Langua – Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Language Education Vol. 3, No. 2, October 2020 EISSN: 2623-1565 Variety of Alay Languages on the Market Place for Selling and Buying Online of Ternate Pipit Aprilia Susanti1 1 STKIP Kie Raha Ternate, Indonesian Program Correspondence: pipitalovelya@gmail.com Received: September 23, 2020 Accepted: September 24, 2020 Abstract This brief overview aims to describe the forms of the Alay language especially in the Ternate online market place (a trading forum on the Facebook platform). This type of research is qualitative research, which produces descriptive data in the form of words or words of people and observed behavior. The data collection procedure was carried out by making observations. Meanwhile, the data analysis technique used in this research includes four stages, namely (1) data collection, (2) data reduction, (3) data presentation, and (4) verification/drawing conclusions. The results showed that the use of Alay language in the market place for buying and selling in Ternate was in the form of words by removing certain letters from the words. Keywords: alay language, alay expression, online market place, Facebook © Langua – 2020 1. Background The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic requires people to think more creatively in making money. Among the many jobs that are done, buying and selling online is considered to be the fastest to bring profits, but it does not deny that the possible losses from buying and selling online are also greater. Buying and selling online is felt to be easier to do during this pandemic because it does not require direct interaction with buyers. That is why it is one of the advantages of buying and selling online, which is considered safe by the public today. To bring in customers, of course, the seller must use provocative invitation language so that the buyer is moved to buy what they sell. The word alay stands for kite child. Chosen from the word kite because, in terms of appearance, alay children are like village children who like to play kites, namely dark brown-skinned and red-haired because they mostly play kites. The appearance of this Alay child who has dark brown skin is added to wearing clothes that are pretentious and tacky, so it is called a kite child. In terms of writing, they are called kites because they like to tug or play with words like playing kites. In the language of Alay often mix up letters, numbers, and symbols. According to Kartajaya (2011: 87-88), the emergence of the Alay language cannot be separated from the development of SMS or short message services. Because the messages are short, the writing is very short, so that long messages can be sent with just one SMS. Also, so as not to take too long to type with limited cellphone keys, initially, it was only all abbreviated. Then the letters began to be 57 www.jurnal.stkipkieraha.ac.id/index.php/langua Langua Vol. 3, No. 2; 2020 replaced with numbers or replaced with other letters which, when read more or less, produced a similar sound. Now is not abbreviated, but exaggerated, such as "dulu" becomes "duluw". Researchers choose social networks because there are many kinds of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Path, Instagram, and others. This social network is what is in great demand by the community. People with any group are usually always up to date using Alay language because they want to be seen to exist and slang. In social networks, the use of language is not bound by a rule. That is what makes teenagers creative with language so that the Alay language appears. The researcher was interested in researching the use of Alay in the market place because the researcher found several forms of using Alay in the Ternate online market place, namely: lengthening and shortening the use of letters, placing the reading tag out of place, and expressing the emotions felt through writing. The formulation of the problem in this study is how the form of Alay language used by the seller at the Ternate online buying and selling market place. 2. Method The method used in this research is qualitative, namely research that produces descriptive data in the form of words or from people or observed behavior. The data in the study were taken from the online Ternate Facebook page. Facebook data contains the Alay language used by the seller on the Facebook page. The data in this study were collected using content analysis techniques. According to Ismawati (2012: 64), content analysis is used to examine studies of the press on a large scale, sociological and linguistic research, especially in the latest media and for different purposes, generally revolving around things that hold symbols and propaganda, politics to myths, folklore, and riddles. This technique is used to analyze the structure of Alay language in social networks through phonological and morphological aspects. 