with Unidentifiable Language Types

Category
No Word
Noun Adjective Interjection
1 Ciyee - - +
2 Krik krik krik - - +
3 Wkwkwk - - +
4 Ngocol - + -
5 Jayus - + -
6 Hode + - -
In table 5, it can be seen that there are 6 for others look normal. There is also an
types of slang in the form of word, derived expression wkwkwk, which is used to express
from an unidentified language. This slang laughter. Although derived from an
language appears for various reasons. For unidentified language, these slangs can be
example, the word jayus, derived from the classified into grammatical when examined
name of the person, namely Djayusman from the meaning of the slang. For the category
Soepadmo popular in the 90s. I had been of nouns there are 1 word, the word categorized
known that Djayusman used to produce jokes into the adjective is 2 words, and the word that
but people considered it was not funny so a categorized as interjection is amounted to 3
word with the term jayus appears. There is also words.
a slang inspired by the characters in a game in
the social media, Ragnarok Online, where there Phrase-formed Slang
is a monster named Hode which is shaped like Phrase-formed slang languages are also
a male sex and then inspired the creation of the found in the novel "If You Know What
term to describe men who behave like women Happened in MCI". This kind of slang form is
in cyberspace especially for looking for profits. derived from the Indonesian language, English,
In addition, there are also slang-inspired sounds and a mixture of two languages. The one that is
(onomatopoeia) like krik krik derived from the derived from Indonesian encompasses 3
sound of insects that then is used to describe phrases as displayed in Table 6.
the moment that is considered extraordinary but

Table 6. Phrase-formed Slang Derived from Indonesian

Category
No Phrase
Attributive Endocentric Idiomatic
1 Rahasia Illahi + -
2 Kakak-adek + -
3 Fakir asmara - +

In table 6, it can be seen that the slang of and idiomatic phrase is 1 phrase.
the Indonesian phrase-shaped phrase consists The slang language of phrase-formed,
of attributive endocentric and idiomatic. derived from English, is a total of 5 phrases as
Attributive endocentric phrases are 2 phrases shown in Table 7.

Copyright © 2018 RETORIKA: Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa ISSN 2406-9019; EISSN 2443-0668 Page 135
Slang in “If You Know What Happened in MCI”

Table 7. Phrase-formed Slang Derived from English

Category
No Phrase
Attributive Endocentric Ordinary Idiomatic
1 Forever alone + - -
2 Badluck Brian - - +
3 Like a boss - - +
4 Luv u - + -
5 Troll face - - +
In the table above, it can be seen that 1 phrase; ordinary category is 1 phrase; and
slang language with phrase form derived from idiomatic category is 3 phrases.
English consists of endocentric attributive Phrase-shaped slang, derived from a
phrase, ordinary phrase, and idiomatic phrase. mixture of two languages and composed of 5
Attributive endocentric category of the slang is phrases, is shown in table 8.

Table 8. Phrase-formed Slang Derived from Two-mixed Languages

Language Category

No Phrase Local Ind- Eng Ind- Contributive Compound Idiomatic

-Ind Local -Ind Eng Endocentric
1 Jomblo + - - - - + -
ngeres
2 Senasib - + - - + - -
seperjonesan
3 Likers militan - - + - - - +
4 Wabah - + - - - - +
jomblo
5 Pengemis like - - - + - - +
In Table 8, it can be seen that the slang Indonesian and English is found in the phrase
in the form of phrase is amounted to 5 phrases. pengemis like , where the word pengemis
The identification of the mixture of languages comes from Indonesian language and ‘like’ is
leading the formation of slang of phrase form from English. Phrases derived from a mixture
encompasses, among others: 1) a mixture of of these two languages are also included in the
regional and Indonesian languages found in the category of compounded phrases, as many as
jomblo ngeres phrase, where the word jomblo one phrase; contributive endocentric phrase is
is a word derived from the local language one phrase; and idiomatic phrases are 3
(Sundanese) and ngeres is from mengeras phrases.
‘ossify’ existing in the Indonesian language; 2)
a mixture of Indonesian and Regional Sentence-form Slang
languages found in the phrase senasib Apart from slang in the form of words
seperjonesan and the phrase wabah jomblo, and phrases, slang in sentence form is also
where the word nasib and the word wabah are found in the novel "If You Know What
Indonesian words, while the word jones is a Happened in MCI". There are sentence-shaped
combination of the word jomblo and ngenes slangs used in this novel, derived from
and the word jomblo is originated from the bilingual integration of English and an
Sundanese; 3) a mixture of English and unidentified language. The sentence-shaped
Indonesian is found in the phrase likers militan, slang language derived from English is shown
where the word 'likers' comes from English and in Table 9.
militan is from Indonesian; 4) a mixture of
Tabel 9. Sentence-formed Slang Derived from English

