Cultural Embodiment Metaphors in Practice
Case Study of Indonesian
MA Thesis
Program: MA Linguistics
Name: Stella Meerman
Studentnumber: S1507133
Supervisor: Dr. A. T. P. G. van Engelenhoven Second Reader: N. Nazarudin, MA
Table of Contents Abbreviations 3 1. Introduction 4 2. Methodology 5 2.1. LIA Banjarmasin 5 2.2. Participants 5
2.3. Round 1: Active knowledge of Indonesian embodiment metaphors 7 2.4. Round 2: Passive knowledge of Indonesian embodiment metaphors 8 2.5. Round 3: Daily use of Indonesian metaphors 9
3. Literature Review 10 3.1. Embodiment metaphors 10 3.1.1. Embodiment 10 3.1.2. Metaphors 11 3.2. Kepala (head) 12 3.3. Mata (eye) 14
3.4. Metaphors from the interviews 15
3.5 Observations 17
4. Analysis 18
4.1. Ability to recognise metaphors and provide explanations 18
4.2. Perception of metaphor use 20
4.3. Explanations vs Definitions 24
4.3.1. Besar kepala (big head) 25
4.3.2. Kepala dingin (head cold) 26
4.3.3. Kepala batu (head stone) and keras kepala (hard head) 26 4.3.4. Di luar kepala (LOC outside head) 29
4.3.5. Kepala udang (head shrimp) 29
4.3.6. Kepala dua (head two) 31
4.3.7. Kepala sekolah (head school) 32
4.3.8. Mata keranjang (eye basket) 33
4.3.9. Mata duitan (eye coin) 34
4.3.10. Gelap mata (dark eye) 35
4.3.11. Empat mata (four eye) 36
4.3.12. Tutup mata (close eye) 37
4.4. Comparing commonly used metaphors and their meaning 37
5. Conclusion 40
Acknowledgments 41
Bibliography 41
Dictionaries 42
Abbreviations
For this paper the Leipzig Glossing Rules are used.1 1PL first person plural
1SG first person singular
2SG second person singular
3SG third person singular DET determiner EXC exclamation IMP Imperative INCL inclusive LOC locative NEG negative RED reduplication 1 https://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/resources/glossing-rules.php
1. Introduction
This paper will investigate the uses of Indonesian cultural embodiment metaphors in a Malay-speaking area of South-Kalimantan, Indonesia. Metaphors tell us a lot about the way we think and how our culture comprehends certain concepts. By interviewing inhabitants of Banjarmasin I investigated the knowledge of Indonesian metaphors of non-native Indonesian speakers.
Firstly the methodology of the research will be explained in chapter 2 including who the participants were and how the research was conducted. Chapter 3 will give you some background knowledge on what is meant by embodiment and metaphors as well as give some insight on the concept of culture in metaphors. To close the chapter, an introduction to the existing literature on Indonesian metaphors with mata ‘eye’ and kepala ‘head’ is given as well as an introduction to the metaphors that have been used in this research. Chapter 4 shall analyse the results of the interviews by looking at the ability of the participants to recognise and provide explanations, the perception of the day-to-day use of the metaphors and a comparison of the explanations from the participants with the definitions from a dictionary. This last part will also dip a toe into the cultural comprehension of the metaphors.
The glosses that are provided in this paper are broad because this research focuses on metaphors rather than grammatical constructions as well as it giving a better understanding of the way in which metaphors are used in Indonesian. The difference between active and passive for example is only indicated in the translation of the glosses. When necessary more detailed glosses are provided.
2. Methodology
The knowledge and use of Indonesian embodiment metaphors was tested in a school in a Malay-speaking region in Indonesia. First, teachers were asked if they could come up with embodiment metaphors with kepala ‘head’ and mata ‘eye’. Secondly, 7 students and 7 teachers were subjected to a semi-structured interview in which they were asked to give definitions of the metaphors from the teachers. Finally, the 14 participants were asked which metaphors are often used in a day-to-day setting according to them.
2.1. LIA Banjarmasin
Interviews were conducted at LIA Banjarmasin. LIA Banjarmasin is an English language school in Banjarmasin, a city in South Kalimantan. The school was established in 1989 and offers extra curricular English lessons to all ages starting from primary school. You can choose to either follow a trajectory parallel to your normal education - which entails 12 levels for Sekolah Dasar ‘primary school’, each with a duration of six months, 12 levels of Sekolah Menengah Pertama ‘junior high school’, each with a duration of three months, and 12 levels for Sekolah Menengah Atas ‘senior high school’, each with a duration of three months as well - or you can choose to follow classes of ‘English for Specific Purpose’, such as ‘Conversation English’, TOEFL, IELTS or private classes.
2.2. Participants
For this study all participants have been divided into two groups, namely students and teachers. All the students were part of the same class of TOEFL level 1 (of 4) and were at the time of the interview enrolled at a university for Sarjana 1 ‘Bachelor degree’. All students except S3 and S4 identify as being orang Banjar ‘Banjar people’. S4 identifies with the city Sebambam and S3 with the region Tanah Bumbu.
Sebambam happens to be a city in the regency of Tanah Bumbu, which is located in
South Kalimantan, the same province as Banjarmasin is located in. S3 and S4 are the only students that do not speak Banjar, but Javanese at home. This is because their families originate from a transmigration movement, which was an effort from the Indonesian government2 in the 20th century to try to relieve the overcrowded islands of Java and Bali and give poor families a chance at a new life somewhere else (Suratman and Guinness 1978).3 Both families originate from Java, explaining why
2 Started by the Dutch colonial government in order to gain cheap labour outside of Java and
continued by the Indonesian government after independence (Dawson 1994, p. 70).
3
Although this sounds like a good initiative, there were a lot of issues with these transmigration movements from Java and Bali. For example, a lack of communication of when exactly the migration would take place leaving already poor families without properties
they speak Javanese at home. All students that have been interviewed are either 20 or 21 years of age (Table 1).
