Passive Construction in Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian

       Passive Construction in Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian

Written by James Neil Sneddon in Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. 2006. pp.43-46.

In passive constructions the subject is the patient. Passives occur more frequently than in English, often occurring where a passive would not be acceptable in English; passives in a number of examples below have translations in active voice because a passive in English would be stilted at best. This is further discussed below.

1. In passive type one the verb has prefix di- and the actor is expressed in an agent phrase which follows the verb. The agent can be marked by a preposition, either sama ~ ama or oleh ‘by’:
Saya ditelefon oleh kepala sekolah.
I was phoned by the school principal.

Alis gua dibentuk sama dia.
My eyebrows were shaped by him.

The actor can also occur without a preposition. In this case it must immediately follow the verb:

Gue ditinggal pacar gua.
I was left by my boyfriend.

.. tindakan-tindakan yang dianggap pihak kampus sebage radikal.
.. actions which were considered by the university authorities as radical.

2. Passive in colloquial Jakartan Indonesian (CJI) occur with first person, although infrequent, is acceptable:

Mereka dibantu sama kita juga loh.
They were also helped by us.

Yang diajar saya tu orang-orang keren semua.
The ones taught by me were all top people.

3. In passive type two the verb has no prefix and the actor is a pronoun or pronoun substitute preceding the verb. All three persons can occur. Often an active clause is required in the English translation:

Kurikulumnya gua buat sendiri.
I composed the curriculum myself.

Nasinya lu kemanain?
Where did you put the rice?

4. In CJI this is also usually the case. In the first example below temporal udah and negative kagak precede the agent gua, and in the second modal bisa precedes the agent dia:

Yang laennya tuh udah kagak gua kenal lagi.
I don’t know the others anymore.

Yang bisa dia lakukan hanya minta.
All he can do is beg.

5. However, the rule is not strictly kept in CJI and it is not uncommon for a preverbal component of the predicate to appear between the agent and the verb, as do enggak and tidak ‘not’ and mau ‘intend’ in the following:

Yang sebelah sini gua nggak liat.
I don’t see the ones on this side.

Ini yang mereka tidak pikirkan.
This is what they don’t think about.

Ini yang kita mau angkat.
This is what we are going to raise.

6. In CJI nouns cannot occur as agent in passive this is possible

Kalo elu yang beli harga nggak akan sama dengan yang Ronny atau Anyun ambil.
If you’re the one who buys it the price won’t be the same as what Ronny or Anyun get.

.. apa yang bokap gua perlakukan.
.. what my father does.

The dark side of Yuli, yang banyak orang enggak tau.
The dark side of Yuli, which many people don’t know.

7. Passives in both forms of Indonesian, as in English, allow a statement of an action when the agent is not mentioned, generally because it is not relevant to the situation:

Sekarang temboknya udah dicat warna kuning.
Now the wall has been painted yellow.

Gua dimundurin gara-gara lahirnya bulan Oktober.
I was held back because I was born in October.

This is the major function of passives; the overwhelming majority of passives with di- (passive type one) have no agent expressed. There is remarkable similarity for the different age groups distinguished and all three contexts.

How to Ask The Questions in Questionnaires and Interviews

How to Ask The Questions in Questionnaires and Interviews

Written by Bruce W. Tuckman in Conducting Educational. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. 1999. pp.238-239.
 

Certain forms of questions and certain response modes are commonly used in questionnaires and interviews. This section deals with question formats and the following section addresses response modes.

1. Direct Versus Indirect Questions
The difference between direct and indirect questions lies in how obviously the questions solicit specific information. A direct question, for instance, might ask someone whether or not she likes her job. An indirect question might ask what she thinks of her job or selected aspects of it, supporting the researcher’s attempt to build inferences from patterns of responses. By asking questions without obvious purposes, the indirect approach is the more likely of the two to engender frank and open responses. It may take a greater number of questions fo collect information relevant to a single point, though. 

2. Specific Versus Nonspecific Questions
A set of specific questions focuses on a particular object, person, or idea about which a researcher desires input regarding an attitude, belief, or concept; nonspecific questions probe more general areas.
For example, an interviewer can ask a factory worker (specifically) how he likes operating a lathe or (nonspecifically) how he likes operating machinery or working at manual tasks. An interviewer can ask a student (specifically) how much she likes a particular teacher versus (nonspecifically) how satisfied she feels with a particular class taught by the teacher. Specific questions,like direct ones, may cause  respondents fo become cautious or guarded and to give less-than-honest answers.Nonspecific questions may lead circuitously to the desired information while  provoking less alarm by the respondent.

