AN ANALYSIS OF CODE MIXING USED IN INSTAGRAM BY

THE STUDENTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION

Mashita Amellia K.S.1, I W. Suarnajaya2, K. Sintya Dewi 3

Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni

Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha
Singaraja, Indonesia

e-mail: amellia.mashita@gmail.com, w_suarna@yahoo.com

sintya09@yahoo.com

Abstrak

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis tipe-tipe dari campur bahasa terutama yang
ditemukan pada media sosial seperti Instagram juga untuk menemukan alasan yang
mendasari penggunaan campur bahasa yang digunakan oleh mahasiswa jurusan
pendidikan Bahasa Inggris dalam keseharian. Model dari penelitian ini yaitu penelitian
deskriptif kualitatif dimana penelitian ini difokuskan pada suatu kejadian campur bahasa.
Berkaitan dengan hal itu, penelitian ini hanya fokus pada campur bahasa antara Bahasa
Indonesia – Bahasa Inggris yang digunakan oleh mahasiswa. Selain itu, data diperoleh
melalui observasi pada akun Instagram mahasiswa dan mewawancarai beberapa subjek
terpilih dengan menggunakan sebuah panduan wawancara. Selanjutnya, data yang
diperoleh dianalisis dengan menggunakan teory Ho (2007) dan Hoffman (1991).
Berdasarkan analisis data, ditemukan bahwa tipe campur bahasa yang paling dominan
yaitu lexical words dengan jumlah 54 (34.6%). Sedangkan, alasan yang mendasari
penggunaan campur bahasa oleh mahasiswa yang paling dominan yaitu talking about a
particular topic dimana seluruh subjek terpilih memilih alasan tersebut. Meskipun begitu,
peneliti menemukan tiga alasan tambahan diluar dari teori Hoffman (1991) yaitu:
keterbatasan kosa kata, gengsi, dan melatih penguasaan berbahasa Inggris.

Kata kunci: Campur bahasa antara Bahasa Indonesia-Bahasa Inggris dan Instagram.

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the types of code mixing, specifically found in the social
media, especially in Instagram as well as to find out the reasons underlying the use of
code mixing by the students of English Language Education in daily conversation. The
design of this research is descriptive qualitative study since it focused on a single case of
phenomenon of code mixing. Related with that, in this study, the researcher only focused
on Indonesian-English code mixing used by the students. Moreover, the data were
collected through observing on the students’ Instagram account and interviewing the
selected subjects by using an interview guide. Furthermore, the collected data were
analyzed by using Ho’s theory (2007) and Hoffman’s theory (1991). Based on the data
analysis, the result of the study showed that the dominant type of code mixing used by
the students was lexical word with the total number of 54 items (34.6%). Meanwhile, the
dominant reason underlying the use of code mixing by the students was talking about a
particular topic, where all of the selected subjects picked that reason. However, the
researcher found three additional reasons out of Hoffman’s theory (1991), namely:
vocabulary limitation, prestige, and practicing English mastery.

Keywords: Indonesian-English code mixing and Instagram.