Table 1. The participant group
Age Sex Language Identifies as Code
at home at work/university with friends 20 male 1. Banjar 1. Indonesian
2. Banjar 1. Indonesian 2. English Banjarese S1 20 male 1. Indonesian 2. Banjar 1. Indonesian 2. Banjar 1. Indonesian 2. Banjar Banjarese S2 20 female 1. Javanese 2. Indonesian 1. Indonesian 2. Banjar 1. Banjar
2. Indonesian Tanah Bumbu S3 21 female
1. Javanese 1. Indonesian 1. Javanese 2. Indonesian 3. Banjar
Sebambam S4
21 female 1. Banjar 1. Indonesian 2. Banjar
1. Banjar
2. Indonesian Banjarese S5 20 male 1. Banjar 1. Indonesian
2. Banjar 1. Banjar Banjarese S6 20 female 1. Banjar 2. Indonesian 1. Banjar 2. Indonesian 1. Banjar Banjarese S7 29 female 1. Indonesian 1. Indonesian 2. Banjar 3. English 1. Indonesian 2. Banjar Indonesia T1 39 female 1. Banjar 2. Indonesian 1. Banjar 1. Banjar Banjarese T2 35 female 1. Banjar 1. Banjar 2. English 3. Indonesian 1. Banjar Banjarese T3 32 female 1. Indonesian 2. Javanese 3. Banjar 1. Indonesian 2. Banjar 3. English 1. Banjar Javanese/Banjarese T4 59 male 1. Banjar 2. Indonesian 1. Indonesian 2. Banjar 1. Banjar Tanah Laut T5 44 female 1. Indonesian 2. Javanese 3. Banjar 1. Indonesian 2. Banjar 1. Indonesian 2. Banjar Javanese T6 38 male 1. Banjar 2. Indonesian 1. Banjar 2. English 3. Indonesian 1. Banjar Banjarese T7
for weeks or months as they had sold everything in preparation. Another example is that there was a lack of expectation management about the areas in which they would be placed, which were not ready to be cultivated (Suratman and Guinness 1987, Dawson 1994).
All teachers of LIA have an education of at least Sarjana 1 ‘Bachelor degree’ level in order to be allowed to teach there. Three teachers, T2, T3 and T7 identify as Banjarese, T5 identifies as coming from Tanah Laut which is also a regency in South Kalimantan and T4 identifies as both Javanese and Banjarese. T6 identifies as being a Javanese who moved to Banjarmasin 25 years ago. T1 does not identify as coming from one specific region because of a mixed heritage, however T1 was born in Banjarmasin. The ages of the interviewed teachers ranged from 29 to 59 (Table 1). From these participants probably only T1 is native in Indonesian. Her parents are from different areas in Indonesia have mainly spoken Indonesian to their children.4 2.3. Round 1: Active knowledge of Indonesian embodiment metaphors
Table 2. Indonesian embodiment metaphors
kepala kepala batu (head stone)
keras kepala (hard head)
kepala dingin (head cold)
besar kepala (big head)
kepala sekolah (head school)
kepala tiga (head three)
di luar kepala (LOC outside head) kepala dua (head two)
kepala udang (head shrimp)
mata mata keranjang (eye basket)
mata duitan (eye coin)
mata-mata (RED~eye) gelap mata (dark eye)
empat mata (four eye)
tutup mata (close eye)
With a couple of teachers present in the teacher’s room in an informal setting it was asked whether they could come up with Indonesian metaphors with kepala ‘head’ and
mata ‘eye’. This requires active knowledge of the Indonesian language and
Indonesian metaphors. Together the teachers present in the room came up with 15 embodiment metaphors, nine for kepala ‘head’ and six for mata ‘eye’ (Table 2).
4 During the interview with T1 a small look into the sentiment towards the Indonesian
language became clear. She mentioned that when she was little her friends would often think she was arrogant for using official correct Indonesian.
2.4. Round 2: Passive knowledge of Indonesian embodiment metaphors
Through interviews with the 14 participants, the passive knowledge of Indonesian metaphors was tested. The interviews were conducted one-on-one in a classroom at LIA Banjarmasin in a semi-structured interview in January 2020 and have been recorded by hand phone. All interviews were conducted in Indonesian and lasted between 20 and 45 minutes per participant, depending on the length of the answers. Before the interview commenced, the idea of the interview was explained to the participant in Indonesian, something in the lines of the following:
“First, if I am allowed, I would like to ask you some questions about your personal background. After this I would like to ask you about some words and some metaphors, perhaps you could give a definition. There is no right or wrong answer, because this is not a test, I am only interested in your personal opinion. So maybe a word that I ask does not exist, if that is the case, just say it does not exist, because I do not know. Or perhaps you have heard of it, but you do not know the definition, you can say this as well.”
The interviews consisted of three parts. The first part involved gathering some background information of the participant - the age of the participant, which language(s) they speak at home, at work (if the participant is a teacher) or at university (if the participant is a student) and with their friends. And finally it was asked how they identify themselves as with the question Orang mana?, which roughly translates to ‘Where are you from?’.
In the second part of the interview, participants were asked to give definitions of the metaphors from Table 2, except kepala tiga (head three) and mata-mata (RED~head),
which were left out. Kepala tiga (head three) having the meaning of ‘being in one’s thirties’ was left out because this has the comparable meaning of ‘being in one’s twenties’ of kepala dua (head two). Mata-mata (RED~eye)was left out because the
research focused on lexical combinations rather than morphological strategies like reduplication.
The order of Table 3 was kept as much as possible during the interviews, however, some participants would already mention a metaphor without it being asked. In these cases, the metaphor that had been mentioned by the participants would be explained first before continuing with the list of metaphors.
Table 3. Order of metaphors during the interviews 1. kepala ‘head’
2. besar kepala (big head) 3. kepala dingin (head cold) 4. kepala batu (head stone) 5. di luar kepala (LOC outside head)
6. kepala udang (head shrimp) 7. kepala dua (head two) 8. kepala sekolah (head school) 9. keras kepala (hard head) 10. mata ‘eye’
11. mata keranjang (eye basket) 12. mata duitan (eye coin) 13. gelap mata (dark eye) 14. empat mata (four eye) 15. tutup mata (close eye)
2.5. Round 3: Daily use of Indonesian metaphors
The third part of the interview existed of a simple question to the participants. Of the metaphors that have just been asked and that exist in Indonesian (according to the participant) which are used regularly on a day-to-day basis? This question was asked immediately after the interview had been conducted.
3. Literature review
This chapter will take a closer look at the culture of the Indonesian language by investigating theories about embodiment and metaphors and by looking into two Indonesian words and its metaphors in literature, namely kepala ‘head’ and mata ‘eye’.
This chapter will start with a discussion about the definition of embodiment and embodiment metaphors. The next section shall discuss metaphors in general, followed by the existing literature on the two embodiment metaphors mentioned above. The final part will discuss the official definitions of the metaphors that have been used in the interviews (Table 3, chapter 2).
3.1. Embodiment metaphors
In order to understand what embodiment metaphors are, it is important to first understand what is meant by both embodiment and metaphor itself. The next section will investigate the term embodiment after which metaphor will be discussed.
3.1.1. Embodiment
The Cambridge Dictionary defines ‘embodiment’ as follows:
“The embodiment of something
Someone or something that represents a quality or an idea exactly”. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/embodiment)
Looking at this definition, embodiment seems to be a representation of something by someone or something else. However, embodiment is a term that is widely used in different fields of research, resulting in more confusing definitions. Take a look for example at Ziemke (2003) who discusses six different concepts of embodiment, specifically in the field of cognitive science and AI alone, in an attempt to clarify the different and confusing uses of this term. However, a definition that is more useful for the purpose of this thesis is found in Yu (2015, p. 227):
“The notion of embodiment in the cognitive linguistic paradigm emphasizes the role of the body in grounding and framing cognition within the cultural context. […] [T]he embodiment hypothesis claims that the body actually shapes the mind (Gallagher 2005). Such a mind is therefore embodied in that it is crucially shaped by the particular nature of the human body, including our perceptual and motor systems and our interactions with the physical and cultural world. However, the mind is not shaped universally because the body itself may take different ‘shapes’ in different cultural models in the first place.”
