Sundanese language explained

Sundanese
Nativename:Sundanese: basa Sunda
Sundanese: {{Sund|ᮘᮞ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ
Sundanese: بَاسَا سُوْندَا
States:Indonesia
Region:West Java, Banten, Jakarta, small parts of western Central Java, southern Lampung, also spoken by the Sundanese diaspora all over Indonesia and throughout the world.
Ethnicity:Sundanese
(BaduiBanteneseCiptagelarCirebonesePriangan)
Speakers: million
Date:2015
Ref:e27
Familycolor:Austronesian
Fam2:Malayo-Polynesian
Fam4:Sundanese–Baduy
Ancestor:Old Sundanese
Ancestor2:Classical Sundanese
Stand1:Priangan Sundanese
Dialects:
  • Baduy (considered a separate language)
  • Banten
  • Banyumas (extinct)
  • Bogor
  • Brebes
  • Ciamis
  • Northeast
  • Priangan
Script:Latin script (present)
Sundanese script (present; optional)
Sundanese Pégon script (17–20th centuries AD, present; religious schools only)
Old Sundanese script (14–18th centuries AD, present; optional)
Sundanese Cacarakan script (17–19th centuries AD, present; certain areas)
Buda Script (13–15th centuries AD, present; optional)
Kawi script (historical)
Pallava (historical)
Pranagari (historical)
Vatteluttu (historical)
Iso1:su
Iso2:sun
Lc1:sun
Ld1:Sundanese
Lc2:bac
Ld2:Baduy Sundanese
Lc3:osn
Ld3:Old Sundanese
Glotto:sund1252
Glottorefname:Sundanese
Lingua:31-MFN-a
Notice:IPA
Map:Sundanese_language_distribution_map.svg
Agency:Lembaga Basa jeung Sastra Sunda
Pronunciation:pronounced as /su/

Sundanese (;[1] Sundanese: basa Sunda, Sundanese script: Sundanese: {{Sund|ᮘᮞ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ, Pegon script: Sundanese: بَاسَا سُوْندَا, pronounced as /su/) is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the Sundanese. It has approximately 32 million native speakers in the western third of Java; they represent about 15% of Indonesia's total population.

Classification

According to American linguist Robert Blust, Sundanese is closely related to the Malayic languages, as well as to language groups spoken in Borneo such as the Land Dayak languages or the Kayan–Murik languages, based on high lexical similarities between these languages.

History and distribution

See main article: History of Sundanese language.

See also: Old Sundanese language. Sundanese is mainly spoken on the west side of the island of Java, in an area known as Tatar Sunda (Pasundan). However, Sundanese is also spoken in the western part of Central Java, especially in Brebes and Cilacap Regency, because these areas were previously under the control of the Galuh Kingdom. Many place names in Cilacap are still Sundanese names such as Dayeuhluhur, Cimanggu, Cipari and so on.

Until 1600 AD, Sundanese was the state language in the kingdoms of Salakanagara, Tarumanagara, Sunda, Galuh, and Pajajaran. During this period, Sundanese was heavily influenced by the Sanskrit language as seen in the Batu Tapak Kaki Kiri Nyoreang inscription at the time of King Purnawarman, using the Pallava script. Sundanese at that time was used in the fields of state, art, and daily life, many religious books were written in Sundanese and used Old Sundanese script such as the Sanghyang Siksa Kandang Karesian Manuscript, Carita Parahyangan, Amanat Galunggung, and Guru Talapakan.

In addition, according to some Sundanese language experts until around the 6th century, the area of speech reached around the Dieng Plateau in Central Java, based on the name "Dieng" which is considered the name Sundanese (from the origin of the word dihyang which is an Old Sundanese word). Along with transmigration and immigration carried out by the Sundanese ethnics, speakers of this language have spread beyond the island of Java. For example, in Lampung, South Sumatra, Jambi, Riau, West Kalimantan, Southeast Sulawesi and even outside the country of Indonesia, such as Taiwan, Japan, Australia and other countries, a significant number of ethnic Sundanese live in areas outside the Pasundan.

Dialects

Sundanese has several dialects, conventionally described according to the locations of the people[2] :

The Priangan dialect, which covers the largest area where Sundanese people lives (Parahyangan in Sundanese), is the most widely spoken type of Sundanese language, taught in elementary till senior-high schools (equivalent to twelfth-year school grade) in West Java and Banten Province.