INTRODUCTION of globalization, people put effort to

In communication, language
plays an important role as the main
subject that determines whether the
communication itself can be done
successfully or not. According to
Clark (1997, p. 70) in Luke (2015),
“language is a tool, an invention like
the slide rule or the sextant, which
allows us to both accomplish tasks
more efficiently and to achieve them,
otherwise unattainable goals.”
Related to that, it means that
humans use language which is seen
as a means of communication to
express their ideas and identity
among one another in daily living.
As language is seen as a tool
to accomplish their goals, people
nowadays mostly use English as an
international language that has been
taught around the world and has a
special power in communication,
especially in interaction basis with
others. According to Sunaryo (2000)
in Mustikawati (2016), modern
science and technology are strongly
related with English because of the
influence of both academic and non-
academic environment emerging the
use of language variations itself. In
short, English is seen as a language
that has complex relation with this
globalization era which has their own
control with the people who use it.
Related to that issue, many people
in Indonesia tend to use English to
communicate with one another.
Although they do not really master
English and because of the influence
learn and express themselves by
using English. We could find this
reality to occur around us, starting
from real conversation in daily basis
or basic conversation in social
media. Related with that, here the
researcher focused on Indonesia-
English mix language that is used by
the people on their daily
conversation with others since it
seems that people themselves tend
to mix the language between
Indonesian and English, especially in
nowadays millennial period.
According to Wardhaugh
(2002), the phenomenon of mixing
one language with another language
is called as code mixing. Code
mixing is a process of mixing two
languages or more which occur
without changing the topic.
Furthermore, code mixing is an
interaction phenomenon by using
two languages simultaneously to
show that they are moving from a
language to another in an utterance
(HP and Abdullah, 2012). In brief,
code mixing is known as a process
of mixing two languages by a
speaker in doing communication with
others.
As what has been explained
before, people nowadays tend to use
language by mixing one another.
Mixing language phenomenon can
mostly be found in social media. One
of the social media that people like
to use recently in Indonesia is
Instagram. Instagram in Indonesia is
having a rapid growth, especially for
the personal account. The use of
code mixing in personal account
indicates that the users have a
specific reason why they use code
mixing during the communication
itself.
Considering the description
of code mixing, this study intended
to analyze Indonesian-English code
mixing and find out the reasons
underlying the use of code mixing by
the students of English Language
Education. This study is expected to
be useful and can provide good
evidence for sociolinguistics that
concerns about the language
change.
According to HP and
Abdullah (2012), code mixing is an
interacting phenomenon by using
two languages simultaneously to
show that they are moving from a
language to another in an utterance.
Wardaugh (2002) states code mixing
is a process of mixing language in
the form of word when a speaker
requires a particular language, in
order to switch or mix one language
to another and even create a new
language in the process of speaking
in doing communication.
Furthermore, according to Muysken
(2000) in Jendra (2010), code mixing
happens when lexical items and
grammatical features from two
languages appear in one sentence
uttered by the speaker. Based on
those theories, it can be concluded
that code mixing is known as a
process of mixing language from one
language to another language in
informal communication with others.
It happens when there is a contact
between two languages in a single
utterance.
According to Ho (2007), there
are seven types of code mixing,
namely: letters of alphabet, shorts
forms, proper nouns, lexical words,
phrases, incomplete sentences, and
single full sentences. Furthermore,
based on Hoffman’s theory, there
are seven reasons of why people
mix their language to communicate
with one another, such as; talking
about particular topic, quoting
somebody else, being emphatic
about something, using interjection,
using repetition for clarification,
intending to clarify the speech
content for interlocutor, and
expressing group identity.
There were several
researchers who had conducted
several studies about code mixing as
the object of their studies. Kustanti
(2014) on her research found four
types of code mixing used in the
classroom. Those types were intra-
sentential mixing, intra-word code
mixing, taq-mixing, and
intersentential mixing. Furthermore,
she also found the motivational
reasons of code mixing used by the
students, such as: the students will
get used to code mixing if it is used
properly, reduce the sense of the
necessity of the students to speak in
English, and they will have a better
understanding of the lesson since
the idea delivered in mix language.
Mustikawati (2016)
investigated in the scope of code
mixing and code switching used in
the learning process. She found
there were seven types of language
variations usage of code mixing,
namely: the use of the insertion of
words, phrases, idioms, the use of
nouns, adjectives, clauses, and
sentences that involve Indonesian,
English, Arabic, and Javanese.
Moreover, she found the
determinants of code mixing in
teaching and learning process
included identification of the role, the
desire to explain and interpret,
sourced from the native language
and its variations, and sourced from
the foreign language. Moreover, she
found the determinants of code
switching in the learning process,
such as: speaker and listener, the
presence of third person, the topic of