This is also explained by Gibbs (2006) in the following way: “Embodiment in the field of cognitive science refers to understanding the role of an agent’s own body in its everyday, situated cognition” (p. 1). According to Gibbs (2006) this embodiment flows through our language, even though we may not be aware of it, embodiment is an important aspect of how we understand our experiences, our lives and the world in general (pp. 1-3). How exactly embodiment influences our language depends on the culture that we belong to. Depending on the society, different body parts influence different aspects of the culture (Maalej 2011, p. 1).
These cultural traditions in our language sometimes originate from a long time ago. For example, Geeraerts and Grondelaers (1995) explain how the contemporary Euro-American view of anger originates from the notion of “four humours” from the Classical and Medieval physiology (p.154). The expressions with hati ‘liver’ in Indonesian and Malay also come from a very old tradition where the liver was believed to have a connection with the gods and was therefore used in prophecies and the likes (Siahaan 2008, pp. 48-50). Even though the expressions originate from old traditions, Goddard (2008) argues that the meanings of these expressions have evolved with the culture over time (pp. 92-93). Which means that these kind of words, like hati ‘liver’, originate from certain cultural practises and probably still have a meaning related to this practise, but that this meaning is not necessarily the same as it used to be when the cultural practises were still commonly practised.
Because of this very specific cultural tradition it is the liver that is used in many expressions in Indonesian instead of another organ such as the heart in English (Siahaan 2008). The origins of the use of hati ‘liver’ are very specific for this area and consequently the meanings that have evolved with it as well. In Indonesian, besides referring to the organ, hati ‘liver’ is ‘the seat of both emotional and mental activities’ (Siahaan 2008, p. 46).
3.1.2. Metaphors
Most people will probably know metaphors as we have learned them in school and see them as devices for writers to bring more depth into a story or poem. This is also found in the definition from the Cambridge University Dictionary:
“an expression, often found in literature, that describes a person or object by referring to something that is considered to have similar characteristics to that person or object:
‘The mind is an ocean’ and ‘the city is a jungle’ […]”
(https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/metaphor)
However, at the same time it also touches on the use of metaphors that is more interesting for this paper:
“Metaphor and simile are the most common used figures of speech in everyday language.”
(https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/metaphor)
Metaphors are not just simply instruments for literature, they are also ingrained in our day-to-day lives. Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p3) already made this observation and take this even one step further. They claim that metaphors are not only present in our language use in our daily lives but that it is also penetrating into what we do and think.
The way we conceptualise things is the same as how we speak about things. Ervas and Gola (2013, p 25) explain this as follows:
“The way in which we comprehend aspects of a concept in terms of another is highly systematic and consistent. This is the reason why a metaphor highlighting a meaning hides all the other aspects that are inconsistent with it. For example, the fact that we conceptualize arguing as a battle prevents us from seeing the cooperative aspects.”
Because we speak about things in the way we conceptualise them, it is also possible to turn this around. When you investigate the way we speak about concepts you can examine the way we conceptualise things at the same time (Lakoff and Johnson 1980, p7).
These kinds of strong viewpoints always need to be looked at carefully and naturally there is some research that points out some issues with Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) theory. This point of view will be used in this paper to try to explain the uses of the Indonesian metaphors.
The next sections will discuss the existing literature on the metaphorical uses of
kepala ‘head’ and mata ‘eye’ in Indonesian.
3.2. Kepala (head)
Siahaan (2011) has studied the figurative use of kepala ‘head’ and mata ‘eye’ in Indonesian5 and has compared this to its counterparts in German. This section will first discuss the uses of kepala ‘head’ before moving on to mata ‘eye’.
5 Siahaan (2011) has taken all Indonesian examples from the following online sites: Kompas
Cyber Media (www.kompas.com), Berita Sore (www.beritasore.com), Indomedia (www.indomedia.com), Suara Pembaruan (www.suarapembaruan.com), Media Indonesia online (www.mediaindo.co.id), Pikiran Rakyat Cyber Media (www.pikiranrakyat.com),
Example (1) shows the use of kepala ‘head’ as a metonym for a leader; here the ‘head of the school’ is the principal. This is not unlike the use of head in English, in the sense of headmaster for example, the one holding the highest position in that school. It can also be used as a container word, such as in example (2) ‘in the head’.
(1) kepala sekolah
head school
‘school head’ (Siahaan 2011, p. 101)
(2) ide di kepala idea LOC head
‘idea in the head’ (Siahaan 2011, p. 103)
Besides the uses mentioned above Siahaan (2011) also mentions two more uses of kepala ‘head’ which are somewhat overlapping with some of the uses of hati ‘liver’ as the source for mental activities mentioned above. Example (3) shows a human character trait keras kepala (hard head) or in other words ‘stubborn person’. Example (4) shows the head as the locus of thought kepala bekerja keras (head works hard). Here the answer to the question is found in the head, meaning that thoughts are located in the head, the head is thinking (pp. 101-103).
(3) keras kepala
hard head
‘head is hard’ (Siahaan 2011, p. 103)
(4) Pertanyaanya sederhana, namun jawabannya membuat kepala questions.DEF simple but answer.DEF make head bekerja keras.
work hard
‘The question was simple but the answer made the head work hard.’
(Siahaan 2011, p. 102) One last variation on the use of kepala ‘head’ is the one found in example (5), here the head is linked to a temperature, kepala dingin (head cold) ‘cold head’.
(5) menyelesaikan semua persoalan dengan kepala dingin
finish all problems with head cold
‘to solve all problems with a cool head.’ (Siahaan 2011, p. 103)
Harian Analisa online (www.analisadaily.com), Riau Pos (www.riaupos.com), Waspada online (www.waspada.co.id), Sinar Indonesia Baru online (www.hariansib.com).
