The Letter K Dilemma: Why 'Mengkonsumsi' Still Frequently Appears?

This error occurs due to the speakers' strong visual memory of the root word 'konsumsi'. Many feel that if the 'K' is removed, the original meaning becomes blurred or less firm. This is often referred to as a failure to apply the KTSP (K, T, S, P) rules in Indonesian morphology.

This word is rooted in the Dutch 'consumeren' or Latin 'consumere', which was later absorbed into Indonesian as 'konsumsi'. Grammatically, when the prefix 'me-' meets a root word starting with the letter 'K', it should undergo nasalization and be softened into 'ng'.

In a social context, the form 'mengkonsumsi' is often found in formal documents, news, or advertisements because it is perceived to sound more intellectual or 'solid'. There is a psycholinguistic tendency where speakers retain hard consonants to maintain the integrity of the original foreign loanword.