10 Unique Features of Kupang-Malay Language: A Language Spoken

in Kupang – NTT Indonesia

Santri E. P. Djahimo

Nusa Cendana University, Kupang – NTT, Indonesia

Keywords: Kupang-Malay Language, Unique Linguistic Features, Written and Spoken Language

Abstract: Every language in this world has uniqueness and particular features to become its identity. Kupang – Malay

as one of the languages which is dominantly spoken by people in Kupang Municipality has its own unique

features. This writing has attempted to trace and identify the 10 unique linguistic features of this language in

order to show the richness and different varieties of languages in Indonesia, which are considered as the

inheritance of Austronesian traits and grouped as the family of Austronesian languages. This writing has

revealed 10 unique features of Kupang–Malay language which is spoken by people in Kupang Municipality

(Kota Kupang) of East Nusa Tenggara Province (Propinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur). The data has been taken

from written forms (local newspaper, Short Message Service, and various social media) and oral form (daily

conversations). There are many particular features of Kupang–Malay language that make it unique and easy

to identify, looking from the domains of morphology, phonology, syntax, and sociolinguistics. They are

then classified into 10 under the classifications of (1) idiomatic expression, (2) prefix ba-, (3) prefix ta-, (4)

reduplication, (5) word changing, omitting, and/or modifying, (6) loanwords, (7) clipping, (8) pronouns, (9)

possessive (10) The use of particles ko, na, ma, tuh, and hang as complicated grammatical rules. This

finding is not static as language itself changes over time. New people from new places with recent

innovation can bring the changes to the language, especially on the vocabulary level. However, the basic

patterns of this language will not be easily changed because they have become the particular identity of this

language.

1 INTRODUCTION

Language as important tool for communication is a

part of culture. It is a typical characteristic or feature

of a nation, region, and/or tribe. A language exists

and can be used by its users because there has been

an agreement about the rules, regulations and

meanings among them (Owen, 1996). In Indonesia,

we speak Bahasa Indonesia as our national identity

which belongs to our culture. Local people of

Kupang use the local language in daily

communication to show our local identity, that is,

Kupang–Malay.

Kupang Municipality (Kota Kupang) is the

capital city of East Nusa Tenggara Province

(Propinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur), one of the

provinces in Indonesia. Like Jakarta people of the

capital city of Indonesia that are increasingly

exposed to a multicultural society but still have local

features of identity to communicate (i.e. Betawi

language), people in Kupang, despite their

multiculturalism, also have their own local language

to be used in their daily communication, called

Kupang–Malay.

Kupang–Malay language itself is not totally

different from Bahasa Indonesia. Generally, most of

the words used is from Bahasa Indonesia, but it has

particular features to show its linguistic entity as the

local language of people in Kupang. How people in

Kupang, Manado, Ambon, and Papua speak their

languages is almost the same, but people can tell

which one is which by listening to the accents,

intonation and several particular features. Based on

Wardhaugh's (2010) argument, it can be assumed

that the way these languages are spoken and

Djahimo, S.

10 Unique Features of Kupang-Malay language: A Language Spoken in Kupang – NTT Indonesia.

DOI: 10.5220/0008217700002284

In Proceedings of the 1st Bandung English Language Teaching International Conference (BELTIC 2018) - Developing ELT in the 21st Century, pages 58-64

ISBN: 978-989-758-416-9

transformed can be called the process of creolization

which is the process of transforming from pidging

language to creol. The similarity of transformation

process might occur because all these languages

belong to the group of Austronesia. However, this

writing will not discuss the similarities and

differences of Austronesian languages, but it will

pinpoint and discuss further the features of a local

language spoken by people in Kupang, called

Kupang–Malay language (Bahasa Kupang).

2 THE 10 UNIQUE FEATURES OF

KUPANG-MALAY LANGUAGE

Kupang–Malay language is considered as one of the

local languages in the eastern part of Indonesia. It is

spoken in East Nusa Tenggara Province, especially,

in several districts in Timor Island, they are; Kupang

District, TTS District, TTU District, Belu District,

and Malaka District. Despite the similarities in most

aspect of the language, each region has several

unique features that show where exactly they come

from.

This writing will focus on the unique features

found in Kupang – Malay language spoken by

people in Kupang Municipality. There is much

uniqueness found in this language that will be

classified into 10 major classifications as follows:

2.1 Idiomatic Expression

As previously mentioned that language is not static

but dynamic, especially on the level of vocabulary.

