Introducing Culture through English Loanwords from Bahasa Indonesia

Abstract

Contact among languages enables speakers to borrow particular words from one language to another language. This kind of loanword occasionally brings the cultural values of the borrowed language. Related to this phenomenon, this research aims (1) to describe the phonological change of English loanwords from Bahasa Indonesia, and (2) to describe the cultural values brought by English loanwords from Bahasa Indonesia. By using a qualitative approach, this research is focused on the English loanwords from Bahasa Indonesia. The data for this research were obtained from a book entitled Indonesian Phrasebook, written by Wagner (2006). The Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary (OALD) was used to examine the accuracy of the data. The results show that phonological change occurred in some lexical units as an effect of phonological adaptation of the language. Furthermore, some loanwords from Bahasa Indonesia are borrowed to fulfill particular words which have no similar term in English, especially some words which reflect Indonesian culture.