Language Play as a means of conveying youth identity and social position
Language Play and Indonesia: An Overview
Can language play through the use of tools such as metaphor, metonymy, and multlingualism facilitate political expression/DISSENT among youth? This is the question that will be explored in this article
Typically, language play is used for entertainment purposes. This is seen in many children’s rhymes and word games as well as jokes.
However, can metaphors, metonymy, punning, and other forms of linguistic practices afforded by language play facilitate political expression/dissent among youth?
YES. In fact, there is a plethora of examples where Indonesian youth have engaged in language play for this very goal. And as we will learn in this article; they have a very good reason to.
Language play is used by many young Indonesians to express their political opinions while circumventing institution-led censorship and other barriers of expression.
According to Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization which monitors freedom of expression around the world, Indonesia has significant impediments in the ability to express dissent and criticism against the government and/or its policies.
The Indonesian government, particularly the Ministry of Communication and Information (MCIT) and relevant law enforcement agencies often block or prosecute users/sites that contain ‘negative content’ or content that violates social norms.
Another organisation called the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) observed in 2019 that because of the government’s loose definition of negative content and the politicised use of detamation laws and Electronic Transactions and Information (ITE) law, internet users and journalists have been targeted by authorities by labelling their online criticisms against the government as ‘hate speech’ and thus, prosecutable under relevant laws.
As a result of these institutional barriers, young Indonesians have resorted to the linguistic resources afforded by language play to covertly and creatively express identity and social position in a restrictive environment.
To explore this notion, I begin by asking “what are the forms of language play used by young Indonesians and by extension, their media, to convey their identity and social position?”
What this article will be talking, in summation.
What is language play?
Language play is defined as the creative expression of linguistic resources which facilitates either a conscious or unconscious effort to convey humour or to accomplish communicative goals (Djenar et al., 2018).
In particular, language play can index the participants’ alignment or resistance towards certain groups or ideas (Sherzher and Webster, 2015, p.12).
Language play can also enable its users to resist norms, provoke mainstream disapproval, strengthen in-group solidarity, and exclude the “other” (Lefkowitz & Hedgcock, 2016, p. 347)
Meanwhile, Language play can occur in both verbal and nonverbal communication and can involve the use of multiple languages where multilingualism is a component of the language play (Djenar et al., 2018). Moreover, various linguistic practices and literary devices make up language play (Djenar et al., 2018).
What are the forms of language play used by Indonesian youth to convey their identity social position? A linguistic analysis.
The aforementioned twitter thread shows different forms of language play that are utilised by the twitters users to accomplish a specific communicative goal, and that is an attempt by bourgeoning Indonesian youth to discreetly express the memories of a polarizing political regime in Indonesian history.
The thread begins with a seemingly unrelated tweet where a user asks for suggestions for a perfume for men that lasts for a long time (saranin aku parfum cowok yang wanginnya awet dong).
However, when the tweet was picked up by a popular Indonesian comedy account (koko) and they replied with the tweet “Eau de Baru.” The topic of the conversation expanded into politics. This particular tweet displays language play in the form of punning and metaphor. As described by Djenar et al., 2018), language play can draw on literary devices such as metaphors. Other linguistic practices such as punning and metonymy are also commonly used in language play (Norrick, 2016, p.11).
Eau de Baru is a pun of Eau de Parfum (a type of perfume) and Orde Baru (New Order), a regime in Indonesian history known for its polarizing reception among Indonesians. In a quick glance, the response Eau de Baru may appear as if it is answering the originating tweet’s suggestion for a perfume, as Eau de Baru plays on the metaphor of a type of perfume. However, when looked closer, the pun’s links to Orde Baru is significant because of the shared pronunciation and the double meaning the pun presents. Orde Baru is well-known for being a regime in Indonesian history that was marked by systematic and deeply embedded corruption and misconduct among political elites. The regime’s fame is also attributed to its longevity, for the regime lasted for a long time, spanning three decades (Aspinall, 2005, p.214). Hence, Eau de Baru would make a good recommendation for a perfume that lasts for a long time because, like the Orde Baru regime, Eau de Baru lasts for a long time. As such, language play through the use of metaphor and puns not only index the replying user’s political opinion on Orde Baru in a matter that is non-confrontational but also signifies in-group solidarity when another user immediately praised the response for being a ‘nice pun’.
The longevity and (sometimes unwanted) legacy of Orde Baru is also commented by another user, who jokingly replied that the scent [of the aforementioned Eau de Baru] still remains even today (kesisa ampe sekarang baunnya ni). This comment clearly alludes to the lingering legacy of Orde Baru, which are: (1) the continued public sector corruption by government officials afforded by enduring power structures created during Orde Baru, and by extension (2) some military and government officials that were heavily involved during Orde Baru continue to have enduring power and influence over state affairs even today (McLeod, 2010, p.52). The former sentiment towards enduring institutional corruption is evident in the response by one user who tweeted “Eau de Baru...feel the fresh scent of corruption” (dapatkan kesegaran korupsiyen). This tweet uses the format of a perfume advertisement as a metaphor of the widespread corruption that was a major characteristic of the New Order regime. The deliberate misspelling of corruption (proper form is korupsi) is a stylistic choice to imbue more humour to the topic. The spelling of korupsi as a korupsiyen also indicates language play in the form of mocking foreignness as the misspelling shares a similar pronunciation with the English translation of corruption. Indonesian jokes have been known to draw on the English language to construct jokes.
The latter sentiment of enduring political figures is echoed by the response “wiran t’eau”, which is a perfume pun for Wiranto, a New Order general who was indicted for crimes against humanity by the United Nations for his role in the Indonesian military-backed East Timor massacres in 1999 (Warburton, 2016, p.302). Despite all this history, Wiranto was still appointed to the ‘prestigious’ position of coordinating minister for political, legal, and security affairs in 2016 by president Joko Widodo (Warburton, 2016, p. 302). This use of puns instead of direct name-dropping, the user employs a more humorous and less confrontational method of commenting on the enduring political power of a particular military figure of Orde Baru.
The last tweet is a reminder of why metaphors, puns, and humour afforded by language play may be the safest way to express dissenting views against the Indonesian government. As mentioned previously, the freedom of political expression has seen significant barriers in recent years. Thus, dissenting users must always be vigilant in the content they express. The tweet “careful, you’ll disappear” (awas ilang) is both a reminder for fellow dissenters to exercise vigilance (Hence the importance of covert methods of dissenting) and also a nod to the highly memorable state efforts of coercion, surveillance, and repression of perceived dissenters or opposition during Orde Baru (Berger, 1997, p.341). This tweet is all the more significant in highlighting many suspicious disappearances of prominent dissenting figures during the regime (Berger, 1997, p.351)
Language Play in recent context
Language play and humour is intimately tied to youth practices of dissent in Indonesia. Its relevance in Indonesian politics is supported by recent cases. Just this month, a man was arrested by local police for posting a satirical joke from former President Abdurrahman Wahid on Facebook. The joke was made in the past to comment on the involvement of the National Police on major graft cases back in 2008. However, local police took that as an attempt to smear the reputation of the National Police and was thus, a chargeable offense under Electronic Information and Transaction Law.
This issue raises concerns over future developments or restrictions on freedom of speech in Indonesia, given the way police have allegedly used extrajudicial moves to silence critics.
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