Tuturan Ketaksaan sebagai Bentuk Variasi Bahasa Gen Z di TikTok: Kajian Sosiolinguistik

Abstract

Indeterminate utterances are those that do not explicitly state a referent or meaning, so their interpretation depends on the context of the interaction. This phenomenon is prevalent in Gen Z’s digital communication on TikTok, as seen in expressions such as “adalah pokoknya” and “jangan terlalu diini-iniin, apa sih namanya”, which demonstrate that the meaning of language in the digital sphere does not always depend on complete grammatical structures, but is also shaped by the social and cultural context of communication on social media. This study aims to describe a model of ambiguous utterances as a linguistic variation in Gen Z’s digital communication, explain their linguistic forms, and analyse their social functions and the relationship between social context and their meaning. The study employs a qualitative descriptive approach with a sociolinguistic analysis. The data consisted of 12 instances of indefinite discourse collected from TikTok content using the ‘listen and note’ technique, which were subsequently analysed using contextual analysis. The research findings indicate that indefinite discourse takes the form of placeholder expressions that are non-referential and contextual in nature. These expressions function as mitigation strategies, indirect expressions of emotion, digital humour, markers of a pause for thought, and builders of social solidarity amongst social media users. These findings suggest that social context, shared knowledge and digital communication conventions play a role in helping users understand expressions whose referents are not explicitly stated.