Sociolinguistic Phenomenon in Clothing Thrift Shop in Indonesia: The Case of _lajakk.pakai Instagram Account

Abstract

Code-mixing between Indonesian and English has become common in Indonesian commercial communication on social media, as sellers increasingly use English expressions to make their marketing messages sound modern and appealing to young consumers. This phenomenon can be observed on the Instagram account of a clothing thrift shop, _lajakk.pakai, which consistently combines Indonesian and English in its product captions. This study aims to identify the types of codemixing used in the captions and the reasons behind their use. The data consist of 102 code-mixing data drawn from 30 Instagram captions posted between July 4, 2025, and January 31, 2026. The data were analyzed using Muysken's (2000) classification of code-mixing types, namely insertion, alternation, and congruent lexicalization, and Hoffmann's (1991) framework of the reasons for code-mixing use. The findings show that congruent lexicalization is the most dominant type, accounting for 63% of the data, followed by insertion (29%) and alternation (8%). Regarding the reasons for code-mixing, talking about a particular topic is the most frequent reason. It is then followed by being emphatic about something, lexical need, and a small number of data reflect a combination of two reasons, such as talking about particular topic and expressing group identity. Also, being emphatic about something and lexical need is found with two occurrences in the data. These findings support Lowenberg's (1991) view that English is widely used in Indonesian commercial communication to project a modern and internationally oriented image. The study concludes that code-mixing functions not only as a communication style but also as a marketing strategy that helps the seller present products in an attractive, trendy way while building closeness with the target audience on social media.