Contrastive Analysis of English and Indonesian Word Order

This Paper is Arranged to Complete the Mid Term Test of Contrastive and Error
Analysis Subject

Lecturer: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alek, S.S., M. Pd.

Arranged by:

Ezra Sisilya Noor Firdausyi - 11200140000011

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHING AND SCIENCES
SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY JAKARTA
2023
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER

Table of Contents 2
1. Introduction 3
1.1 Background 3
1.2 Questions 3
2. Discussion 4
2.1 Contrastive Analysis 4
2.2 Word Order 5
2.3 Positive Sentence Word Order in English and Indonesian 6
2.4 Negative Sentence Word Order in English and Indonesian 6
2.5 Interrogative Sentence Word Order in English and Indonesian 8
2.6 Noun Modifier in English and Indonesian 8

3. Conclusion 9
4. References 10

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 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Most languages utilize the basic ordering of the subject (S), object (O), and the
verb (V), and within the languages of the world, a total of six likely basic word orders
exist. SVO and SOV account for a sizable portion of all languages among these six
orders (Dryer, 2011). The beginnings of basic word order have drawn more attention
in recent study on the history of human language.
In Indonesia, where English is taught as a foreign language, the subject of
English acquisition has been discussed for many years. Word order differences
between English and Indonesian can occasionally cause misunderstandings or mistakes
while learning both languages. The standard word order in English is Subject-Verb-
Object (SVO), but the standard word order in Indonesian is Subject-Object-Verb
(SOV).
The objectives of this paper were to find out the similarities and differences
between English and Indonesian word order, and the potential difficulties encountered
by both Indonesian and English-speaking students when studying English and
Indonesian word order.

1.2 Questions

1. What is Contrastive Analysis?

2. What is Word Order?

3. What are the similarities of word order in English and Indonesian?

4. What are the dissimilarities of word order in English and Indonesian?

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 CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION

2.1 Contrastive Analysis

Contrastive analysis, in its most basic form, examines the distinctions between
pairs (or limited sets) of languages against a background of their similarities in order
to support applied fields like foreign language education and translation studies.
Contrastive analysis, according to Richards et al. (2002), is the comparison between
two languages, which includes the phonological or grammatical systems. It was
initially established and used as an application of structural linguistics to the teaching
of languages in the 1950s and 1960s, and it is primarily based on the following
presumptions: 1) Interference from the first language is the primary source of difficulty
in learning a new language. 2) Contrastive analysis can be used to predict those
challenges. 3) Interference can be used in instructional materials.
In simple terms, contrastive analysis is a type of comparative analysis which
compares two languages while simultaneously identifying learning challenges and
making instructional suggestions. Due to its primary descriptive focus, contrastive
linguistics acts as a bridge between theory and application. Although it uses theoretical
advancements and language description designs, applicability is its main focus. Studies
that compare "socio-culturally linked" languages, or languages whose speech
populations coincide in some way, typically through (natural or taught) bilingualism,
are the main subject of contrastive research.
According to Chaturvedi (in Geethakumary, 2002), contrastive studies study
the mother tongue and the target language separately and comprehensively, compare
the two languages item-by-item throughout all levels of their structure, and reach at
general teaching principles for the target language. In contrastive analysis, the
relationship between the mother tongue as a source language and the target language
(the language being learnt) is analyzed to identify the parallels and discrepancies. In

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order to predict students' L2 learning obstacles and compare two different language
components or traits, a study known as a contrastive analysis is carried out in this
context. The study's goal is to give teachers with teaching resources. As a result, a
contrastive analysis can be used to predict a number of challenges that come with
learning a new language (the target language).

2.2 Word Order

The placement of subjects, objects, and verbs to create declarative sentences

varies across all languages. The ordering of words inside a phrase, clause, or sentence
is referred to as word order. 'Word order' refers to the placement of words within a
phrase. Because it determines how various types of sentences are constructed, word
order is a component of syntax. The wrong order of words may result a confusion,
unclear sentences, and incorrect meanings. The meaning and flow of a phrase are
influenced by the word order.
The usual word order has three aspects: subject (S), verb (V), and object (O).
These three components (S, V, and O) can be permuted to create six different word
orders. The many word orders that can be used in a language and their distribution are
displayed in the table below from The World Atlas of Language Structures Online
(WALS) in Winarto (2021). Object-initial word orders are uncommon, while SOV and
SVO are the most prevalent word orders. A fascinating fact that will be thoroughly
covered in this work is the fact that a sizable number of languages do not have a
dominating word order.

Word Order Languages

Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) 564

Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) 488

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Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) 95

Verb-Object-Subject (VOS) 25

Object-Verb-Subject (OVS) 11

Object-Subject-Verb (OSV) 4

Lacking a dominant word order 198

Table 1.1: WALS – possible word orders and their distribution.

2.3 Positive Sentence Word Order in English and Indonesian

When the sentence is positive (affirmative), the word order is direct. That means
the verb follows the subject. The arrangement of the subject, verb, and object in the
sentence is precisely what it should be because it is a member of the SVO language
family. The subject comes first, followed by the verb, and then the object.
Examples:

English: “Sarah drinks milk”

Indonesian: “Sarah meminum susu”

It shows one similarity that in affirmative or positive sentence in both language, the
order is Subject (subjek) + Verb (predikat) + and Object (objek).