Category
No Sentence
Declarative
1 You da real MVP, bro! +
2 Go home, you’re drunk. +
3 You don’t say +

Copyright © 2018 RETORIKA: Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa ISSN 2406-9019; EISSN 2443-0668 Page 136
Slang in “If You Know What Happened in MCI”

In the table 9, it can be seen that the Angelov, A. G. (1999). Bulgaria : Language
sentence-shaped slang, derived from English Situation, 147–149.
consists of 3 sentences. Each of these sentences Arifianti, W. (2015). If You Know What Happened
belongs to the category of declarative sentence. in MCI. Jakarta: Lovable.
So far, the results of this study have Belascq, S. (1979). Derived and Modified Nouns in
shown how slang in a novel looks. In addition, French Slang, 48(December 1977), 177–192.
this study also confirmed that Ridwan's theory
of new word formation strategies also occurred Ensz, K. Y. (1985). Slang Usage of French by
in slang formations in the novel. In simple Young Americans, (6).
terms the social aspects of humans cannot be Epoge, N. K. (2012). Slang and Colloquialism in
separated from their relationship with linguistic Cameroon English Verbal Discourse, 4(1),
aspects, such as morphology. 130–145.

IV.CONCLUSION Grossman, A. L., & Tucker, J. S. (1997). Brief

Report Gender Differences and Sexism in the
As it turns out in the results of the Knowledge and Use of Slang, 37, 101–110.
present study, the slang forms realized in the Hill, C. (2005). Slang, Argot and Ingroup Codes,
"If You Know What Happened in MCI" novel 412–415.
are manifested in words, phrases, and
sentences. Lassification of slang as a part of the Izmaylova, G. A., Zamaletdinova, G. R., &
language formed through a bilingual and Zholshayeva, M. S. (2017). Linguistic and
multilingual community social process, can be Social Features of Slang, 5(6), 4–7.
effectively carried out with a morphological Klerk, V. De. (2006). Slang , Sociology, 407–412.
study approach. In addition, language has so far
developed in its use as a communication tool in Labov, W. (1972). Sociolinguistic patterns.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
human being life as result of slang existence, Press.
particularly those which result from
bilingualisme dan multilingualisme. At this Lighter, J. (2012). IS SLANG A WORD FOR
opportunity, routinely changeable status of LINGUISTS ?, 53(1), 5–17.
every language in human being continuously Muliady, W., & Distance, A. L. (2012). Generating
results in the formation of new theories of Indonesian Slang Lexicons from Twitter, 123
language and its relation to human social –126.
environment. It is much more be since science
and technology are sustainably developed and Ridwan, A. T. (2003). Buku Kerja Kebahasaan.
advanced, allowing people form different Medan: USU Press.
backgrounds and cultures meet through Roth-gordon, J. (2007). Youth , slang , and
cyberspace to mix different languages in use pragmatic expressions : Examples from
for communicating. Brazilian Portuguese 1, 322–345.
Stern, H. H. (1939). WAR I1 AND THE NATURE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT O F SLANG Of, 282–297.
The author would like to thank sister Valencia, A., & Ancha, P. (2006). Chile : Language
Jovin Kosat who has provided good assitance Situation, 317–319.
for the author during the completion of the
article writing. In addition, the lecturers whose
names are not mentioned one by one, I express
my gratitute for guidance and constructive
ideas so that this paper is formed. More
importantly, the author should thank the
managers of the journal Retorika of the
Universitas Warmadewa for the services that
have been intensely sacrificed in the effort to
make this article public. Hopefully this article
provides additional knowledge for readers.

References
Adiwijaya, O. (2008). Morfologi Bahasa Prokem.
Bandung: UNINUS.

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