Digital Language Use in Bangka as Contribution to Digital Culture and Heritage

English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia 11480

^* Corresponding author: rico.fernando001@binus.ac.id
^† Corresponding author: risarsimanjuntak@binus.edu

Abstract

This research aims to find out how the bilingual speakers of Khek and Malay in Bangka communicate using the messaging app, find out regarding what shifts that could be identified in the use of the languages, and find out what the attitudes of the Bangkanese people are towards Khek and Malay. The method is approaching a descriptive qualitative design which involves some screenshots of WhatsApp chat to analyze as well as a questionnaire for the participants to answer. The results show that they indeed use the certain codes while performing a digital communication such as language shift, code switching, code mixing, and unique words. Moreover, they have a positive attitudes toward both Khek and Malay for some reasons. The most important part is that through the digital communication have they spread the cultures from both Chinese-Indonesian and Malays by using Khek and Malay as well as the fact that the languages used during the process of digital communication have exposed their heritage and identity. This research needs to be further investigated about the language preservation due to the fact that some people cannot speak one of those particular languages actively. With further investigation will reveal the current condition of those languages.