conversation, stimulating the sense
of humor, and just for prestige.
Wulandari (2016) investigated
in the scope of code mixing in
Raditya Dika Manusia Setengah
Salmon novel. She found five kinds
of nouns used in the novel such as
countable nouns, uncountable
nouns, plural noun, abstract nouns,
and concrete noun. Then, she found
there were two kinds of meaning
about the use of code mixing such
as lexical meaning and contextual
meaning. Furthermore, she found
the most dominant meaning of code
mixing based on the process of
translation was adaption process
with the total number of 40.54%. On
the other hand, she found there were
six purposes about the use of code
mixing by the users, such as: need
feeling motive, prestige feeling
motive, asserting status, pride and
power, need more information,
making jokes and expressing self-
emotion. But, the most dominant
purpose she found was need feeling
motive with the total amount of
35.39%.
Pratama, Suwandi, and
Wardani (2017) investigated the
scope of code mixing and code
switching of the novel Ku Kejar Cinta
ke Negeri Cina by Ninit Yunita.
Based on the theory of Suwito
(1983), they found two
characteristics of code mixing,
namely: outer code mixing which
was about the combination between
Indonesian and other foreign
languages such as English,
Mandarin, also Arabic and inner
code mixing which was about the
combination between Indonesian
and another local language such as
Javanese. Meanwhile, in code
switching the writer used English,
Mandarin, Indonesian, and Arabic.
Furthermore, they found the
functions of the code mixing usage
such as to give the impression of
modernization, social status,
character education, and the
relevance of the setting of the story
itself.
By seeing those empirical
reviews, here the researcher
conducted a research about code
mixing phenomenon especially from
the students’ point of view and their
perspectives about the code mixing
usage itself. The subjects of this
research were the students of the
eighth semester students of English
Language Education in Ganesha
University of Education Singaraja.
The difference between this
research with other researches was
from the subjects itself. As stated
before, the subjects of this study
were the students of English
department whom fluent in English,
often contact and using English in
daily basis especially in campus.
Moreover, this research involved
Instagram since it is a booming
social media nowadays where the
students expressing themselves
freely among one another and
sharing several things on it.
RESEARCH METHOD
The design of this research is
qualitative research. In this study,
the researcher was concerned with
analyzing the types of code mixing
and finding out the reasons
underlying the use of code mixing in
Instagram used by the students. The
subjects of the study were the eighth
semester students of English
Language Education who used
Instagram. Meanwhile, the objects of
this research were their captions,
comments, and Instagram Stories
which consisted of code mixings that
they posted in Instagram.
 In this research, the
researcher used two methods in
order to collect all of the data. Those
two methods were observation and
interview. The researcher collected
the data through observation on
students Instagram accounts for
several periods of time to collect the
data which involved the screenshots
of their captions, comments, and
Instagram Stories. Meanwhile, the
interview was conducted by using
the interview guide consisting of
several questions. After the data
were collected, it was transcribed,
classified, and analyzed based on
Ho’s theory (2007) and Hoffman’s
theory (1991). Then, in doing data
analysis of this study, the researcher
used data analysis procedure which
is proposed by Miles and Huberman
(2009), including: data collection,
data reduction, data display, and
conclusion drawing. Last, in order to
check the validity and reliability of
the data, the researcher conducted
triangulation method based on
Denzin’s theory such as: time,
space, and person.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
To answer first research
question about the types of code
mixing, the researcher used Ho’s
theory (2007) to analyze the data
about code mixing. The researcher
found there were 156 Indonesian-
English code mixings in the students’
Instagram account. The number
came from 110 different posts in
which some posts consisted of more
than one code mixing classifications.
The most frequently used code
mixing by the students was lexical
word (34.6%), then single full
sentences (26.9%), and phrase
(18.6%). Also, there were some less
frequently used code mixing,
namely; letter of the alphabet (6.4%),
proper noun (5.8%), short form
(5.1%), and incomplete sentences
(2.6%). As we can see, the dominant
type of code mixing that frequently
used by the students was lexical
word with the total amount of 54
items (34.6%).
Next, the data about the
reasons underlying the use of code
mixing was analyzed by using
Hoffman’s theory (1991). There were
found 48 reasons underlying the use
of Indonesian-English code mixing
picked by the selected subjects of
the eight semester students of
English Language Education based
on theory of Hoffman (1991). The
most picked reasons until the less
picked reasons underlying the use of
code mixing by the students were
talking about particular topic
(20.8%), quoting somebody else
(16.7%), being emphatic about
something (16.7%), using
interjection (14.6%), expressing
group identity (12.5%), using
repetition for clarification (10.4%)
and intending to clarify the speech
content for interlocutor (8.3%). As
we can see, the most picked
reasons about code mixing used by
the students was talking about
particular topic with the total amount
of 20.8% where all interviewees
picked it as one of the reason.
Moreover, the researcher also found
several additional reasons by the
students based on the interview
result, such as: vocabulary limitation,
prestige, and practicing English
mastery.
Based on previous studies,
