PEREMPUAN ATAU WANITA? PERBANDINGAN BERBASIS KORPUS TENTANG LEKSIKON BERBIAS GENDER

Abstract

Among the debates on the choice of Indonesian term for woman, the present research examines the use of the gendered lexicon perempuan and wanita with the aim to reveal which term is more preferable and how the terms are used to talk about woman. Using corpus-based approach, the study compares frequency and pattern of word usage of perempuan and wanita from two corpora, namely IndonesianWac and ind_mixed_2013. The research uses a mixed-method design in which quantitative analysis is used to identify word frequency and to measure significant collocation, while the qualitative analysis is used to determine meaning on the basis of semantic preference. The study reveals that the word wanita tends to be more frequently used than the word perempuan to signify woman. In terms of meaning, both of the words are used to talk about woman in relation to body, especially their reproductive function, people particularly men, family, and age. The difference is that perempuan tends to relate woman with the issues of gender equality and organization, while wanita with sexual relationship. Furthermore, it strongly indicates that woman in relation to their public domain is denoted with the term perempuan, whereas the relation with domestic domain is denoted with wanita.