Kupang-Malay language has stocks of unique

vocabulary, in the forms of idiomatic expressions

(slangs, phrases, figurative languages, idioms, etc.)

which have changed over time. Several of the

expressions can be seen below:

 Kaki kereta

Kaki is feet and kareta is kereta in Bahasa

Indonesia which is translated as train in English.

Therefore, the expression can be translated as feet

of train that refers to the wheels of train. Kaki

kareta is used to address to those who like to

hang around. Old people used to use the

expression of tapaleuk that has similar in meaning

to kaki kareta.

 Mulu beludak

Mulu is from mulut in Bahasa Indonesia which

is translated as mouth, and beludak is a group of

venomous snakes called, familia viperidae. In this

expression, mulu beludak refers to people who like

to say bad things about others and hurt them

verbally. Their mouths are as poisonous as those

venomous snakes, that is why, this expression uses

the word beludak. This expression used to be used

by our parents or grandparents, but nowadays, we

seldom use this kind of expression. The new

expression to change this one is mulu piso. Mulu is

mouth and piso is pisau in Bahasa Indonesia and

knife in English. So mulu piso literary means knife

mouth. In this expression, it has exactly similar

meaning to mulu beludak.

Both expressions can also refer to people who

cannot keep secrets or easily share others’ secrets.

 Makan

puji

Makan is a verb which means to eat and

puji is actually a noun from Bahasa Indonesia,

pujian or compliment. So, literary, makan puji is to

eat the compliment. This expression refers to people

who like to take compliment and expect respect and

admiration from others.

2.2 Prefix ba-

The second unique feature of Kupang – Malay

language is the use of prefix ba- to be used as

reciprocal pronouns. Below is a table to distinguish

between prefix ber- and prefix and suffix ber- -an

in Bahasa Indonesia and prefix ba- in Kupang –

Malay which have similar meaning.

Table 1: Prefix ber- and prefix and suffix ber- -an in

Bahasa Indonesia and prefix ba- in Kupang–Malay:

Similarity

Root

Bahasa

Indonesia

Kupang-

Malay

Meaning

Bahasa

Indonesia

Kupang-

Malay

Prefix ber-

Prefix and

suffix ber-

- an

Prefix ba-

Ciu

cio

ciu

-an

bacio

to kiss

each

other

Dekat de

dekat

bade

To be

close to

eac

10 Unique Features of Kupang-Malay language: A Language Spoken in Kupang – NTT Indonesia

other

Pelu

elo

elu

-an

bapel

to hug

each

other

Sentu

sonto

ersen-

tuhan

baso

nto

touch

Lihat liat

baliat to

look

each

other

Basically, words with prefix and suffix ber- -an

in Bahasa Indonesia have similar meaning to those

in Kupang - Malay with prefix ba-, which is the

short form of baku or in Bahasa it means saling to

show the reciprocal pronouns. However, it can be

seen from the table that there are several exceptions,

such as, the roots with vocal u are changed to o:

cium to ciom, and some consonants, especially the

last letters are omitted in Kupang – Malay language.

For example: sentuh becomes sonto. Another

exception is, not all roots can be added with prefix

and suffix ber- -an in Bahasa Indonesia but can be

added by prefix ba- in Kupang Malay. The example

is the word lihat in Bahasa or liat in Kupang –

Malay. The word can’t become berliatan because it

does not have any meaning in Bahasa. But it can

become baliat in Kupang – Malay which means to

look at one another.

Another use of prefix ba- in Kupang – Malay

which do not always refer to reciprocal pronouns

are: bagosip (refers to gossiping activity done by at

least two people), balari (run here and there),

baangka (to take someone’s belongings), baekor (to

keep on following someone), bakuda (to move here

and there or hyper-active), baribut (to make noisy),

and so on.

2.3 Prefix ta-

Like prefix ba- discussed earlier, prefix ta- is

Kupang – Malay is unique as well. Its function is

more or less like prefix ter- and prefix and suffix

ber- -an in Bahasa Indonesia. However, because of

its uniqueness, not all roots added by prefix ¬ter- is

meaningful in Bahasa. Below is the table to show

the clear examples:

Table 2: Prefix –ter and the examples

Root

Bahasa

Indonesia

Kupang-

Malay

Meaning

Bahasa

Indonesia

Kupang-

Malay

Prefix ter-

Prefix and

suffix ber-

-an

Prefix ba-

Buka buka

terb

uka

tabu

open

Kejut

kej

takuj

Sur-

prise d

kaget kaget

taka

gget

rise

Ham-

bur

ham

bur

mbura

(b)ta

ham

messy

untidy

Sibuk sibuk

tasi

busy

It can be seen clearly from the table that not all

roots can be added with prefix and suffix in Bahasa,

for example no tersibuk or bersibukan in Bahasa

Indonesia. Tasibuk in Kupang – Malay refers to

those who keep or make themselves busy.