3.3. Mata (eye)
The second word that will be discussed is mata ‘eye’. The same as kepala ‘head’ it can be used as a container, as can be seen in example (6) di mata (LOC eye) ‘in the
eye’ and in example (7) di mata (LOC eye) ‘according to’. Example (8) shows mata ‘eye’ as a centre, here the ‘eye of the liver’ is the centre of the liver meaning
‘innermost feeling or thought’. In example (9) the meaning of jangan butakan mata ‘don’t let the eyes go blind’ is that you need to see in order to be able to use your hati dan perasaan (liver ‘heart’ and feeling). So mata ‘eye’ here is used as an instrument to acquire knowledge. Figurative use of mata ‘eye’ can also indicate something that has the shape of an eye, for example the ankle as in example (10). The last use of mata ‘eye’ is an action searching for result as is shown in example (11). (Siahaan 2011, pp. 107-110)
(6) Jauh di mata, dekat di hati. far LOC eye near LOC liver
‘Far in the eye, near in the liver.’ (Siahaan 2011, p. 108) (7) Di mata Arifin […]
LOC eye Arifin […]
‘In Arifin’s eye […] (Siahaan 2011, p. 108)
(8) mata hati eye liver
‘liver eye’ (Siahaan 2011, p. 109)
(9) Jangan butakan mata kita, jangan tulikan
NEG.IMP let.go.blind eye 1PL.INCL NEG.IMP let.go.deaf telinga kita, pasanglah hati dan perasaan.
ear 1PL.INCL set liver and feeling
‘Don’t let the eyes go blind, don’t let the ears go deaf; let’s use our liver and feeling.’ (Siahaan 2011, p. 108)
(10) mata kaki eye foot
‘foot eye (ankle)’ (Siahaan 2011, p. 109) (11) mata pencarian
eye search
‘eye of the search’ (main income) (Siahaan 2011, p. 110)
Unfortunately, no other papers have investigated the metaphorical uses of kepala ‘head’ and mata ‘eye’ in Indonesian or Malay, so there is no data available
to compare the above mentioned categories of kepala ‘head’ and mata ‘eye’ with other studies.
3.4. Metaphors from the interview
This section will discuss the definitions of the metaphors that were used in the interviews according to the dictionary Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI)6, the Big Indonesian Dictionary. In Table 4, all metaphors are given on the left side, with a literal translation into English on the middle left and the KBBI definition in Indonesian on the middle right side. Finally, an English translation of the KBBI definition is given on the far right side.
Depending on the word or metaphor there may be more than one definition. When a semicolon is used it means that it is part of the same definition and when a new line is used it means that one word or metaphor has more than one definition. For example, if you look at number 6, kepala udang (head shrimp) there are two words divided by a semicolon, namely ‘stupid’ and ‘foolish’, meaning that both are part of the same definition. Whereas if you look at number 1, kepala ‘head’ you will see that there are six distinct definitions of the same word. Kepala (‘head’ can mean ‘part of the body above the neck’ but also ‘top part of an object’ or ‘leader; chairman’.
The ones that have more than one definition are the two words, number 1 kepala ‘head’ and number 10 mata ‘eye’, and two metaphors, number 2 besar kepala (big head) and number 15 tutup mata (close eye). It will be interesting to see whether the participants will be able to name the different definitions or, assuming they know the metaphors, that they will be able to define one definition only.
Note that for besar kepala (big head), number 2, kepala batu (head stone), number 4, and keras kepala (hard head), number 9, one of the other metaphors is used in its own definition. It may be the hardest for the participants to distinguish these three metaphors as they have an element in their definition that is the same.
6
https://www.kbbi.wed.id The definitions are found by searching for the first word, for keras kepala (hard head) you would have to search for keras (hard) and for kepala batu (head stone) you would have to search for kepala (head).
Table 4. Dictionary definition of metaphors
word/metaphor literal translation KBBI definition translation 1.
kepala ‘head’ bagian tubuh yang di atas leher ‘part of the body above the neck’ bagian tubuh yang di atas leher
tempat tumbuhnya rambut
‘part of the body above the neck where hair grows’
bagian suatu benda yang sebelah atas
‘top part of an object’ bagian yang terutama ‘the main part’ pemimpin; ketua ‘leader’; ‘chairman’
otak ‘brain’
2.
besar kepala (big head) sukar dinasihati; keras kepala ‘difficult to advise’; ‘stubborn’ sombong ‘arrogant, proud, pompous’ 3. kepala dingin (head cold) tenang dan sabar ‘calm and patient’
4. kepala batu (head stone) tidak mau menuruti nasihat orang; tegar hati; keras kepala
‘does not want to follow advice; ‘obstinate’; ‘stubborn’
5. (di) luar kepala (LOC outside
head)
dengan ingatan (tidak perlu ditulis atau melihat tulisan)
‘by heart (no need to write or read)’ 6. kepala udang (head shrimp) bodoh; tolol ‘stupid’; ‘foolish’
7. kepala dua (head two) memihak ke sana sini ‘take multiple sides ‘ 8. kepala sekolah (head school) orang (guru) yang memimpin
suatu sekolah; guru kepala
‘someone (a teacher) that leads a school’; ‘head teacher’
9. keras kepala (hard head) tidak mau menurut nasihat orang tegar tengkuk; kepala batu
‘does not want to follow advise’; ‘obstinate’; ‘stubborn’ 10. mata
‘eye’ indra untuk melihat; indra penglihat
‘senses to see’; ‘the sense of sight’ sesuatu yang menyerupai mata ‘something that resembles an eye’ bagian yang tajam pada alat
pemotong
‘the sharp part of a cutting tool’ sela antara dua baris (pada
mistar, derajat, dan sebagainya) ‘interruption between two lines (on the ruler, degrees and the likes)’ tempat tumbuh tunas (pada
dahan, ubi, dan sebagainya)
‘growing place for sprouts (on branches, sweet potatoes and the likes)’
sesuatu yang menjadi pusat; yang di tengah-tengah benar
‘something that becomes the centre; what is in the middle’
yang terpenting (sumbu, pokok, dan sebaignya)
‘the most important (axis, principal and the likes)’
11. mata keranjang (eye basket) sifat selalu merasa
birahi apabila melihat lawan jenisnya; sangat suka pada perempuan
‘character trait of always feeling lust when seeing someone of the opposite sex’; ‘very fond of women’
12. mata duitan (eye coin) loba akan uang; serakah akan u ang; yang penting hanyalah duit
‘greedy for money’; ‘greedy for money’; ‘the only important thing is money’
13. gelap mata (dark eye) sangat marah sehingga menjadi lupa dan mengamuk
‘very angry with memory loss and rampage as result’
14. empat mata (four eye) berdua saja ‘one-on-one’ 15. tutup mata
(close eye) memejamkan mata ‘closing eyes’ menaruh sesuatu di mata supaya
tidak dapat melihat
‘to place something in your eyesight so you can not see’
sengaja tidak mau tahu tentang apapun yang terjadi
‘deliberately not wanting to know about what happens’
3.5. Observations
Most of the metaphors mentioned above are self explanatory. Some observations and notes to keep in mind are mentioned here.
The word order is not the same for all the metaphors. For example kepala batu (head stone) is a noun phrase, in which batu ‘stone’ is the modifier of kepala ‘head’, meaning ‘a head made of stone’. Keras kepala (hard head) on the other hand is a predicative. The English equivalent for kepala batu (head stone) should then be ‘stone head’, ‘stone’ being the modifier of ‘head’, and the translation for keras kepala (hard head) should ‘head is hard’. Even though they are different sentence types, they are used in each other’s definition.
Keeping this observation in mind, besar kepala would have a literal translation of ‘big head’, gelap mata ‘eye(s) is/are dark’, empat mata ‘eyes are four/there are four eyes’,
tutup mata ‘eye(s) is/are closed’. And the modifiers would be translated into English
as kepala dingin ‘cold head’, kepala udang ‘shrimp head’, kepala dua ‘two heads’,
kepala sekolah ‘school head’ and mata keranjang ‘basket eyes’. Mata duitan would
also follow in this fashion, but some additional comments about this metaphor are made below.
