The Impact of Place of Origin to the Language Expression

Abstract

Language and culture variety is a part of our life and as a characteristic of our life. The variety occurs due to the diversity of geography and language development in our community. Language dialect differences from the view of geography or place of origin can be observed from the local language used in that areas which are influenced by the cultures surrounding it. Informal Indonesian language spoken in different places will be practiced differently in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, and intonation. This study is qualitative research to explore the impact of place of origin to the varieties of informal Indonesian language expression of Indonesian people, specifically the students who study at Christian University of Indonesia. The differences are viewed from the language and culture they have at their home town that contribute to their language use in campus life. The sample consists of eight students from four place of origin: Ambon, Jakarta, Medan, and Palembang. They are given the questionnaires about their informal Indonesian spoken in their home town, then they are interviewed to have deeper information concerning the topic. The results showed different pronunciation and vocabulary choices in those places. The positive impact of the differences is that we are proud of cultural diversity exist in our country. It contributes to cultural diversity that Indonesia is multilingual and multicultural country. The negative impact of the differences is that differences can lead to conflict if we do not accept diversity. Conflict can lead to hostilities among different groups of societies.