there were some researchers who
concerned code mixing phenomenon
as well. One of them is Suwastrawan
(2014) who conducted a research
about Indonesian-English code
mixing used in Cinta Laura’s songs.
Based on Ho’s (2007) classification,
he found only six classifications,
namely: short forms, proper nouns,
lexical words, phrases, incomplete
sentences and single full sentences.
Meanwhile, based on Kannovakun
and Gunther’s classification (2003),
he found five of six groups of
nativized features, namely:
truncation, hybridization, conversion,
reduplication and word order shift.
Moreover, he found some reasons of
Indonesian-English code mixing
used in the songs, such as: show the
user language proficiency, express
the words freely in informal situation,
lack of related vocabulary, and draw
the attention of the listeners.
Next related study is from
Nafi’ah (2012) which discussed
about the form of code mixing in
Aneka Yess Magazine based on
Ho’s theory (2007) and
Kannaovakun’s framework (2003).
She found that there were 7 patterns
of code mixing based on theory of
Ho (2003), namely: letters of
alphabet, short forms, proper noun,
lexical words, phrases, incomplete
sentence, and single full sentence.
Meanwhile, she also found 4
patterns of code mixing based on
Kannaovakun’s classification (2003),
namely: word order shift,
hybridization, conversion, and
truncation. Last, she stated some
reasons of why the writer were using
English-Indonesian code mixing in
the magazine, such as: there were
no appropriate Indonesian word of
some English words, Indonesian
word are sometimes redundant, to
draw the attention of the readers
also to be trendy, to emphasize or
clarify specific information, and to
respond the social needs of the
reader.
Last related study is from
Luke (2015) which investigated the
use of code mixing in Parata Ndaya
site in Facebook by using Hoffman’s
theory (1991). Based on the
research finding, she found three
types of code mixing, namely: intra-
sentential, intra-lexical, and involving
a change of pronunciation. From
those code mixing types, the intra-
lexical were most dominantly used
by the group members. Moreover,
she found seven reasons of code
mixing used in the site, namely:
talking particular topic, quoting
somebody else, emphatic about
something, interjection, repetition for
clarification, the intention of clarifying
the speech content and expressing
group identity. For those reasons
found, the most dominant reasons
was expressing group identity.
According to the explanation
above, it can be concluded that there
were some types of code mixing
used mainly in informal situation
started from students’ daily
conversation in social media such
Instagram and Facebook, in the
magazine, and in the songs. It was
also covered by the reasons
underlying the use of code mixing by
the subjects of the study where they
have their own purposes and needs
which triggered them to use code
mixing during conversation or in
expressing about something
especially in talking about particular
topic toward others.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
The data about code mixing
found in the students’ Instagram
account was analyzed by using Ho’s
theory (2007) about the types of
code mixing. Based on the research
findings, all of the classifications of
code mixing introduced by Ho were
found, such as: letters of the
alphabet, short forms, proper nouns,
lexical words, phrases, incomplete
sentences, and single full sentences.
The type of code mixing most
frequently used by the students was
lexical word with the total amount of
54 items (34.6%). The next types of
code mixing less frequently used by
the students, such as: single full
sentences (26.9%), phrases
(18.6%), incomplete sentences
(2.6%), short forms (5.1%), proper
nouns (5.8%), and letters of the
alphabet (6.4%).
The interview result was
analyzed by using Hoffman’s theory
(1991) about the reasons underlying
the use of code mixing, such as:
talking about particular topic, quoting
somebody else, being emphatic
about something, using interjection,
using repetition for clarification,
intending to clarify the speech
content for interlocutor, and
expressing group identity. Based on
the result of the study, all of the
reasons proposed by Hoffman were
found. . Regarding with that, the
researcher found the most picked
until less picked reasons underlying
the used of code mixing by the
students were talking about
particular topic (20.8%), quoting
somebody else (16.7%), being
emphatic about something (16.7%),
using interjection (14.6%),
expressing group identity (12.5%),
using repetition for clarification
(10.4%) and intending to clarify the
speech content for interlocutor
(8.3%). As we can see, the reason
which was mostly picked by all
selected subjects was talking about
particular topic. Furthermore, there
were three additional reasons found,
namely: vocabulary limitation,
prestige, and practicing English
mastery.
Based on the result of the
study, the researcher can give some
suggestions. First, for other
researchers who want to conduct a
study about code mixing
phenomenon on social media,
especially in Instagram, this study
can be a reference for other studies.
Regarding with that, this study
mainly focused on analyzing the
types of code mixing on the
students’ Instagram account and
finding out the reasons underlying
the use of code mixing itself. The
researcher hopes other researchers
who will conduct similar studies to do
further researches in deeper and
more complete so the understanding
about code mixing can be more
achieved. Second, this study is
suggested to people who are
interested in sociolinguistics, which
covers deeper explanation about
language in society. Through this
study, the curiosity about code
mixing phenomenon especially in
social media based on the students’
point of views can be answered. So,
the researcher hopes that this study
can give more explanation and
understanding about the code mixing
phenomenon which occurs on daily
basis.
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