Honorifics Terms (Sociolingustics)

The definition of human beings as ultra-social species is true. Human beings are creatures who cannot live alone. In daily life and in various situations, they always need one another because they are socially bonded by a means named language. Hand in hand with this fact, language is essentially a social interaction tool and a system that contains words, sounds, symbols, grammatical rules, and most importantly, meanings, all of which can be expressed in written (nonverbal) and spoken (verbal) forms. Both forms are equally important as long as they have meanings in order to convey a message, concept, feeling, and other information. Moreover, the written language can be any type of written text while the spoken language is an utterance in talk and spoken words.

The activity of exchanging thoughts, ideas, and feelings with each other every single day indirectly makes people sustain their relationship with society. That is why conversations sometimes refer to ordinary and never-ending phenomena in people’s environment. Information shared through conversation could change people’s points of view, or validate the original stance. When people interact with each other, they practically create a conversation. The purposes of conversation are to gain information, reveal information, solve problems, ask for help and opinion, announce something, give advice, express ideas, and convey messages. According to Brennan (2010:1), conversation is a joint activity in which two or more participants use linguistic forms and nonverbal signals to communicate interactively.

In creating a conversation, the speakers use terms of addressing or honorifics. According to Fasold (1990: 1-2), address terms are the words used by speakers to designate the person they are talking to while they are talking to them. Address forms are really part of complete semantic systems that have something to do with social relationships (Zavitri:2018).

Talking about honorifics or address terms simply means talking about the way we greet people, the manner we call them or address them. We all know that In English, most people prefer addressing other people with "You" (no matter with whom they talk to). Some people tend to greet using Mr/Ms/MS + surname. For example "Mr. Robinson" from the complete name "Peter Robinson". Others even address using titles for a specific context, and the rest of the people choose to use the nickname of the person to address them. It's generally for those who have a closeness like a friend to friend, sister to sister, and brother to brother.

In Bahasa, terms of addressing are actually quite different from English terms of addressing. Why? Because it’s impossible to address everyone with “You”. For example, if a student talks to a lecturer, the student can't call the lecturer with “Kau or Kamu or Anda”. There's no way. Why? because it can be concluded as an impolite way of addressing it. Therefore, it's kinda crucial for Indonesian students to consider the right way of addressing their lecturer. They can use "Bapak/Pak and Ibu" instead. Besides, to address grandmother or grandfather, Indonesians have to use the words "Kakek and Nenek". For example, a young boy asks for a glass of water from his grandmother. He should address his grandmother by saying “Nenek, Saya minta tolong Nenek ambilkan saya air satu gelas”. It will be impolite if he addresses by saying :nenek, saya minta tolong kau ambil saya air satu gelas”. See? It breaks the rule. It breaks the politeness.

Similar to that case, Indonesians also use terms of addressing father and mother with bapak/mama, papa/mama, papi/mami, and ayah/bunda. Indonesian terms for addressing elder brother and elder sister are kakak/ kak, and mbak/mas (in Javanese). Terms of addressing younger brother and sister are adik and dik/dek. Sometimes, the way to address people is really relatable to the context. When a man talks to his junior staff in the office, he might not use the term “anda or saudara” but “ibu” (no matter the junior staff is the real ibu-ibu or maybe younger than him or even older than him) he would say “selamat siang bu, berkas yang kemarin dikirim dari PT. X tolong ibu teruskan ke email Bapak Anto.” Terms of addressing she/he in Indonesian are dia, beliau, almarhum, and almarhumah (for a person's passed away status). Indonesians really need to consider the context and terms of addressing that they are going to use in a conversation.

My mother tongue, Watumitenese, can be called "the mixed language of Nagekeonese" (a local language in district Nagekeo) and some of Endenese (a local language in the district of Ende). The honorifics or terms of addressing people in Watumitenese are almost pretty similar to the form of Indonesian honorifics. The terms of addressing parents in Watumitenese are Ine and ema. Terms of addressing younger and older brothers/sisters are ari and ka’e. Terms of addressing grandmother and grandfather are ebuwaca and emaka’e. Moreover, terms of addressing between friend to a friend are usually a surname, because people in my village believe the first name of each person is the name of the saint. They should not call friends using their first name but surnames.

Let me tell you my story. My father calls his childhood friend “Pona” whereas, the complete name of his friend is Maria Agnes Pona. The term of addressing brother-in-law in Watumitenese are Echa, for example, A: Echa, echa mona nande? (Echa, you don't sleep?). We are not allowed to use “Kau or Kamu,”. Echa is almost the same as Endenese which is Eja. The term for addressing a Parent’s younger brother or sister is Lo’o, for example, “Lo’o, lo’o mona ti’i nga’o koyo?” (Lo'o, can lo'o give me the chili?).

Furthermore, the term addressing she/he in Watumitenese is imu. Imu is the same as dia in Indonesian, while the Term addressing "they" in Watumitenese is Sira. For example; A talks to B about C.

(Pay attention to the illustration below)

A: Pona, kau pe’o ko mona? Imu ke mange, imu bhia sodho. This means (Pona, do you know what? He’s hungry but he doesn’t tell us.

B: Nga’o mona pe’o. sira ngasi, imu ka negha. This means (I don’t know, They told me that he ate some food already.

I personally conclude that this world is full of diversity, especially languages, and its honorific terms. Although the terms of addressing people are somehow various, it becomes the uniqueness of a language and culture. People need to consider the context and the terms themselves. Besides, the most important thing is "Respect your own local honorifics!" and say something nice. hehehe

Sayonara #RA