MISSPELLING, MARKETING STRATEGY, OR COUNTER HEGEMONY? The Language Usage on Public Sphere as Portrayed on Kepeleset.

Abstract

This paper aims on describing brands of some Indonesian local products, advertorials, and banners documented on a booklet entitled Kepeleset. Some of the local brands in this book resemble other imported or well known brands. This book actually aims on entertainment purpose of language usage on public sphere; however, there are some patterns that can be derived. In this paper, I will show how they are derived by a Skeleton Model. Some of the brands are reproduction from the original product with linguistic modification. Intended misspelling is often a strategy to avoid copyright issues of the original brand. Some products maintain the original brand, but assign it on totally different products, for instance: mobile phone brand for sandals. This book also documented incorrectly spelled expressions on banners and advertorials, especially those borrowed from English. Some of them are unintended, but some others are wrongly spelled to resemble the original product. When unintended, it might be caused by the orthographical representation of sound perception by Indonesian phonemic resource. Most of the modified brand names are considered errors in the original language. This can be considered an intended error. However, in the target language, it can be considered an effort to adjust with the target language linguistic features. Further, it can be analysed as a counter hegemony over west-origin imported product. Keywords: Intended misspelling, counter hegemony, public sphere, language use.