Writing

See main article: Sundanese script. The language has been written in different writing systems throughout history. The earliest attested documents of the Sundanese language were written in the Old Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda Kuno). After the arrival of Islam, the Pegon script is also used, usually for religious purposes. The Latin script then began to be used after the arrival of Europeans. In modern times, most of Sundanese literature is written in Latin. The regional government of West Java and Banten are currently promoting the use of Standard Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda Baku) in public places and road signs. The Pegon script is still used mostly by pesantrens (Islamic boarding school) in West Java and Banten or in Sundanese Islamic literature.[3]

Phonology

Sundanese orthography is highly phonemic (see also Sundanese script).

Vowels

There are seven vowels: a pronounced as //a//, é pronounced as //ɛ//, i pronounced as //i//, o pronounced as //ɔ//, u pronounced as //u//, e pronounced as //ə//, and eu pronounced as //ɨ//.[4]

FrontCentralBack
Closepronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Midpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Openpronounced as /link/

Consonants

According to Müller-Gotama (2001) there are 18 consonants in the Sundanese phonology: pronounced as //b//, pronounced as //tʃ//, pronounced as //d//, pronounced as //ɡ//, pronounced as //h//, pronounced as //dʒ//, pronounced as //k//, pronounced as //l//, pronounced as //m//, pronounced as //n//, pronounced as //p//, pronounced as //r//, pronounced as //s//, pronounced as //ŋ//, pronounced as //t//, pronounced as //ɲ//, pronounced as //w//, pronounced as //j//; however, influences from foreign languages have introduced several additional consonants such as pronounced as //f//, pronounced as //v//, pronounced as //z// (as in fonem, qur'an, xerox, zakat). The consonantal phonemes are transcribed with the letters p, b, t, d, k, g, c pronounced as //t͡ʃ//, j pronounced as //d͡ʒ//, h, ng (pronounced as //ŋ//), ny pronounced as //ɲ//, m, n, s pronounced as //s//, w, l, r pronounced as //r~ɾ//, and y pronounced as //j//.Other consonants that originally appear in Indonesian loanwords are mostly transferred into native consonants: f/v pronounced as //f// → p, sy pronounced as //ʃ// → s, z pronounced as //z// → j, and kh pronounced as //x// → h.

BilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Plosive/
Affricate
voicelesspronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
voicedpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Fricativepronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Lateralpronounced as /link/
Trillpronounced as /link/
Approximantpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/

Epenthetic semivowels pronounced as //w// and pronounced as //j// are inserted after a high vowel immediately followed by another vowel, as in the words:

Register

Sundanese has an elaborate system of register distinguishing levels of formality.[5] At the beginning of speech level development, it was known 6 levels of Sundanese language: basa kasar (rough), sedeng (medium), lemes (polite), lemes pisan (very polite), kasar pisan (very rough), and basa panengah (intermediate). But since the 1988 Congress of Sundanese Language in Bogor, the speech level has been narrowed to only two parts: basa hormat (respectful) and basa loma (fair). Besides that, the term was changed to "tatakrama basa", although the substance remained the same. The hormat variant is a subtle language to respect, while the loma variant is fair, neutral and familiar use. This variety of loma language is then used as a kind of "standard" variety of written languages in Sundanese society. Sundanese magazines, newspapers, literary books and theses, mostly using the loma variant.

Apart from the two previous levels, there is actually one more lowest level, namely cohag (rough). This level is only used when angry or just to show intimacy between speakers. This register can only be found in the Sundanese Priangan dialect, while other dialects such as Bantenese Language, generally do not recognize this register.

For many words, there are distinct loma and lemes forms, e.g. arék (loma) vs. badé (lemes) "want", maca (loma) vs. maos (lemes) "read". In the lemes level, some words further distinguish humble and respectful forms, the former being used to refer to oneself, and the latter for the addressee and third persons, e.g. rorompok "(my own) house" vs. bumi "(your or someone else's) house" (the loma form is imah).

Similar systems of speech levels are found in Japanese, Korean and Thai.

