Gender-Biased Words Marked by Indonesian Suffixes Wan, Wati, and Man: A Socio-Morphological Study

Abstract

Bahasa Indonesia is not included into sexist language, such as English, German, French, or Arabic. Some words, however, are viewed in non-neutral usage related to gender perspectives. It motivates the writer to conduct a study concerning gender-biased words found in Bahasa Indonesia. The current study aims to describe the forms of gender biased words found in Bahasa Indonesia and the social aspects underlying such bias in society. It was analyzed using descriptive-qualitative method in triangulation among data, method, and technique. The data were obtained from Indonesian words containing suffixes –wan, –wati, and –man by using observational method from Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (Fifth Edition, 2016) and categorizing the words based on the three suffixes. Name and Process Model was used to analyze the data in words of morphological approach and elaborate them to get the social aspects in words of Sociolinguistics approach. The result confirmed that there are gender-biased words found in Bahasa Indonesia which can be classified into two categories: masculine and feminine words as shown by the three suffixes. The masculine words are commonly used by both women and men (neutral), while feminine words are only used by women (exclusive). It shows the tendency which places masculine words in superior position, while feminine words are placed in inferior position. Therefore, patriarchal cultures existing in Indonesian society from New Order to Reformation has generated the primary power of male in roles of Indonesian language structure.



Author Information
Rinta Alvionita, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia

Paper Information
Conference: ACAH2018
Stream: Humanities - Language, Linguistics

This paper is part of the ACAH2018 Conference Proceedings (View)
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Posted by James Alexander Gordon