The word duit from mata duitan (eye coin) has an interesting history. It originates from the Dutch coin called a duit. A duit in the Netherlands used to be the coin with the smallest worth, so equivalent to the one eurocent nowadays (Sijs 2010).
The Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia gives the following translations:
satuan mata uang tembaga zaman dulu (120 duit =satu rupiah)
‘A copper currency of old times (120 duit = one Indonesian rupiah)’ (https://www.kbbi.web.id/duit)
Anyone who has ever spent some time in Indonesia understands that this means that a
duit was worth very little, even when inflation correction is taken into account. In this
paper duit is translated as ‘coin’, however, keep in mind that integrated into the meaning of duit is ‘a coin with little worth’.
The suffix –an from mata duit-an (eye coin) may add the meaning of bigger or more, in this case I would argue that it means bigger rather than more. This would give the meaning of ‘coin eyes’, as if someone’s eyes have the shape of coins.
4. Analysis
This chapter considers and analyses the data that has been gathered during the interviews at LIA Banjarmasin. The first part takes a closer look at what level participants were able to recognise metaphors and provide definitions for these metaphors. In the second part the perception of participants on metaphorical use in a day-to-day setting is discussed and finally the definitions of the metaphors as they are given by the participants are compared to the definitions as they have been discussed in chapter 3 based on the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI).
4.1. Ability to recognise metaphors and provide explanations
This section analyses the ability of participants to recognise metaphors and give explanations of metaphors that were asked during the interviews. As mentioned in the methodology, these metaphors had been thought of by a group of teachers of LIA Banjarmasin. During the interviews the metaphors that were asked about were not presented as metaphors that necessarily exist in Indonesian, allowing for three possible answers: either a participant recognised the metaphor and was able to give an explanation, a participant recognised the metaphor but was unable to give an explanation, or a participant did not recognise a metaphor and therefore deemed it as non-existing in Indonesian (Table 5).
<v> means that a metaphor exists and that the participant was able to give a definition, regardless of which definition was given. <-> is the category of those metaphors that the participant recognised as a metaphor, but was unable to give a definition of. </> are those that are not recognised as metaphors according to a particular participant.
Table 5. Definitions given by participants
metaphor S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 2. besar kepala v v v v / v v v v v v v v v 3. kepala dingin v v v v v v v v v v v v v v 4. kepala batu v v v v v v v v v v v v v v 5. di luar kepala v / v v / v - v v v v v v v 6. kepala udang - - v v / - / v v v v v - v 7. kepala dua v v / v / / / / v / / v v v 8. kepala sekolah v v v v v v v v v v v v v v 9. keras kepala v v v v v v v v v v v v v v 11. mata keranjang v v v v v v v v v v v v v v 12. mata duitan v v v v v v v v v v v v v v 13. gelap mata - / - v / v v v v v v v v v 14. empat mata - v v v / v v v v v v v v v 15. tutup mata / / - v / v v v v / v v v v
Figure 1. Definitions based on affiliation and age.
Figure 2. Trend line definitions based on age.
The data from Table 4 is transferred into Figure 1 and 2. Table 1 distinguishes between students and teachers. Since within the student group there are multiple participants with the same age, the average of the age group is used for these points in this table. The points in the table are based on the amounts of definitions a participant of one age (group) was able to provide, the <v> in Table 4.
Whenever there were certain metaphors that a participant had heard of but was unable to provide a definition for, the <-> in Table 4, this is indicated in Figure 1 with the error bar. For the age group 20 years the difference is between an average of 9.8 when
8 9 10 11 12 13 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 M et ap h or s Age Students Teachers 8 9 10 11 12 13 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 M et ap h or s Age 20 22
only definitions are counted and an average of 11.4 when the confirmations of metaphors is included in the number as well as definitions given.
The maximum possible amount is 13, as this is the total number of metaphors that have been asked during the interviews. Fig. 2 shows the trend line of the amount of definitions that participants were able to give based on age.
From these two tables it is clear that the teachers were able to give more definitions than the students. There is a clear growing trend line in accordance with age (Fig. 2). The question, however, is this: Is it possible to say that there is a difference between affiliation because the teachers knew more metaphors than the students? Or is it a question of education as all teachers at LIA have at least an equivalent of a bachelor degree, whereas the students are still studying for their bachelor’s degree? Or, is this simply a question of age and the more experiences a person has, the more knowledge they have as well? I would argue for the latter, since there is a growing trend even within the affiliation of teachers that follows the age trend. This can be seen very clearly in Fig. 2, the older the participants, the more definitions they were able to give on average.
4.2. Perception of metaphor use
Table 6. Commonly used metaphors according to the participants.
metaphor S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 2. besar kepala 0 0 v v / v v v 0 0 v v v v 3. kepala dingin v 0 v v 0 v v v v v v v v 0 4. kepala batu 0 0 v v 0 v v v 0 0 0 v v 0 5. di luar kepala 0 / v v / v v v v 0 v v v v 6. kepala udang 0 0 v 0 / 0 / 0 0 0 0 v 0 0 7. kepala dua 0 0 / 0 / / / / 0 / / v 0 0 8. kepala sekolah 0 0 v v 0 v v v v 0 v v v v 9. keras kepala v v v v v v v v v v v v v v 11. mata keranjang v 0 v v v v v v v v v v v 0 12. mata duitan 0 v v v v v v v v v v v v v 13. gelap mata 0 / v v / v v v v 0 v v v v 14. empat mata 0 0 v v / v v v 0 0 0 v v 0 15. tutup mata / / v v / v v v 0 / v v v 0
Table 6 shows which phrases are commonly used in day-to-day speech according to the participants. The </> means that this metaphor does not exist in Indonesian according to this participant, or that this participant has never heard of the metaphor before. The <v> means that this metaphor is indicated as being used in a day-to-day setting according to this participant. The remaining <0> are metaphors that do have a definition but are not indicated as being used daily.
Figure 3. Trendline commonly used metaphors according to participants.
