Rojali, Rohana, and the Malls We Nickname: Digital Resilience in Indonesian Wordplay
Enggar Mulyajati*, Agus Riyanto, Vica Ananta Kusuma, Widyasari

Universitas Terbuka

Abstract

This study looks at wordplay created by Indonesian internet users about Jakarta shopping malls and mall visitors, shared on X/Twitter. It combines two areas: morphology and sociolinguistics. The study looks at two types of coined words: nickname-like blends of mall name, some of which combine English mall names with Indonesian-sounding names- and Ro- words that describe types of visitors. Using a qualitative and netnographic method, the study collected twenty-five examples from five public X/Twitter posts. These were studied in two ways: how they are formed and what they mean socially. In terms of word formation, most of the words are made through blending, a process that has no fixed rules, mixing English and Indonesian word parts into short, name-like forms. The Ro- words follow a repeated pattern that other users copied to create new words without needing new rules. Some blends also sound like existing Indonesian words, adding a playful, punny effect. Socially, these words often treat malls or visitor types as if they were people, seen in how users talk about them in social media. Most of the wordplay is used for humour and light self-teasing, helping people cope with the stress of shopping culture, and for building a sense of shared identity online. Two words, however, borrow from sensitive real-world terms, which raises questions worth discussing further.

Keywords: blending, digital resilience, wordplay

Topic: Digital Resilience: Cultural and Literary Discourses of Global Alliances (Digital Resilience- Cultural Discourse- Global Alliances)