3. Discussion Forms of Alay Language In this study, the authors found several forms of Alay language used by sellers on Facebook, namely vowel phonemes which include removing vowels, adding vowels, and adding consonants. Omitting vowels Vowel [a] in the word [Bawa (bring): Bwa], [Bahan (material): bhn], [Hanya (only): hny], [Yang (that): yg], [Bapak (father): Bpak], [Bayar (pay): byar] Vowel [e] in the word [Sendiri (alone): Sndri] Vocal [e] and [a] in the word [Dengan (with): Dgn] Vocal [u] and [a] in the word [Ukuran (size): UK] Addition of vocals Vocal [a] in the word [Suka (like): Sukaaaa] Vocal [e] in the word [Kredit (Credit): Keredit] Vocal [i] in the word [Ini (this): Niii] Addition of consonants Consonants [c] and [h] in the word [Ya (yes): Yach] 58 www.jurnal.stkipkieraha.ac.id/index.php/langua Langua Vol. 3, No. 2; 2020 The consonant [r] in the word [Luntur (fade): Lunturr] The words listed above are only a small part of the words that have undergone morphological modification. However, this small example is showing quite an interesting linguistic phenomenon that needs to be reviewed by researchers, especially sociolinguists. We need to examine that Alay language cannot be categorized into language errors. Alay speakers know the original form of a word they are modifying. They remove certain morphological elements from a word and this does not necessarily make it the wrong word. Therefore, researchers see this Alay language phenomenon as a choice in language. They choose to use the expressions they modified. At first glance, alay's expressions give the impression of a language error because the words they use don't look normal. Sometimes the words they use (write) look like the words used by children who do not have sufficient linguistic competence. If we look at these words from the perspective of Ellis (1994) then we will categorize the Alay language expression as a language error. The omission and addition of language elements are also seen as a language error by Dulay (Dulay et al., 1982). Dulay categorized these two morphological phonemes as Surface Strategy Errors. The addition and removal of language elements, both morphologically and syntactically, are not always caused by weak linguistic competence. The use of Alay language, which has recently become a trend, especially in virtual communication, proves that speakers have the freedom to choose certain expressions either by adding or subtracting language elements. The linguistic phenomenon that we call the Alay language today was formed through the reduction of vowels and the addition of consonants and vowels. Interestingly, these additions and subtractions do not cause misunderstanding between speakers even though there are no specific conventions that shape this trendy language use. Researchers also assume that the variety of Alay languages is a language phenomenon that is not universal. This means that the forms of words used vary from region to region. As we can see in the list of words above, they are used by speakers of the Indonesian Ternate dialect. Some modifications such as the word "dengan" becoming "dgn" may be general in nature and can be understood by speakers who come from different sociolinguistic backgrounds. However, more specific words, such as words are taken from the vocabulary of regional languages, will only be understood by speakers who have the same sociolinguistic background. There are many reasons that the Alay language is used on social media. The most basic reason for the formation of the Alay language is the limited number of letters available in the SMS application. The limitation which met the need to convey long messages forced people to shorten words by reducing the vowels in the language. The vowels are omitted because in the Latin alphabet we only have 5 vowels (a, i, u, e, o) so that even if the vowels are removed, people can still predict these vowels. Meanwhile, the addition of vowels usually occurs when the vowel is at the end of a word. Consonants are rarely reduced because there are more consonants and they are more difficult to predict. Omitting consonants can cause misunderstandings. The elimination of consonants also does not occur if the letter is the first letter of a syllable. With the existence of virtual communication applications that are not limited nowadays, speakers not only add linguistic elements but also enrich their messages with icons but this cannot be called Alay language. 59 www.jurnal.stkipkieraha.ac.id/index.php/langua Langua Vol. 3, No. 2; 2020 Another reason that still needs further investigation is the desire to self-promote or promote products sold through online buying and selling forums. It is likely that the use of Alay, in this case, represents more spoken language than written language. That is, the speakers write messages as they speak. 4. Conclusion This research was conducted by the author on the Facebook page, especially the online buying and selling market place of Ternate. The forms of the Alay language used by the seller are in the form of words to remove vowels, add vowels, and add consonants. The factor that causes sellers to use Alay language to promote their sales is not the author of the study in this study. References Dulay, H., Burt, M., & Krashen, S. (1982). Language two. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ismawati, E. (2012). Metode Penelitian Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra. Yogyakarta: Ombak. Kartajaya, H. (2011). Anxieties/ Desires. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama. 60