Another use of the prefix ta- in Kupang – Malay

is in the following examples: tatidor (to sleep),

tadalam (to refer to something that goes inward, like

a plastic ball that we press or it can also mean to go

deeper, like the hole on the ground), tampias (to

bounch), talele (not tidy, it has the same meaning as

tahambur), etc.

2.4 Reduplication

Reduplication has its own uniqueness in Kupang –

Malay language. Based in its types and functions

uttered by Kauffman (2015), many reduplications

exist in Kupang – Malay use the type of full

reduplication. However, they are not always used to

form plurals. Several examples can be seen here to

be clear:

a. Lu jangan datang-datang terus.

Do n’t

kee p

o n

co mi n g.

It is a full reduplication which refers to a

continued activity.

b. Mari kitong bakusu-kusu do.

Let ’s sa y th in gs i n wh isp er ( and so

no b o d y

else

can listen to us).

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Kusu-kusu means whisper. It’s similar to kusuk-

kasak as a type of ablaut reduplication which means

similar to kusu-kusu in this example:

Dong dua ada kusuk-kasak di belakang.

Both of them are talking (in whisper

and

it’s

not

clear what they’re talking about) at the back.

Although these two reduplications have different

types (kusu-kusu is full reduplication and kusuk-

kasak is ablaut reduplication, but they both are used

as reciprocity (they do those activities to one

another).

c. Lu jangan ke gila-gila e.

Do n’t a ct cr az il y o r d o n’t d o cr az y

hi n gs .

This is a full reduplication which is used to

express similarity.

d. Itu anak su ke nyong-nyong / nona-nona e.

That boy / girl (has grown up fast) looks

like a man / a woman.

These two are full reduplications which are not

used to show plurality but similarity. That boy is

like a man and that girl is like a woman.

e. Itu anjing gong-gong tiap malam.

That dog barks everynight.

This type of reduplication is onomatopoeia

which is used to imitate animals and sounds in

nature. In this case, it imitates the sounds of dogs.

2.5 Word Changing, Omitting, and / or

Modifying

There have been some deletions in the front,

back or middle parts of several words in Kupang–

Malay as has been previously discussed in clipping.

Other examples of this phenomenon are:

1. The redundancy of sang and deng

Table 3: Examples of the redundancy: Sang and Deng

Kupang-Malay

Bahasa

Indonesia

English

Original-Form

Modified-

Form

Kasih tau

sama dia

nanti beta

igi katumu

dia

as tau

sang dia

nanti be pi

katumu dia

Kasih tahu

dia nanti saya

pergi

ertemu

dia

Tell him/her

that I

will come

to meet/see

him/her

Kasian

dengan lu do

Kasian

deng lu do

Kasihan

kamu

Poor you

Sang and deng is each shortened and modified

from the words sama and dengan which are actually

redundancy in both sentences because without the

words the sentences have already had complete

meanings.

2. The changing and/or modifying of

words

Table 4: Examples of Changing and Modifying Words

Kupang-Malay

Bahasa

Indonesia

English

Original-Form

Modified-

Form

Dia ada

badiri

manghadap

laut

Dia ada

badiri

mangada

laut

Dia sedang

berdiri

menghadap

ke laut

S/he is

standing and

facing the sea

Itu orang

suka tidor

matono

It orang

suka tidor

matono

Orang itu

suka tidur

telungkup

That man

likes to sleep

on his

stomach

In the first example, ada functions as a

progressive indicator which shows that the activity is

happening at the real time. It is like the word sedang

in Bahasa Indonesia and to be + -ing in English.

Menghadap is changed to mangada and this

phenomenon often occurs in this language (the

changing of the vocals and the deletion of consonant

at the end of the words).

The second example shows the shortening of

article itu (that) becomes it and also ini (this) to in.

Tidur in Bahasa Indonesia is changed to tidor (to

sleep), and telungkup is totally changed to matono

(on one’s stomach).