Basic vocabulary

Pronoun

GlosLemesLomaCohag

'I'
abdi (informal)simkuring (formal)urang (informal)kuring (formal)

kami (non-formal,

expressing speaker's superiority)

aing
,
'you'
anjeunhidep (for younger)manéhsilaingsia
,
'he, she'
mantenna (to be respected)anjeunnamanéhnasi éta

'we'
abdi sadayana (informal)sim kuring sadayana (formal)kuring saréréaaing kabéhan

'we'
urang samudayanaarurang/urang-

'you all'
aranjeunharidep (for younger)maranéhsaria, sararia

'they'
aranjeunnamaranéhna-

Numeral

See main article: Sundanese numerals.

||tilu|-|4||||opat|-|5||||lima|-|6||||genep|-|7||||tujuh|-|8||||dalapan|-|9||||salapan|-|10||||sapuluh|-|11||||sabelas|-|12||||dua belas|-|20||||dua puluh|-|21||||dua puluh hiji|-|30||||tilu puluh|-|31||||tilu puluh hiji|-|40||||opat puluh|-|50||||lima puluh|-|60||||genep puluh|-|70||||tujuh puluh|-|80||||dalapan puluh|-|90||||salapan puluh|-|100||||saratus|-! colspan="2" |hundreds|ratusan|-|1000||||sarébu|-! colspan="2" |thousands|rébu|}

Grammar

Root word

Root verb

English Sundanese
(formal)
Sundanese
(polite)
eat dahar tuang (for other)
neda (for myself)
drink inum leueut
write tulis serat
read maca maos
forget poho lali (for other)hilap (for myself)
remember inget émut
sit diuk linggih (for other)calik (for myself)
standing nangtung ngadeg
walk leumpang nyacat

Plural form

Other Austronesian languages (especially those in western Indonesia) commonly use reduplication to create plural forms. However, Sundanese inserts the ar infix into the stem word. If the stem word starts with l, or contains r following the infix, the infix ar becomes al. Also, as with other Sundanese infixes (such as um), if the word starts with vowel, the infix becomes a prefix. Examples:

  1. Mangga A, tarahuna haneut kénéh. "Please sir, the bean curds are still warm/hot." The plural form of tahu 'bean curd, tofu' is formed by infixing ar after the initial consonant.
  2. Barudak leutik lalumpatan. "Small children running around." Barudak "children" is formed from budak (child) with the ar infix; in lumpat (run) the ar infix becomes al because lumpat starts with l.
  3. Ieu kaén batik aralus sadayana. "All of these batik clothes are beautiful." Formed from alus (nice, beautiful, good) with the infix ar that becomes a prefix because alus starts with a vowel. It denotes the adjective "beautiful" for the plural subject/noun (batik clothes).
  4. Siswa sakola éta mah balageur. "The students of that school are well-behaved." Formed from bageur ("good-behaving, nice, polite, helpful") with the infix ar, which becomes al because of r in the root, to denote the adjective "well-behaved" for plural students.

However, it is reported that this use of al instead of ar (as illustrated in (4) above) does not to occur if the 'r' is in onset of a neighbouring syllable. For example, the plural form of the adjective curiga (suspicious) is caruriga and not *caluriga, because the 'r' in the root occurs at the start of the following syllable.[6] The prefix can be reduplicated to denote very-, or the plural of groups. For example, "bararudak" denotes many, many children or many groups of children (budak is child in Sundanese). Another example, "balalageur" denotes plural adjective of "very well-behaved".

Active form

Most active forms of Sundanese verbs are identical to the root, as with diuk "sit" or dahar "eat". Some others depend on the initial phoneme in the root:

  1. Initial pronounced as //d//, pronounced as //b//, pronounced as //f//, pronounced as //ɡ//, pronounced as //h//, pronounced as //j//, pronounced as //l//, pronounced as //r//, pronounced as //w//, pronounced as //z// can be put after prefix nga like in ngadahar.
  2. Initial pronounced as //i//, pronounced as //e//, pronounced as //u//, pronounced as //a//, pronounced as //o// can be put after prefix ng like in nginum "drink".

Negation

Polite:

Formal:

Question

Dupi (for polite situation)/Ari (for formal situation)-(question)

example:

Polite:

Formal:

Interrogatives

EnglishSundanese
(formal)
Sundanese
(polite)
Indonesian
whatnaonapa
whosahasiapa
whose/whomnu sahakagungan sahapunya siapa
where(di) mana(di) manten(di) mana
whenirahakapan
whynaha, kunaonkenapa
howkumahabagaimana
how manysabarahaberapa

Passive form

Polite:

Formal:

Adjectives

Examples:

teuas (hard), tiis (cool for water and solid objects), tiris (cool for air), hipu (soft), lada (hot/spicy, usually for foods), haneut (warm), etc.

