E-Journal of English Language and Literature Volume 8 No.

3
E-Journal of English Language & Literature
ISSN 2302-3546
Published by English Language & Literature Study Program of
FBS Universitas Negeri Padang
available at http://ejournal.unp.ac.id/index.php/jell

WORD FORMATION OF SLANG WORD IN SONG ALBUMS

CREATED BY INDONESIAN RAPPER, YOUNG LEX

Astari Puti Raodhatul 1, Havid Ardi 2

English Department
Faculty of Languages and Arts
Unversitas Negeri Padang
email: astariputi15@gmail.com

Abstract
This research is aimed to identify (1) What are the word formation process of
the slang word found in the lyrics of “Young Lex” songs (2) What are the
common characteristics of slangs found in the lyrics of “Young Lex” songs. The
method used in this study is descriptive qualitative method.This research paper
usedGeorge Yule (2006) processes of word formation. The researcher found 6
types word formation in slang word in the lyrics of Young Lex among others
blending, compounding, clipping, borrowing, coinage and acronym and 1 theory
of Elissa Matiello, Variation.The data were collected by listening to 9 songs by
Young Lex and reading the lyrics of the songs. There were 27 slang of variation, 6
slang of blending, 11 slang of clipping, 4 slang of compounding, 4 slang coinage,
17 slang borrowing and 6 slang of acronym.

Key words: Language Variation, Slang word, Word Formation, Rapper

A. INTRODUCTION
Language variation is variety of speaker to speak a language. There are many
differences could we see in our life. Why it happened? One of the reason is
because we are as human also very in some ways to think, culture, region, and so
on. That’s way language variation is exist. Talking about variation itself is not to
show which one is the best which one is the worse but this is the beautiful
language designed by human. So, do not say you are the best because American
or what else, but think how smart human to make that beautiful differences.
Generally, slang language is non-standards use of word in a language of a part
social group. Slang is something that everyone can easily detect but nobody can
define. According to Partridge (1950:69) Slang language is mainly spoken form,
which is used in social milieus and popular media, and to certain extern, it is used
in song lyrics and publication. Slang also becomes popular in social and media

1
English ELLSP of English Department of FBS Universitas Negeri Padang graduated on September
2019
2
Lecturer of English Department of FBS Universitas Negeri Padang

© FBS Universitas Negeri Padang

 JELL Vol. 8 No. 3 September 2019

like this example "Bae" that recently found in some media social which is
Variation of "Baby or Darling".
Slang also could be found in lyrics of songs, means that slang is used in
informal situation and people usually use slang to talk with their friends or their
society but it is not polite to talk to elders.Slang used in our daily life. Teenagers
give the great contribution of the forming of slang words. Teenagers is creative
and productive human being in producing new vocabulary in communication an
interaction (Gemilasari, 2013). They form a new word which only understood by
their community. It can be a characteristic of a certain group or community. They
create new word and they use it often and it being their daily language because
slang is more attractive and expressive than standard language.
There are some studies that have been done related to slang found in movie
and and song lyrics. Some studies focus on song lyrics (Lestari, dan Aprilia. 2016;
Teguh, 2017; Mahnunik 2015; Seprina and Anwar). However there is no research
about the song lyric of Young Lex. Then, some research have also been done on
slangs used in the movie by (Sari, 2010; Prihandoko, 2012; Dewi, Rajeg,
Maharani 2016), in the society such as used by Transsexual (Rahmawati 2012),
the American Gangster” (Hanggoro 2011). Therefore, the researcher interested in
exploring the slang language but before that, the researcher try to search about
research that has never been done so Young Lex’s song is selected. Yule (2006)
explains that there are ten processes of word formation. Those processes are
coinage (Kleenex, Teflon), borrowing (lilac from Persian), compounding
(bookcase, doorknob), blending (telecast comes from television + broadcast),
clipping (fan from fanatic), backformation (emote from emotion). In addition,
there are another processes based on Yule, they are conversion (crazy ideas
becomes a crazy) (adj n), acronym (CD Compact Disk), derivation (unhappy),
multiple processes.
The author found many uses of slang in some Young Lex songs. The author
intends to analyze and learn about the word formation of slang words used in the
song lyrics of Young Lex. The researcher only focused on the word formation
process of the slang wordand the dominant slang in Young Lex songs lyric based
on yule’s theory.

B. RESEARCH METHOD
This study was descriptive qualitative research that related on the instruments
used in the research. According to Best in Pramudi (2009), descriptive research is
a research method that tried to describe and interpret the object as it is. The
researcher found the data in 9 songs of Young lex’s albums.