3. Questions of Fact Versus Opinion
An interviewer may also choose between questions that ask respondents to provide facts and those that request opinions. A factual question might ask a respondent the type of car he or she owns or to specify marital status. An opinion question might ask about preference for Ford or Chevrolet models or reasons why (or why not) a respondent thinks that marriage contributes to a meaningful relationship between a man and a woman. Because the respondent may have a faulty memory or a conscious desire to create a particular impression, factual questions do not always elicit factual answers. Nor do opinion questions necessarily elicit honest opinions, because they are subject to distortions based on social desirability; that is, respondents may reply in ways that show themselves in the most socially acceptable light. With both fact and opinion questions, questionnaires and interviews may be structured and administered to minimize these sources of bias.

4. Questions Versus Statements
To gather input on many topics, an interviewer can either ask a respondent a direct question or provide a statement and ask for a response. To a question, a respondent provides an appropriate answer. For a statement, the respondent indicates whether he or she agrees or disagrees (or whether the statement is true or false). Applied in this manner, statements offer an alternative to questions as  way of obtaining information. In fact, attitude measurement instruments more commonly present statements than ask questions.
Consider an example:
l Do you think that the school day should be lengthened?
YES     NO
1. The school day should be shortened.
AGREE DISAGREE

These two formats are indistinguishable in their potentialfor eliciting honest responses. Usually, researchers choose between them on the basis of response mode, as discussed in the next section.

5. Predetermined Versus Response-Keyed Questions
Some questionnaires predetermine the number of questions to be answered; they require respondents to complete all items. Others are designed so that subsequent questions may or may not call for answers, depending upon responses to keyed questions.  For example, a keyed item may ask a respondent if he is a college graduate. If the response is no, the respondent isinstructed to skip the next question. The decision whetheror not to answer the question is keyed to the response tothe previous question. Consider another example of responsekeying. An interviewer asks a school superintendent if herdistrict is using a nationally known curriculum. Twopossible questions are keyed to the response. If the superintendent says that the district is using the curriculum, the next question asks about its effectiveness;if the superintendent says the district is not using the curriculum, the next question asks why.

Questions and Elements in Analyzing A Novel

Questions and Elements in Analyzing A Novel


                                 Written by Ari Julianto



1. Starting Points to Consider
- What is your impression of the author’s purpose?
- Is the novel written to be entertaining, informative, philosophical, argumentative, or a combination?

Hint: Title, chapter headings, or opening lines may give indications of the purpose. Then consider the following questions as possible starting points:
1. Do you agree with the ideas presented in the work? Why or why not?
2. Does the author’s imaginative environment seem realistic and engaging? How? Why?
3. How does this novel compare to other works by the same author? To works by other authors?
4. Does the novel reflect any historical, sociological, religious, or psychological concerns?
5. Do you agree with evaluations of the novel by other critics? If not, why?

2. Point of View
 - Does the narrator speak in first person ("I") or in third person?
- If there is a first-person narrator, is that person a major character or a minor character observing the main action?
- If the narration is in third person, is the narrator omniscient (able to see anything and tell us what is in the characters' minds), or is there limited omniscience so that we see into the mind of only one character?
- Does the point of view change?
- How does the point of view impact the story or theme?

3. Plot
 - Are there major and minor events?
- How are they related?
- Is time a factor in the plot?
- Does the novel unravel in chronological order?
- If not, why not?
- Are any later incidents foreshadowed in the story?
- Are flashbacks used?
- If so, why?
- Is the story logical?
- Does the plot depend on coincidence, or does it develop from the characters’ actions?
- What are the conflicts?
- Are they internal conflicts (psychological, theological) or external conflicts (sociological, biological, or environmental)?
- Are conflicts resolved?
- Is there a surprise conclusion?
- Is the conclusion plausible, satisfying?

4. Theme
 - Does the title suggest a theme?
- Are themes revealed through the plot (actions, dialogue) or personalities of the characters?
- Are there other symbols, images, and/or descriptive details in the work that suggest themes?
- Look for repeated words and images as clues.

5. Setting
 - What is the setting of the work?
- Is there more than one?
- Consider historical period, season, time of day, and geographical location. What mood or atmosphere (gloomy, tense, cheerful) is created by the setting?
- Why has the author chosen the setting?
- Does the setting simply provide a backdrop, or is it symbolic?
- If so, of what?