2.6 Loanwords

There are many loanwords used in Kupang–Malay

language. Some of them are used as the original

ones, which has been categorized as the ones do not

undergo any modification at all (Peperkamp, 2004)

others have been through word formation process or

have undergo different transformations (Peperkamp,

2004), so they are adopted to be adapted (Odlin,

1989). Few examples are provided here:

10 Unique Features of Kupang-Malay language: A Language Spoken in Kupang – NTT Indonesia

a. Banco is from Portuguese which means chair. It

has been changed to become bangku in Kupang–

Malay language.

b. Passear is also from Portuguese which means

cruise or excursion which has then adopted and

adapted as pasiar in Kupang – Malay language.

c. Sapato is from Portuguese which means shoes. In

Kupang – Malay language, it has been used as

sapatu.

d. Achteruit is a Dutch word which means to go

backward. It has been through the process of word

formation and changed to become antret in Kupang

– Malay.

e. Horloge is a Dutch word for watch, and it has

been changed to arloji in Kupang – Malay.

f. Klaar is another one of Dutch which means done

or finish and it is used in Kupang – Malay language

as kelar.

g. Koor is choir and adopted and used without any

changes.

h. Oom means uncle is used without any changes.

i. Oma means grandma is used without any changes.

j. Opa means grandpa is used without any changes.

2.7 Clipping

Linguistically, clipping is the process of word

formation by reducing the parts of a word

(Marchand, 1969). It can also be said as the process

of shortening a word. This phenomenon has been

found in many words in Kupang – Malay language.

Arnold (1986) has divided clipping into 4 main

types, they are, initial clipping, final clipping, medial

clipping, and complex clipping. Below is the table of

clipping or shortening in Kupang – Malay:

No dot should be included after the subsection

title number.

Table 5: Clipping or shortening in Kupang-Malay.

Original

Words

The

Short

Form

Type of

Clipping

Meaning

Sonde

Dia

sonde

datan

son

Dia

son

datan

final

clipping

He is

not

coming.

Saja

Lu diam

diam

final

clipping

You just

keep quiet

Beta Dia

beta pung

kunyadu

Dia

pung

unyadu

final

clipping

he is

sister/bro

ther in-

law

kunyadu

Dia beta

pung

kunyadu

adu

Dia

pung

nyadu

Initial

clipping

he is

sister/bro

ther in-

law

Beta

pergi

sekolah

tiap hari

Pi Be pi

sekolah

tiap hari

Medial

clipping

I go to

school

everyday

Jangan

Lagi

Jangan

datang

lagi

Jang + lai

Jang

datang

lai

Final

clipping

Medial

clipping

Don’t

come

again

Sia

iapa?

apa?

Medial

clipping

Who are

ou?

Dorang

sudah

datag?

Dong

Dong su

datan?

Medial

clipping

Final

clipping

Have

they

come?

It can be seen from the table that the most

dominant type of clipping used in Kupang-Malay

language is final clipping. People like to shorten the

words by omitting the last parts. More examples are:

juga becomes ju (also), kasih becomes kas (to give),

dengan becomes deng (with), musti becomes mus

(must), jangan becomes jang (no), etc.

2.8 Pronouns

Generally, Bahasa Indonesia only recognizes

subject pronouns because there will be no changing

in the object pronouns. The similar rule applies to

Kupang – Malay language. Here is a table of

pronouns in Kupang – Malay:

Table 5: Clipping or shortening in Kupang-Malay.

upang

–

Malay

Language

Bahasa

Indonesia

English

eta

e Sa

u I

au You

(singular)

alian You (

al)

atong

oton

iWe

Don

a They

Dia Dia S/He

tu Itu/Ini It

The pronouns in Kupang – Malay is quite

different from those in Bahasa Indonesia, except for

the third person singular (she and he). They are more

or less similar to the pronouns used in the language

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spoken in Ambon. There is no particular term for

subject pronoun of it, and some people just translate

it with article this or that.

2.9 Possesive

There is no particular terms for possessive

(either possessive pronouns or possessive adjectives)

in Kupang Malay. The word punya in Bahasa or

pung in Kupang Malay that is always used as the

indicator of possessiveness. Here are the

examples of possessive:

Bahasa Indonesia: Ini buku saya

Kupang – Malay: Ini be pung buku

English: This is my book (possessive adjective)

Bahasa Indonesia: Buku ini milik saya

Kupang – Malay: Ini buku be pung

English: This book is mine (possessive pronoun)

The similar pattern applies to all pronouns.