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

1. Research Finding
The researcher found and collected the data of slang word used by Young
lex’s songs. The researcher found the characteristic of slang and the dominant
slang which used by Young Lex.The data were taken from the song lyrics by the

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Indonesian rapper singer namely Young Lex. Young lex has released 10 albums
and researcher conducted research using 8 of their songs.

Table1. Dominant characteristics of slangs found in the lyrics of “Young

Lex” songs
Slang Word
No Type of Word Formation Frequency Percentage
1 Variation 27 36%
2 Blending 6 8%
3 Clipping 11 14,6%
4 Compounding 4 6.6%
5 Borrowing 17 5.5%
6 Coinage 4 6.6%
7 Acronym 6 8%
Total 75 100%

From the table above, there are 7 kinds of word formation found in 9 song of
Young Lex. From the 9 songs lyrics, the researcher found the variation process
becomes dominant. From 75 of slang word data found there are 27 of slang which
is part of the variation process. After that, there were 17 data from borrowing
which became the most after variation. Borrowing is also very widely used by
Young Lex in some of the songs and until now the slang word is still used in daily
language which has a certain group. Next are 11 discoveries of clipping followed
by 6 inventions of acronyms and blending processes. The researcher also found
two other processes, namely compounding and coinage. From the datum, In this
analysis variation is dominant process and borrowing less frequent.
a) Variation
Song Nyeselkan
• Datum 1 and 2 : Gue ngga jemput lolagi
Slang :Gueand Lo (I and You)
“Gue and Lo” (I and you) is daily conversation between
several of teenagers to replace the word “Aku and Kamu”. Sometimes,
the teenagers in the area that used “Gue and Lo” is youngsters that
greatly influenced by Jakarta style. When the locals hear someone
used “Gue and Lo”, they assumed that the people is “Gaul”. So, you
cannott use it with people who is older than you or your boss/teacher
because it is rude (but if you’re close enough or ‘he/she’ is a laid back
type of person, might able to use it!).The language used is a new word
created by several people in a particular community that not all people
understand the meaning and purpose of the word. This word include
slang word because there is no word “above” in the English
dictionary.

• Datum 3 : Pasti lagi galau kan

Slang : Galau

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The word “Galau” it is mean that feeling not good. The word
“Galau” commonly used by people to state a condition of someone’s
sadness after break up with their couple or when they face a difficult
situation.. This condition is commonly found in the Indonesian
teenager. So, this slang is created from a new term therefore this
slang belongs to Variation As stated by Yule.The language used is a
new word created by several people in a particular community that not
all people understand the meaning and purpose of the word. This word
include slang word because there is no word “above” in the English
dictionary.
b) Blending

Song Nyeselkan
• Datum 28 : Pasti lo baper liat pacar gue
Slang: Baper (Easily to Offended)
The word “Baper” is actually from a word BAwa PERasaan. This
word so popular and all of teenagers using this word. “Baper” in
English actually like you are use feeling too emotionally in some
situation. But actually this word is used for many girls. People always
said like this to their girl friend “Hey, don’t “Baper” because maybe
he just think you are his friend”. So the slang “Baper” belongs to
Blending because it is combination of two words.
Song Makan Bang
• Datum 29 : Penanya Vlog tiap minggu gue lupa makan bang
Slang: Vlog (Video Blogger)
“Vlog” is combination of two word “Video + Blogger” so it is
belongs to blending. In general, a Vlogger is similar to a blogger but
their ways of doing things are different.Vlogger is all about video
cataloging in place of writing articles or ones feeling and experiences.

Song Selfie in aja

• Datum 36 : Mau Selfie vivo
Slang : Selfie ( Self portrait)
In this lyric, “Selfie” means informal word that used to describe a
self-portrait that is uploaded and posted in social media. In era
millennial, “selfie” also means takes the picture with our hand and
sometimes this method used to take a selfie is to take a picture of
one’s reflection in a mirror. So the slang “Selfie” belongs to clipping.
Song Office boy
• Datum 37 : Disuruh ganti air gallon abis
Slang : Abis (Sold Out)
In millennial era like today, many teenagers create various words in
many ways. Such as, the slang "Abis" is actually the word that used

