Slang, Society, and Cultural Differences

When we speak to other people, we actually employ signs and symbols to represent our concepts, ideas and feelings. Those signs and symbols can be in the form of sounds, words, images, notes or objects. The term bambu runcing (a piece of sharpened bamboo), for example, can be interpreted in two ways by Indonesian people.
First, it represents the bravery,determination and struggle of Indonesian people to fight for independence. In the era of colonialism when most Indonesian people used limited weapons in wars against Dutch troops, Indonesian military leaders often said that it was not a must for all soldiers to have a pistol or riffle because a brave soldier could only use a bamboo runcing to kill a Dutch soldier. Second, bambu runcing symbolises usefulness. For Indonesian villagers, it can be utilised as a very practical tool to place seeds in a paddy field, to kill snakes, to harvest fruits and to fry certain herbs. Here, we know that the term bambu runcing signifies something. It has two meanings depending on how people interpret or represent it.
How people interpret or represent things around them is actually based on the relation between their language, society and cultural differences. For instance, touching someone else’s head is a cultural practice that can be interpreted differently by Indonesian and English people. In Indonesian culture touching someone else’s head might be considered taboo. Some people, especially Javanese, can get offended if someone touches their head. This is because they interpret touching someone else’s head as a way of underestimation or humiliation. In England, on the other hand, people sometimes touch other people’s head. English footballers, for example, will enthusiastically touch their friend’s head after making a goal. Nobody will get offended because the footballers and spectators know that touching someone else’s head means respecting someone else’s achievement. The two cultural differences clearly show that culture works through a representational system in which meaning plays an important role.
In the illustration above, Indonesian and English people shared cultural values in their own society where language and culture are produced through system of representation. Yet, is it possible to have a cultural problem for people who live in the same culture? It would be useful to elaborate an unusual event that I experienced last week. I live and work in Malang, the second biggest city in East Java province of Indonesia, where the people are very famous for their unique slang language.
The Malangese slang language is actually easy. It is a flexible combination between Javanese and Indonesian languages that are spoken in backward formations. For example, instead of saying kaos kamu apik (your shirt is nice – in a normal sentence formation) the Malangese may prefer to say soak umak kipa (your shirt is nice – in a backward sentence formation). For Indonesian people coming from other provinces, the simple example is often difficult to understand. They may identify and understand that soak umak is a backward formation form kaos kamu because the phrase is taken from Indonesian language. However, they will be confused when the backward phrase added with the word apik. This is because they do not know that the term apik (nice) is taken from Javanese language.
One day I bought a T-shirt in one of the biggest traditional markets in Malang. In order to get a cheaper price I usually spoke a Malangese slang expression to a shop keeper. My previous experiences showed that it worked and was no problem at all. Entering a shop in the market, I said to a shop assistant, “Pak, soak ngeri uki orip?” (Sir, how much is the black T-shirt? – the normal sentence formation should be Pak, kaos ireng iku piro?). At the first time, the shop assistant did not reply my question. When I repeated my slang remark, the shop assistant said, “Kaos iku sewidak ewu!” (The T-shirt costs Rp. 65,000.00). Soon I was shocked for two reasons. First, the shop assistant did not answer my question by using a Malangese slang expression. Secondly, he spoke with an unpleasant raising intonation as if he had been angry with me. Later, when I was about to leave the shop, the cashier whispered to me that I should not have spoken the Malangese slang expression because the shop assistant adored politeness and, therefore, considered my Malangese slang expression to be impolite.
The event above shows that how important a system of representation operates to connect between language, society and cultural differences. I begin to realise that by using the Malangese slang language as a representational system, I possibly discover that a cultural difference may take place in the same society where most people share the same cultural values and speak the same language. In this case, not all Malang people like to speak their own unique slang language although they were born and grown up in Malang and can speak the slang language very well.
Early Summer 2012, Stanmore, NSW, Australia