2.10 The Use of Particles ko, na, ma,

tuh, and hang as Complicated

Grammatical Rules

The linguistic rules in Kupang – Malay language

cannot be categorized as the violations of

grammatical rules but rather a combination of rules

that creates new complicated grammatical rules. As

the native speakers, we do know when and how to

use these particle words but it is not easy to explain

in linguistics way what exactly they are. They are

discourse markers which do not have any lexical

meanings but are included in grammatical

categories.

Several examples will be given to make easier to

understand when and how each of them is used:

1. Ko

Ko sapa suruh lu datang?

Siapa suruh kamu

datang? Who asked you

to come?

Akurang ko lu

manangis? Mengapa

kamu menangis Why

are you crying?

Dong panggil andia ko

be datang

Karena mereka panggil maka saya dating

They called me that’s why I’m coming

In the examples, whether ko is put in the

beginning or the middle of the sentences, it has no

clear translation in Bahasa Indonesia and English.

But if we look at each context, then we will find out

that the use of ko in those three sentences is mainly

to emphasize the utterance.

2. Na

Be marah ko lu main datang terus na

Saya marah karena kamu dating

terus- menerus

I get cranky because you keep coming

back here

Ko beta na

Semua karena saya (positive work)

You know, it’s all because of me (I’ve

done good work)

Su abis na mari kitong pulang su Kalau

sudah selesai mari kita pulang If

everything’s done, let’s go home

Similar to ko discussed eearlier, it’s not easy to

find the exact meaning of na in these examples. It

has no particular function in those sentences but to

strengthen the meaning of each sentence.

3. Ma

Ko beta na

Be lapar jadi be makan su ma

Saya lapar karena itu saya langsung

makan

I was hungry, that’s why, I ate directly

Dia datang kemarin ma be son ada di

rumah Dia datang kemarin tapi saya

tidak ada di rumah

He came yesterday but I wasn’t home

Lu pulang ma nanti kalo lu pung guru

tanya be bilang apa?

Kamu boleh pulang tapi kalau guru

kamu bertanya apa yang akan saya

jawab?

You can go home but what would I

say if your teacher asked?

It is quite easier to identify the meaning of ma

from those examples. In the first example, it means

do things directly, without any delay (Be lapar jadi

be makan su ma). The second and third examples

have similar meaning, that is but.

4. Tuh

Lu tuh yang mulai

duluan Memang

kamu yang mulai duluan It was you who

started first

10 Unique Features of Kupang-Malay language: A Language Spoken in Kupang – NTT Indonesia

Lu pung kantor yang mana tuh? Kantor

kamu yang sebelah mana? Which one is

your office?

Itu laki-laki tuh yang be cerita lu

Laki-laki itu yang saya ceritakan

kepada kamu

That is the man I told you about

Basically tuh refers to itu but in daily use the

meaning can be adapted with the context.

5. Hang

Hang is used as question tag to check

information or to ask other people’s agreement. Here

are the examples:

Lu su makan pagi hang?

Kamu sudah makan pagi bukan?

You had your breakfast, didn’t you?

Lu tau dia pung alamat hang? Kamu

tahu alamatnya bukan?

You know her address, don’t you?

3 CONCLUSIONS

From the discussion above it can be seen that

Kupang–Malay language is unique by its particular

features as the result of word formation processes.

There are several similarities and differences in

features between this language and others which is

not surprising. The similarities might occur because

these languages belong to the family of Austronesia,

and the differences exist because each language has

its uniqueness to become its identity.

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Arnold. Mosc. Vyscha Shkola.

Kauffman, C.A 2015. 'Reduplication reflects uniqueness

and innovation in language, thought and culture'.

Omniglot–Online Encycl. Writ. Syst. Lang. Publ.

Simon Ager.

Marchand, H 1969. 'Die ableitung deadjektivischer verben

im deutschen, Englischen und Französischen'.

Indogermanische Forschungen 74, 155.

Odlin, T 1989. Language transfer: Cross-linguistic

influence in language learning. Cambridge University

Press.

Owen, R.E 1996. Language development. A pearson

educational company, United State of America.

Peperkamp, S 2004. A psycholinguistic theory of

loanword adaptations, in: Annual meeting of the

berkeley linguistics society. pp. 341–352.

Wardhaugh, R 2010. Words and culture. Introd.

Socioling. 6, 229–238.

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