Code switching by the Banjarese in Surabaya

Most Indonesians learn a language, that is the language their tribe, like Javanese, Madurese or Banjarese speak as their first language. Later, they study Indonesian as their second language at school or informally through society. Most Indonesians are the bilingual or even multilingual who code switch. This study examines the existence of code switching among the writer's Banjar relatives who live in Surabaya. The objectives of this study are (1) to describe the language which is mainly switched by the writer's relatives and (2) to describe the reasons of the existence of code switching. The writer collects the data using a tape recorder (as the audio recording) and a notebook. The data are taken from some conversations in the real situation. Then, the writer identifies the languages mainly switched by the participants. She also analyzes the data based on the parameters (the participants, the settings, and the topics). Based on the analysis, the writer finds out that the languages mainly switched by the participants are Banjarese and Javanese. The writer also finds out that her Banjar relatives switch code because of their habit of speaking Banjarese. This habit has been created since they were children. Another reason concerns with the close relationship between the participants and the informal setting. Besides that, the writer also finds that the participants feel that it is easier for them to express their feelings or emotions in one language than in others. The writer would like to suggest that the next research about code switching can take more subjects with various backgrounds since this study is limited in terms of the numbers of subject. Hopefully, the research would be more attractive to observe to contribute much more to the work of sociolinguistics