Table 7. Positive answers based on table 7.
metaphor students (n=7) teachers (n=7) overall (n=14) 2. besar kepala 4 (57,1) 5 (71,4) 9 (64,3) 3. kepala dingin 5 (71,4) 6 (85,7) 11 (78,6) 4. kepala batu 4 (57,1) 3 (42,9) 7 (50) 5. di luar kepala 4 (57,1) 6 (85,7) 10 (71,4) 6. kepala udang 1 (14,3) 1 (14,3) 2 (14,3) 7. kepala dua 0 1 (14,3) 1 (7,1) 8. kepala sekolah 4 (57,1) 6 (85,7) 10 (71,4) 9. keras kepala 7 (100) 6 (85,7) 13 (92,9) 11. mata keranjang 6 (85,7) 6 (85,7) 12 (85,7) 12. mata duitan 6 (85,7) 7 (100) 13 (92,9) 13. gelap mata 4 (57,1) 6 (85,7) 10 (71,4) 14. empat mata 4 (57,1) 3 (42,9) 7 (50) 15. tutup mata 4 (57,1) 4 (57,1) 8 (57,1) (58,2) (65,9) (62,1)
Fig. 3 uses the data from Table 6. Same as before, since there is more than one participant per age group for the students, namely 20 and 21, the average of the age groups is taken and shown in the table. The other points are based on the answers of one teacher. The points in the table are the amount of positive answers with a maximum of 13, which is the total amount of metaphors that were asked during the interviews. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 M et ap h or s Age
From the trend line in Fig. 3 it is clear that there is no obvious trend. It may have been expected that there would be an increase of positive answers the older a participant is, since we found out in Fig. 2 that the older a participant is the more metaphors this person is familiar with. However, this apparently has no influence on the perception of the participant on the amount of metaphors that are commonly used.
Table 7 also uses the data from table 6. It shows how common a metaphor is, according to the students, the teachers and overall. This table does not take into account those metaphors that do not exist according to a participant or that a participant had not heard of before. Meaning that the columns ‘students’ and ‘teachers’ have 7 (participant answers) as the 100 percentage and the column ‘overall’ has 14 (participants answers) as the 100 percentage.
Overall the teachers have a slightly higher positive answer rate, 58.2 percentage average for students versus 65.9 percentage average for teachers. However, this difference is so small that nothing really can be said about this. More interesting is to look at the individual metaphors and whether they are commonly used or not.
From this table it is immediately very clear that kepala udang (shrimp head) and
kepala dua (head two) are two metaphors that are not commonly used according to
this group of participants. For the former only two participants indicated that it is commonly used, and for the latter only one. There may be some explanations for this in the transcriptions of the interviews.
(12) T1: […] udah jarang digunakan istilah kepala udang. already rarely used term head shrimp ‘The term shrimp head is rarely used nowadays.’
SM: Oh iya?
Oh yes ‘Is that so?’
T1: I’ih7 seingat saya dulu sering mendengar, tapi
Yes [bb]8 as.remember 1
SG before often heard but sekarang…
now
‘Yes, as I remember it I used to hear it often however now…’ SM: Jarang lagi ya
rarely again yes ‘Rarely anymore, huh’
7 ‘Yes’ in Banjar can either be said as: inggih (polite) or i’ih (neutral).
8 bb = Bahasa Banjar, the local language of Banjarmasin, Banjar. Meaning that
this word or utterance was said in Banjar and not in Indonesian. [Eng] means the word was said in English.
T1: Jarang i'ih.
rarely yes [bb] ‘Rarely, yes.’
(13) Ingat saya itu sih. Iya soalnya apa sih.
remember 1SG DET EXC yes the.thing.is what EXC Udah lama gak makai kata-kata itu ya jadi sering ya
already long NEG use RED~word DET yes so often yes lupa gitu. Kepala udang iya.
forget so head shrimp yes
‘I remember it like this, right. Yes because ehm what. I have not used those words for a long time, so I often forget, like that. Shrimp head right.’
(14) Kepala udang itu apa ya. Ini, ini sering dipakai
head shrimp DET what yes DET DET often used kepala udang, cuman apa ya eh..
head shrimp only what yes eh
‘What is shrimp head huh, this, this is used often, shrimp head, only eh what (is it)…’
In the interviews T1 mentioned that kepala udang (head shrimp) used to be more commonly used but that it has come out of practise, this can be seen in example 12. T3 (example 13) mentioned something similarly, only on a personal level. She mentions that she has not used the word in a long time and therefore has difficulty remembering the exact definition. T6 indicates kepala udang (head shrimp) as not being used in a day-to-day setting however in the interview T6 said the opposite (example 14).
(15) Kepala dua seperti bermuka dua palingan.
head two like face two at.most ‘Two heads is like two-faced probably.’
(16) Kalau muka dua tahu kalau kepala dua gak tahu.
if face two know if head two NEG know
‘If it is two faces I know it, if it is two heads I do not know it.’
For kepala dua (head two) eight of the participants made a connection with muka dua (face two), wondering if these are the same metaphors. Example 15 shows this for S1 and example 16 for T4.
Kepala dua (head two) is also the metaphor that the least amount of participants were
able to give an explanation for. Only seven participants were able to give an explanation, of which one indicated it as being used regularly. Kepala udang (head shrimp), however, is a different story. For this metaphor nine participants were able to
give an explanation and another three participants recognised it as a metaphor. All of which only one participant indicated the metaphor as being used regularly. On the contrary, for gelap mata (dark eye), nine participants were able to give a definition as well as two participants recognised it as a metaphor. For gelap mata (dark eye), however, ten participants indicated it as a regularly used metaphor.
The above is interesting because it shows that there is not necessarily a correlation between the number of metaphors that are indicated as being used regularly and the number of participants that were able to give a definition of a metaphor. In order for a metaphor to be indicated as regularly used by 13 participants, this metaphor does need 13 participants who recognise the metaphor, and vice versa - it is probable that a metaphor that only few participants recognised is also indicated by few people as being used regularly. This can be a reason why only few participants know the metaphor to begin with. Another example that show this is kepala batu (head stone). All the participants were able to give a definition for kepala batu (head stone), however only half of the participants indicated it as being used regularly.
On the opposite side of the line, there are three metaphors that almost everyone has indicated as being used frequently. These are keras kepala (hard head), 13 out of 14 participants, mata keranjang (eye basket) 12 out of 14 participants, and mata duitan (eye coin), 13 out of 14 participants.
Analysing the meaning of the different metaphors may provide an explanation as to why some metaphors are more commonly used than others.
4.3. Explanations vs Definitions
The following section takes a look at the explanations of the mentioned metaphors as they are presented in the interviews by the participants. The tables show an overview of the explanations that participants have given during the interviews, for the convenience of space these explanations are reduced to single words or small phrases that encapsulate the most important part. These will then be compared to the definitions of the metaphors from the KBBI, which have been presented in Table 1 in chapter 2.
Explanations are the answers given by the participants, definitions are the sentences and words found in the KBBI to explain a particular word or metaphor.
4.3.1. Besar kepala (big head)
Table 8 Definitions of besar kepala (big head)
1a Keras kepala ‘hard headed’ S1
1b Tidak mau menerima ‘does not want to accept’ S7
2a Sombong ‘arrogant, proud, pompous’ S2, T1, T2, T3, T4, T6, T7 2b Congkak ‘arrogant, supercilious, conceited’ T4, T7
3 Dipuji ‘be praised’ S2, S4, S6, T5,
T6 4 Menanjung diri ‘to flatter yourself’ S3
The participants gave roughly six explanations for the metaphor besar kepala (big head). Some participants gave more than one explanation (Table 8). Some of the explanations are gathered together because they are similar in meaning, for example
keras kepala (hard head), which will also be discussed in 4.3.3, and tidak mau menerima ‘does not want to accept’ both have an element of stubbornness.
