6 CODE CHOICE USED BY THE EMPLOYEES IN THE COMMUNICATION WITH THE SUPERIOR AND THE CO-WORKER Wiguna, E. 1 and Gunawan, S. 2 1,2 English Department, Faculty of Letters, Petra Christian University, Siwalankerto 121 – 131, Surabaya 60236, East Java, INDONESIA E-mail: eunikewiguna@ymail.com 1 , samgun@peter.petra.ac.id 2 ABSTRACT This study is about the choice of codes used by the employees in communicating with their superior and their co-ZRUNHU 7KH WKLQJ WKDW KDV FDXJKW WKH ZULWHU¶V DWWHQWLRQ DQG FXULRVLW\ WR ZULWH RQ WKLV SDUWLFXODU WRSLF LV WKH language that is used by the employees in a work place like switching when they talk to the superior and the co-worker. The aims of this study were to describe and to analyze the codes which were used by the employees, to find out the dominant code they chose, and to explain what factors affected their choice of code. Through the analysis, the writer found that the employees chose to use standard or casual Indonesian codes in communicating with their superior. Whereas they used Javanese codes in communicating among themselves. Key words: Code, code switching, code mixing, social factors INTRODUCTION Communication is an act of interacting with others by expressing ideas, ideology, opinion, and desires through language. Saussure (1974) suggests that ‡/DQJXDJH LV D V\VWHP RI VLJQV WKDW H[SUHVV ideas, and is therefore comparable to a system of writing, the alphabet of deaf mutes, symbolic rites, polite formulas, military signals, etc (Saussure, 1974. p.6). In the development of language until today, we can seethat there are many kinds of languages and the varieties of language spoken in countries and even in regions inside of the country. Thus it can be concluded that, the quantity of the language spoken in one area is equivalent with the varieties of tribes or ethnics there, in another word, the more different tribes or ethnic groups stay in the area, the more varieties of language occur there. According to Wardaugh (2006), when people are communicating with others, they will open their mouth and choose a particular language, dialet, style, register or variety which is, a particular code (Wardaugh, 2006, p. 88). He also explained that language that is used by people to communicate is always influenced by some social factors, such as, participants, social setting, and social status which define the relationship between the participants (Wardhaugh, 1986). Understanding those factors and employing them into communication will enhance the communication itself as people communicate by employing those factors as codes in their communication. There are some reasons why people tend to mix up and switch codes; for one thing it is because of their environment, such as a work place. In a work place, employees will speak in a formal way when they communicate with their boss/superior, unlike when they communicate with their co- workers and their friends outside the work place. For example, in Surakarta, Central Java - Indonesia we can clearly see when the employees speak to their superior using formal Indonesian language or Casual Indonesian language whereas when they speak to their co-worker, they rapidly switch their language back and forth to Javanese language. The writer chose to do a research in order to analyze the choice of code used by the employees of Viera fabric store. Viera is a fabric store specialised in T-shirt fabric. This store was established in 2008 at Surakarta, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia. In this store, although the employees are less educated and this store is not so-office oriented, they still maintain polite behavior through their language. They always try as well as possible to speak in Indonesian when they speak with their superior. The purpose of this study is to identify the codes that are used by the employees in communicating with their superior and their co-worker and see the difference. Having finished it, the writer also wants to know the factors which affect their choice of code.