6. Character
 - Are the characters believable? Why or why not?
- Is there one protagonist (main character) or several?
- Does the story have traditional heroes or heroines (protagonists) and villains (antagonists)?
- An antagonist can be anything in conflict with the protagonist, such as nature. Does the author reveal characters through the comments and thoughts of other characters or through the characters' own actions, words, and thoughts?
- How do the characters help convey the theme?
- What are the most important traits of the main characters?
- What is the author's attitude toward the characters?
-Are readers supposed to sympathize with the characters or criticize them?
- How do the secondary and minor characters function in the novel?
- Do they provide parallels or contrasts with traits of the main characters?
- Are the main characters dynamic (evolve, change, or learn something), or do they remain static (unchanging)? How? Why?
- If dialect or colloquial speech is used, what is its effect?
- Are the social classes and occupations of the characters significant?
- Does the social, economic, political, or religious environment affect the characters and support the theme?

7. Imagery, Symbolism, and Tone
 - What images (any details that appeal to the physical senses) are used in the novel? Are the images literal (a description of an old man) or figurative ("He was as old as the hills”)?
- Are there repeated images or related images (light and dark)? If so, what is the significance?
- Are symbols conventional ones (spring symbolizing a new beginning, the color red representing passion) or unusual (the sea symbolizing life in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea)?
- Symbols are often open to the reader’s interpretation. What is the prevailing tone of the work?
- How does the author feel about the work?
- How does the author make the reader feel about the characters? Sympathetic? Humorous? How does this tone affect the story? How do the imagery and symbolism affect the novel’s theme? Do they stand by themselves or serve as representations of deeper, meaningful concepts.

Important Elements in Analyzing A Short Story

Important Elements in Analyzing A Short Story

                                     Written by Ari Julianto


When analyzing fiction, you should consider:

1. PLOT
Plot refers to what happens in the story - events and thoughts which make up the story's basic structure. The plot is usually composed of an introduction, rising action, a climax, falling action and an ending that ties the story together. All plots contain a conflict: a struggle between two or more opposing forces. The conflict may be internal (person vs. self) or external (person vs. person, person vs. nature, person vs. society, or person vs. fate).

2. SETTING
Setting refers to the location of a story or novel in terms of place, time, social environment, and physical environment. Place: the geographical location of the story - a country or a city, a large city or a small village, indoors or outdoors, or both. Time: the period in history, the season of the year, the day of the month, and/or the hour of the day in which the events of the story occur. Social environment: the location of characters and events in a particular society and/or a particular social class (lower, middle, or upper class).
Physical environment: the details of the location in which the story takes place. These physical details often indicate the emotional state of the characters or the relationship between characters.

3. CHARACTERS
Characters are the people (or animals!) in a story. The term character refers to people's outward appearance and behaviour and also their inner emotional, intellectual, and moral qualities. Most stories have a main character (the protagonist or hero/heroine), whose personality traits move the plot forward and contribute to conflict. Many stories also have at least one minor character, who is not the focus of the story but who still plays an important role. Sometimes characters provide contrasts with one another.

4. POINT OF VIEW
Point of view is the perspective from which a story is told. The author creates a narrator to tell the story. It is through the narrator's perspective (through the narrator's eyes and mind) that readers learn what is happening in a story. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the narrator of a story is the author. Remember that the point of view and the narrator are tools created and used by the author in order to tell a story in a certain way. The narrator of a story does not necessarily express the author's opinions.

5. IMAGERY
Imagery refers to the collection of images in a work of fiction: the mental pictures created by the author's words. Writers use concrete images to go beyond physical description in order to express feelings and states of mind. Most images are created through words that appeal to the reader's five senses.
For example, a pink flower may appeal to the reader's sense of sight or smell and bring forth pleasant associations with springtime or a holiday memory. The colour green suggests youth and life; white, purity.

6. SYMBOLISM
A symbol is something that represents something else. It is an image of an event or a physical object (a thing, person, or place) that is used to represent something non-physical such as an idea, a value, or an emotion. Authors use symbols to suggest meaning. A heart, for example, symbolises love. One symbol may suggest more than one meaning.

7. TONE
Tone refers to the author's attitude or position toward the action, characters, narrator, subject, and even readers of the story. To determine the tone of a story, the reader must examine the language the author uses and decide what effect the author's choice of words has.

8. IRONY
Irony refers to the unexpected difference or lack of agreement between appearance and truth or between expectation and reality. Irony is apparent when an author uses language to create a deliberate contrast between appearance (what seems to be true) and truth (what is true), or between expectation (what was hoped for) and reality (what actually happens). Often readers know or understand something that a character in a story does not.

9. THEME
A theme is a truth that a story reveals. A theme is rarely directly stated by the author. Instead, the reader must discover the theme by questioning and examining the meaning from details in the story. Usually themes deal with general areas of human experience, for example: the nature of humanity or society, the relationship of human beings to the environment, or the question of moral responsibility.

Mostly taken from The Learning Center