Furthermore sombong ‘arrogant, proud, pompous’ and congkak ‘arrogant, supercilious, conceited’ both have overlapping element in its definition as well. You can argue that these definitions actually are part of one definition, since they have similar meanings. Therefore these are indicated as 1a and 1b and 2a and 2b.
2a and 3 were mentioned most often by the participants in the definition of besar
kepala (big head). The one ‘arrogant, supercilious, conceited’ seems be a result of
‘[to] be praised’, however often something in the terms of suka dipuji ‘likes to be praised’ was mentioned, meaning that what is meant by besar kepala (big head) is more leaning towards the character trait sombong ‘arrogant, proud, pompous’ then towards the act of ‘(liking to) be praised’.
As can be seen in Table 4 on page 15 and 16, on line number 2, the KBBI mentions three definitions for besar kepala (big head) of which two were categorised together. The first two definitions ‘difficult to advise’ and ‘stubborn’ can be compared with 1a and 1b in Table 7. This part of the definition is only mentioned by S1 and S7 who at the same time did not mention the other part of the definition. This second part of the definition is sombong ‘arrogant, proud, pompous’. In Table 8 2a, 2b, 3 and 4 all fall under this category.
So the definitions that the participants gave for besar kepala (big head) and the KBBI overlap. Participants did not give explanations that are not in the KBBI and the KBBI did not give definitions that the participants did not know. Interestingly, participants knew either the first part of the definition, so ‘difficult to advise’ and ‘stubborn’, or the second part of the definition ‘arrogant, proud, pompous’. There was no participant who gave both parts of the KBBI definition.
4.3.2. Kepala dingin (head cold)
Table 9. Definitions of Kepala dingin (head cold)
1a tenang, santai ‘calm’, ‘relaxed’ S1, S6, T2, T3, T4, T7
1b sabar ‘patient’ T1
1c tidak marah ‘not angry’ T2
1d mengendalikan emosi ‘control your emotions’ S2, S4, S5, T5 2 menyelesaikan masalah
dengan santai
‘solve problems in a relaxed manner’
S6, S7, T6 3 berfikir positif ‘positive thinking’ S3
4 sakit ‘sick, sore’ S1
Table 9 shows the explanations that have been given for kepala dingin (head cold). 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d are all similar as they relate to tranquillity in emotion. Included in 1d are the following two quotes from the interview; meredam emosinya ‘muffle the emotions’ and tidak pakai emosi ‘does not use emotions’. The only explanation that stands out in Table 9 is sakit, which can mean either ‘sick’ or ‘sore’. Because it is so different perhaps participant S1 imagined a literal cold head and imagined that this would not be a comfortable feeling.
The KBBI gives one definition for kepala dingin (head cold), namely tenang dan
sabar calm and patient’. This agrees with definitions 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d (Table 9).
Explanation number two also includes ‘relaxed’, an equivalent of ‘calm’, but adds a specific meaning of solving a problem. Explanation 3 ‘positive thinking’ and 4 ‘sick, sore’ are not included in the KBBI. However, it can still be imagined however how someone would get to the definition of ‘positive thinking’ from for example ‘solve problems in a relaxed manner’. But as mentioned above, explanation number 4 is probably taken literally and not figuratively. Overall, the explanations from the participants and the KBBI definitions overlap.
4.3.3. Kepala batu (head hard) and keras kepala (hard head)
The two metaphors kepala batu (head stone) and keras kepala (hard head) will be taken together, since they were often mentioned together in the interviews and the
KBBI definitions of both are nearly the same. In the questionnaire kepala batu (head
stone) would be asked first, after which usually keras kepala (hard head) occurred intrinsically. Subsequently, the participants were asked what the difference between the two was, however most participants were unable to distinguish between the two.
Table 10. Definitions of kepala batu (head stone)
1 keras kepala ‘hard headed’ S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7
2 besar kepala ‘big headed’ S7
3 pengerasan ‘hardening’ S1
4 menurut dia benar ‘correct according to him/her’ S2, S3, S4, T4 5 sulit dinasihati ‘difficult to advise’ S4, S6, S7, T1, T2,
T3, T5, T7 6 gak mau kalah ‘does not want to lose’ S5
7 pikiran sudah memfosil ‘thoughts have fossilized’ T5
Menurut dia benar ‘correct according to him/her’ (Table 10, number 4) represents
utterances such as pendapatnya harus benar ‘his/her opinion must be correct’ and gak
mau ubah pendapat ‘does not want to change his/her opinion’.
Sulit dinasihati ‘difficult to advise’ (Table 10, number 5) represents similar utterances
such as: susah dibilangin ‘difficult to be told’, tidak bisa dikasih tahu ‘cannot be told’ and tidak mau menerima pendapat orang lain ‘does not want to accept other people’s opinions’.
The three KBBI definitions of kepala batu (Table 4, number 4) are all mentioned as the same category and overlap with the participant definitions. Keras kepala (hard head) is mentioned literally by twelve of the thirteen participants who were able to give explanations. Tidak mau menuruti nasihat orang ‘does not want to follow advice’ can be compared to line number 4 and 5 and arguably in line 6 (Table 10) as well. The remaining tegar hati ‘obstinate’ can be compared with the participants definition in line number 3, 6 and 7 (Table 10), although not as clearly as the other definitions.
This leaves only besar kepala (big head), line number 2 (Table 10), which is not included in the KBBI definitions. However, because keras kepala (hard head) is a
KBBI definition of kepala batu (head stone) as well as of besar kepala (big head), it is
not a far-fetched explanation.
The difficulty with comparing keras kepala (hard head) with the KBBI definition is that there is no independent and unbiased data for this metaphor. Because this metaphor was mostly mentioned as an explanation of kepala batu (stone head), it was impossible to then ask the definition of keras kepala (hard head). The answer that would be given to this question was kepala batu (stone head). There is no way of telling whether the explanation would have been different had the participants not just been asked to explain kepala batu (stone head). Keras kepala (hard head) will thus not be discussed individually at this point.
When the participants were asked what the difference is between the two metaphors, most of them said that there was none: sama saja ‘just the same’. Two teachers indicated that there was hardly any difference (example 16), one teacher indicated that
kepala batu (head stone) was reserved for literature and the like (example 17) and two
teachers indicated that kepala batu (head stone) was on a higher level then keras
kepala (hard head) (example 18).
It is difficult to say which is right, the KBBI definition does not really note a difference between the two and neither do most of the participants. Perhaps the participants from example 17 and 18 felt that there should be a difference, because they are two different phrases. However, just because they are two different phrases, it does not mean that there has to be a difference in meaning. Perhaps the difference is simply that they are in two different grammatical categories.
(16) Itu menurut saya kurang lebih sama. DEF follow 1SG less more same
‘In my opinion that is more or less the same.’
