REGISTER IN WHATSAPP TEXT: A LANGUAGE VARIATION OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING INDONESIANS BASED ON ABBREVIATION ANALYSIS

Abstract

This research explained the forms of words by its prominent features of Register as language variation in Sociolinguistics, by finding out the forms of the Register and Register’s form of usage used in WhatsApp by English-speaking Indonesians. The objects of the study were the forms of Register in simplified words that usually used in textual communication in WhatsApp, taken from daily conversation with the respondents. Therefore, the sociolinguistics feature of Register usage were analyzed through respondent’s background information. The meaning of the words were collected from Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Oxford Advanced Dictionary, Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, and English-Indonesian Dictionary. There are six common written forms of Register used in WhatsApp, namely: word choice, Omission, Voice Changing, shorten-ing, single letter, and symbol; to explain four register forms of usage, namely: standard, formal-casual, technical, and simplified. Abbreviation has been used to reduce time and longer sentences in WhatsApp, and