Bahasa Binan (or bahasa Béncong) is a distinctive

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

speech variety originating from the

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

community. It has several regular patterns of

word formation In linguistics, word formation is an ambiguous term that can refer to either: * the processes through which words can change (i.e. morphology), or * the creation of new lexemes in a particular language Morphological A common method of word for ...

and is documented in both writing and speech. Boellstorf (2004): 248 One pattern of word formation modifies standard Indonesian roots (normally composed of two syllables) to have ''e'' as the first vowel and ''ong'' closing the second syllable—hence providing regular

assonance Assonance is a resemblance in the sounds of words/syllables either between their vowels (e.g., ''meat, bean'') or between their consonants (e.g., ''keep, cape''). However, assonance between consonants is generally called ''consonance'' in America ...

with the standard Indonesian word ''bencong'' , a male homosexual,

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and s ...

, or male crossdresser. Another word formation pattern adds -''in''- infixes to other Indonesian roots. The best example is the word ''binan'' itself, formed with the word ''banci'', "male transvestite", to which the -''in''- infix has been added and from which the second syllable ''-ci'' has been dropped. Bahasa Binan also uses a range of standard Indonesian words with altered meaning. The standard word for "cat", '' kucing'', is used in Bahasa Binan to denote a male prostitute. Another word with wide currency in Bahasa Binan, but actually typical of standard Indonesian informal word formation, is ''waria'' from ''

wanita "Wanita" is a song made popular by Al Jolson in 1923. Written by Tin Pan Alley songwriters, Al Sherman and Sam Coslow, it was their first hit song. The song is about a man who is love with a girl (Juanita) who only wants nothing to do with him s ...

'' (woman) + '' pria'' (man), meaning "

transvestite Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex. In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional, or ceremonial reasons. The term is considered outdated in Western ...

Notes and references

Bibliography

* Boellstorff, Tom (2007).
A coincidence of desires
anthropology, queer studies, Indonesia''.

Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 D ...

. * Boellstorf, Tom (2005).
The gay archipelago
sexuality and nation in Indonesia.''

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financia ...

. * * * Boellstorff, Tom (2003).
"Authentic, of course!"
gay language in Indonesia and cultures of belonging'. Chapter 7, pages 181–201 in William Leap, Tom Boellstorff (eds).
Speaking in queer tongues
globalization and gay language''.

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...

. * Offord, Baden and Leon Cantrell (2001). "Homosexual Rights as Human Rights in Indonesia". Pages 233–252 in Gerard Sullivan and Peter A. Jackson (eds).
Gay and lesbian Asia
culture, identity, community''.

Haworth Press Haworth Press was a publisher of scholarly, academic and trade books, and approximately 200 peer-reviewed academic journals. It was founded in 1978 by the publishing industry executives Bill Cohen and Patrick Mcloughlin. The name was taken from ...

. * TYO (2005).
Bahasa 'Binan' dan Trendi
. '' Lampung Post'' 23 January.

External links

GAYa NUSANTARA
– official website of ''

GAYa Nusantara Gaya may refer to: Geography Czech Republic *Gaya (German and Latin), Kyjov (Hodonín District), a town Guinea * Gaya or Gayah, a town India *Gaya, India, a city in Bihar **Gaya Airport *Bodh Gaya, a town in Bihar near Gaya *Gaya district, B ...

''
Gaya Nusantara
–

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

subscription to ''GAYa Nusantara''
Bahasa Binan: Detik Forum
– moderated open online forum for Bahasa Binan posts, hosted by detikForum Society of Indonesia Languages of Indonesia LGBT in Indonesia LGBT linguistics Cant languages {{LGBT-stub

See also

Notes and references

Bibliography

External links