(17) Keras kepala lebih general, kepala batu biasanya kalau
Hard head more general [Eng] head stone usually if
dalam bentuk tulisan, supaya tulisannya lebih bagus pakai LOC shape writing so writing.DEF more pretty use kepala batu.
head stone
‘Head is hard is more general, stone head usually when in written form, stone head is used so the writing is prettier.’
(18) Ya lebih besar, lebih tinggi daripada […] keras kepala tadi.
yes more big more high then […] hard head earlier
Misalnya dalam satu ungkapan kalau keras kepala sekali
Example.DEF LOC one phrase if hard head very.much ngak mau dinasehatin ya kan, bisa aja satu masalah NEG want advised yes EXC can only one problem aja […]. Tapi kalau kepala batu itu, ya, udah banyak
only […] but if head stone DET yes already many masalah yang memang rata-rata gak mau lagi
problem that indeed RED~flat NEG want again gitu ya, dirubah lagi.
‘Yes bigger, higher, then the previous head is hard. For example in a phrase if one is hard-headed one absolutely does not want to take advice, it can be just one problem. But if one is a stone head yes, there is already many problems that really in general does not want like that again yes, does not want to change anymore.’
4.3.4. Di luar kepala (LOC outside head)
Table 11. Definitions of Di luar Kepala (LOC outside head)
1 hafal ‘memorised’ S4, S6, T1, T2, T3,
T4, T5, T6, T7
2 khayalan ‘fantasy’ S1
3 gak bisa konsentrasi ‘unable to concentrate’ S3
4 lucu-lucuan ‘persiflage’ T7
The explanations for di luar kepala (LOC outside head) were quite similar. Most of the
participants mentioned hafal ‘memorised’ or something similar such as tahu benar (know right) ‘really know’ and terekam di kepalanya (recorded LOC head).
Explanation number 4 was given as a second possibility by T7 as a counter-reaction to the literal translation of di luar kepala (LOC outside head), meaning that something
has never entered the head in the first place.
The KBBI only gave one definition for this metaphor, namely ‘by heart’. Meaning that you know something by heart. This definition is given by 9 of the 11 participants that were able to give a definition for this metaphor (Table 11). Number 3 in Table 11 seems opposite of this definition and may have to do with definition number 4. The persiflage here was that it was the opposite of the actual meaning, this might be how S3 came to this explanation.
Number 2 khayalan ‘fantasy’ seems to be unrelated at first sight, however may have to do with the fact that if you have a good imagination, or fantasy, this is without the help of any books or other tools.
4.3.5. Kepala udang (head shrimp)
Table 12. Definitions of kepala udang (shrimp head)
1 bodoh ‘stupid’ T1, T2, T3, T4, T5,
T7 2a pikirannya gak baik ‘the thinking is not good’ S3 2b berpikir negatif ‘negative thinking’ S4
For kepala udang (head shrimp) only two students and six teachers were able to give an explanation (Table 12). Mostly the explanations that were given were bodoh ‘stupid’ or the likes such as kurang cerdas ‘less/not intelligent’. When asked whether these people were acting stupid or whether it was in their nature, three different answers were given. One participant answered that these people acted stupid
melakukan hal bodoh ‘doing stupid things’. Another participant indicated that it was a
matter of education, so someone may be very smart but has never had access to education. The third answer that three participants gave was that it meant that someone is intrinsically unintelligent.
Interestingly, 2a and 2b (Table 12) were given by the only two students who were able to give an explanation. Both have to do with the thoughts that someone has, this being not good or negative. For 2a, the participant indicated after being asked that the thinking could have to do with women, burglary, or anything else that is considered not good.
Many participants gave the same reasoning for the metaphor, namely, that in a shrimp the dirt assembles in the head. See example (19) from S3 and (20) from T7. So, when they hear kepala udang (head shrimp) they see an image of a shrimps head that is dirty, allowing them to interpret the metaphor even without necessarily knowing of the metaphor.
(19) Kepala udang itu kalau udang tu kan kotorannya di
head shrimp DET if shrimp DET EXC dirt.DEF LOC kepala kan. Jadi kaya kepala udang tu berarti
head EXC so like head shrimp DET meaning pikirannya gak baik.
thinking.DET NEG good
‘Shrimp head, if the shrimp, right, the dirt is in the head, right. So, like shrimp head means that the thinking is not good.’
(20) Bodoh tidak pintar, karena biasanya udang itu naruh
stupid NEG smart because usually shrimp DET put kotoran di kepala.
dirt LOC head
‘Stupid not smart, because usually a shrimp would put dirt in the head.’
This metaphor shows that metaphors are very culturally sensitive. Even though some students did not know the official meaning of kepala udang (head shrimp), they still understood the metaphorical reference. If you would ask someone from a different culture why shrimp head would mean ‘stupid’ or ‘foolish’ (KBBI definition) very probably an answer such as ‘because their heads are small’ would come up. Only when you are part of this specific culture would you make the reference to dirt in the head of the shrimp. This is linked with Lakoff and Johnson (1980) who claim that
metaphors are not only used in our daily lives but are also ingrained in our conceptual system.
As was indicated before, kepala udang (head shrimp) seems to be a metaphor that has come out of practice. This can also be seen in the explanations that have been given here - the teachers, who are generally older than the students, were more often able to give an explanation than the students. Similarly, the explanations that the teachers gave are more in accordance with the dictionary definitions than the explanations that the two students gave. They still understand that it has something to do with the head, with dirt in the head and thus with some kind of negativity related to the head. However, they understood the metaphor differently from their teachers.
4.3.6. Kepala dua (head two)
Table 13. Definitions of kepala dua (head two)
1 bermuka dua ‘two-faced’ S1, T7
2a dua pemikirannya ‘the two thoughts’ S1, S3, T7
2b suka bohong ‘likes to lie’ T2
2c munafik ‘hypocrite, liar’ S2, T5
3 umur ‘age’ S4, T2, T6
For kepala dua (head two) roughly two different explanations were given besides
bermuka dua (have a face two) ‘two-faced’. As indicated in 4.2, some of the
participants wondered whether bermuka dua (have a face two) and kepala dua (head two) meant the same thing (example 15). Either a participant indicated that bermuka
dua (have a face two) could be used as an explanation for kepala dua (head two), or
that kepala dua (head two) did not exist.
One of the explanations that is given has to do with age. In this sense one head, one
kepala ‘head’, means ten years. So, if your age is kepala dua (two head), this means
that you are somewhere between 20 and 29 years old. If you have three heads, this means that you are somewhere between 30 and 39 years old. T2 explains this in her interview, see example 21.
(21) Misalnya kalau kaya orang usiah dua puluhan kepala dua
example.DET if like person age twenty.about head two atau seperti saya umur tiga puluhan misalanya saya kepala
or like 1SG age thirty.about example.DET 1SG head tiga.
three
‘For example when a person is more than twenty years old it is two heads or, like me, I am more than thirty years old I am three heads.’