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to shorten the word “Habis” so this slang belongs to clipping

according to George Yule.
c) Compounding
Song Makan Bang
• Datum 45 : Tapi lagu kok tetap masuk headline bang
Slang : Headline (Head and Line)
The slang “headline” belongs to compounding because it is
combination of two words, head and line. In this case, headline it is
means the main idea that can be center of news. So when the reader
read newspaper or news in the internet the first that their see is the
“headline”.
Song Anjay
• Datum 46 : Ku tungguin doi di timeline
Slang : Timeline (Time and Line)
The slang “Timeline” same with slang “Headline” because it is
combination of time and line. “Timeline” is the presentation of a
chronological sequence of events along a drawn line that equips a
viewer to understand temporal relationships quickly. So in this case
“Timeline”is a good place to see news updates, connect with friends.
d) Acronym
Song Nyeselkan
• Datum 49 : Kepoin gue di Instagram
Slang: Kepo ( Knowing every Particular Object).
“Kepo” it is means that person who really curious and want to know
everything about condition of someone. Yet “Kepo” stands belong to
Acronym because “Kepo” is "Knowing Every Particular Object"
Song Selfie in Aja
• Datum 50 : Layar HP harus jernih kayak fikiran
Slang: HP (Hand and Phone)
The slang “HP” belongs to acronym because a word formed by
combining the beginning letters of each word to create a shorter and
typically quicker “word” to refer to something, Hand-phone. Hand
phone (HP) even more popular nowadays with the current generation
who acronym common phrases to speed up their preferred method of
communication by text.
e) Coinage
Song Anjay
• Datum 55: Celana gemez Sabrina
Slang: Sabrina
In this song, Young lex says the slang word “Sabrina” to mention
about the type of dress that very popular among teenagers. So this
slang belongs to coinage because “Sabrina”usually used for
someone's name but in this song used for the name of a women's
clothing.
• Datum 56: Mereka semua suci

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Slang: Suci (pure heart)

The slang word “Suci” is the word that used as a name of people
but in the lyrics of this song is used to describe about someone who
has a good behavior and has a pure heart. So the researcher put this
slang into a coinage type.
f) Borrowing
• Datum 57-75 : Selfie, Headline, Vlog, Timeline, DM, Move on, DC,
Damn, Gonna, Colling Down, Gonna, Wanna, Shit, Kepo.
All of the word above, is the word called borrowing in word
formation slang process but it is blending, Clipping, acronym and
variation too because the word (Selfie, Selfie, Headline, Vlog,
Timeline, DM, Move on, DC, Damn, Gonna, Colling Down, Gonna,
Wanna, Shit, Kepo is the others word from English language. This
word include slang word because there is no word in the English
dictionary.

2. Discussion

Slang word in this research has several similarities and

differences with the research by Teguh. This research is almost the same,
because researchers use the same method. Teguh used 6 songs contained
in the album while researchers use 9 songs. There are several processes of
the same word formation used in each study. Such as, borrowing,
compounding,clipping dll. The researcher found that the research
methodology in several studies by Teguh related to the general description
of research methods, techniques data collection and data analysis
techniques same with the research.
From this study researchers found a lot of similarities in each
analysis. Such as word formation from slang word, the similarities is
compounding and others. This research uses the slang word formation
theory from Elisa Matiello and social factor of sociolinguistics from Janet
Holmes to helping analysis the 8 Mile movie. This research uses the
qualitative method. The theory slang word formation is to classify the
establishment of slang word in the 8 Mile movie based on the theory and
the social factors relate with who are the speaker and participant, the
setting, the topic, and the function of slang words. In the social factors, it
will explain how the social factor influences in the 8 Mile movie.

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D. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

After analyzing the data which have been discussed in previous chapter, the
researcher found 38 slangs that consist of word formation (Variation, blending,
clipping, compounding and acronym).Variation is The song lyrics of “Young
Lex” represent the slang word above, the slang word in this lyrics really important
to understand when someone hearing and reading this song and song lyrics
because slang in this song is also form of communication between teenagers in
some community. Through of song, the singer can deliver the message to the
listeners.
This research analyzed about the characteristics of slang in Young Lex and the
common slang which used by Young lex in his songs. The purpose of slang word
in the lyrics is to help the reader of the lyrics or even the listeners of the song
understood well about the meaning of slang word with their types. There are still
many aspects that can be studied about the characteristics of slang. It is suggested
that the others researcher can continue about this topic. But the writer suggest the
song writer who used the slang word to select slang word because seeing the
meaning of slang word really rude and impolite meaning.

Note: This article is written based on the Astari Puti Raodhatul’s thesis under the
supervision of advisor Dr. Havid Ardi, M.Hum

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