In Indonesian as well as English, there are plenty of sentences that do not

require objects which means there is one more similarity found here.

English: “Dara runs”

Indonesian: “Dara berlari”

Verbs that start with me– usually, but not always, have an object; verbs that start with
ber- never have an object.

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2.4 Negative Sentence Word Order in English and Indonesian

The process of negating an affirmative assertion into its polar opposite, a denial,
is known as negation. The word "No" is simply positioned in front of the primary verb
to negate in Indonesian. However, there are times when a double negative is necessary.
The most typical negative response is "no". According to Leech (2006), the process of
negating a sentence or other unit, particularly by utilizing not, is called negation.
Additionally, Hornby (2010) defines negation as an the act of making something cease
to exist or turn into its opposite. It implies that negation is employed to express denials
of or opposition to a proposition.
There are two basic negations in English that are utilized in sentences: No and
Not. These two negations can be joined or followed by additional words to form new
negations, such as Never from Not + ever, None from No + one, and so on. Cruse
(2006) states that English negations can be occured in negative affixes, in terms of
prefixes, such as un-, dis-, de-, mis-, im-, il-, ir-, non-, in-, as in impossible, illegal,
irregular.
Meanwhile, in Indonesian, there are five common negations which are used in
sentences both in spoken and written forms, such as bukan (negates a noun), tidak
(negates all the types predicate other than nouns, verbs, adjective prepositional
phrases), tidak ada (negates all nouns as an emphasize), belum (shows incomplete
action or undone situation), and jangan (known as negative imperative, and it is usually
followed by verbs or adjective).
Examples:
English: Hasan is not a doctor.
Indonesian: Hasan bukan seorang dokter
It shows a similarity between English and Indonesian negations in rejections or denials
with nouns or adverbs which have similar meanings as “Bukan” in Bahasa Indonesia.

English: No people here

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Indonesian: Tidak ada orang disini
It shows one similarity between English and Indonesian negations using “No” which
has similar meanings as “Tidak Ada” in Bahasa Indonesia which is followed by noun.

English: Homeless
Indonesian: Tidak punya rumah
It shows one dissimilarity between English and Indonesian negations in suffixation. In
this paper, English has such negation in suffixation such “less” as in “homeless”, while
Indonesian does not have it.

2.5 Interrogative Sentence Word Order in English and Indonesian

An interrogative sentence is a sentence which asks a question and ends in a
question mark. It is a question-posing sentence. Yes/no interrogatives, alternative
questions, tag questions, and direct or indirect interrogative sentences can all be used
in interrogative sentences. Interrogative pronouns are frequently used at the beginning
and end of interrogative statements. Interrogative pronouns, typically “wh” words,
include “who”, “what,” “when”, “where”, “why”, “which”, “whose”, and “whom”, or
in Indonesian as “siapa”, “apa”, “kapan”, “kenapa”, dll.
Interrogative sentences typically feature a word order with the predicate and
primary verb before the subject. It is applicable both in English and Indonesian so that
it is one of its similarities.
Examples:
English: Do you like tea?
Indonesian: Apakah kamu suka teh?
It is stated that in simple yes-no questions in Indonesian are formed just like they are
in English. Thus, the similarity between both language can already be seen.

2.6 Noun Modifier in English and Indonesian

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 The most common head and modifier are respectively noun and adjective.
Some of the Indonesian and English parts of speech can be both heads and modifiers.
2.6.1 Numerals as Noun Modifier
Cardinal numbers:
English: Two tables
Indonesian: Dua meja

It is obvious that a similarity found in terms of cardinal number as noun modifier in

both English and Indonesian, since the word order is the same.

Ordinal numbers:
English: First gift
Indonesian: Hadiah pertama

However, when ordinal numbers are used as noun modifier in both languages, the word
order is different. In English, the ordinal number comes first, while in Indonesian, the
noun comes first.

2.6.2 Adjective as Noun Modifier

Examples:
English: Red jacket
Indonesian: Jaket merah
or
English: Fresh air
Indonesian: Udara segar

As it is stated, both examples shows the dissimilarity between English and Indonesian
in using adjective as its noun modifier. In English, the adjective comes first while in
Indonesian, the noun comes first.

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 CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION

In conclusion, regarding to the purposes of this paper which are examining the
similarities and dissimilarities between English and Indonesian language, it is found
that there are 6 similarities and 3 dissimilarities. It is predictably considered as the
difficulties faced by Indonesian students when learning English or vice versa. It is
possible for them to use the wrong order in writing or even speaking, which may lead
to misunderstanding by other people. Most Indonesian students who were studying the
English language appeared to struggle to prevent the effect of their native tongue on
the English language. Their reliance on the syntactical structure of their Indonesian
language is one of their weaknesses. For instance, the English translation of the
structure of the Indonesian phrase “stasiun kereta api” is likely to be: “station railway”
in place of “railway station”. This is probably because the modified comes before the
modifier according to Indonesian grammar. Every language has a structure, and the
word order is among them.

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