Prepositions

Place

Sundanese has three generic prepositions for spatial expressions:

Using different type of prepositions can result in different meanings.

di cai: at the bathroom/toilet

dina cai: inside of water

ka cai: going to a bathroom/toilet

kana cai: into water

ti cai: (someone) comes from the bathroom/toilet

tina cai: (something) made of water, or (something) comes from water

ka mobil: going inside a car

kana mobil: something is done/happened to a car

To express more specific spatial relations (like 'inside', 'under' etc.), these prepositions have been combined with locative nouns:

Formal Polite Gloss
di jerodi lebetinside
di luardi luaroutside
di gigirdi gédéngbeside
di luhurdi luhurabove
di handapdi handapbelow
di tukangdi pengkerbehind
di hareupdi payunin front
Di gigir/luhur/handap/tukang/hareup (also ka gigir, ti gigir etc.) are absolute adverial expressions without a following noun. To express relative position, they have to add the suffix -eun, e.g.:

Polite:

Formal:

Di jero, di luar and the polite forms luhur & pengker can be used both with and without a following noun.

Time

English Sundanese
(formal)
Sundanese
(polite)
before saacan/saméméhsateuacan
after sanggeussaparantos
during basanalika
past baheulakapungkur

Miscellaneous

English Sundanese
(formal)
Sundanese
(polite)
from tina/titina/ti
for jang, paragikanggo/kanggé

Sample text

The following texts are excerpts from article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Sundanese, along with the original declaration in English.

Sundanese in Latin scriptSundanese: Sakumna jalma gubrag ka alam dunya téh sipatna merdika jeung boga martabat katut hak-hak anu sarua. Maranéhna dibéré akal jeung haté nurani, campur-gaul jeung sasamana aya dina sumanget duduluran.[7]
Sundanese in Pegon scriptSundanese: {{Script/Arabic|«ساكومنا جالما ڮوبراڮ كا عالم دنيا تَيه سيپاتنا مَيرديكا جۤڠ بَوڮا مرتبة كاتوت حق۲ أنو سارووا. مارانَيهنا ديبَيرَي أكال جۤڠ هاتَي نورانی، چامڤور-ڮأول جۤڠ ساسامانا أيا دينا سوماڠَيت دودولوران.»
Sundanese in Sundanese scriptSundanese: {{Sund|ᮞᮊᮥᮙ᮪ᮔ ᮏᮜ᮪ᮙ ᮌᮥᮘᮢᮌ᮪ ᮊ ᮃᮜᮙ᮪ ᮓᮥᮑ ᮒᮦᮂ ᮞᮤᮕᮒ᮪ᮔ ᮙᮨᮁᮓᮤᮊ ᮏᮩᮀ ᮘᮧᮌ ᮙᮁᮒᮘᮒ᮪ ᮊᮒᮥᮒ᮪ ᮠᮊ᮪-ᮠᮊ᮪ ᮃᮔᮥ ᮞᮛᮥᮃ. ᮙᮛᮔᮦᮂᮔ ᮓᮤᮘᮦᮛᮦ ᮃᮊᮜ᮪ ᮏᮩᮀ ᮠᮒᮦ ᮔᮥᮛᮔᮤ, ᮎᮙ᮪ᮕᮥᮁ-ᮌᮅᮜ᮪ ᮏᮩᮀ ᮞᮞᮙᮔ ᮃᮚ ᮓᮤᮔ ᮞᮥᮙᮍᮨᮒ᮪ ᮓᮥᮓᮥᮜᮥᮛᮔ᮪.
EnglishAll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[8]

See also

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Bauer, Laurie . The Linguistics Student's Handbook . 2007 . . Edinburgh.
  2. Web site: Aldita Prafitasari . 2022-05-17 . Daftar Dialek atau Basa Wewengkon Bahasa Sunda . Adjar.id . id.
  3. Book: Rosidi, Ajip. Mengenang hidup orang lain: sejumlah obituari. 2010. Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia. 9789799102225. id.
  4. Book: Müller-Gotama, Franz. Sundanese. 2001. LINCOM Europa. Languages of the World. Materials. 369. Munich.
  5. Book: Anderson, E. A. . Papers in Southeast Asian Linguistics No. 16 . Pacific Linguistics . 1997 . Clark . M. . Canberra . 1–45 . The use of speech levels in Sundanese . 10.15144/PL-A90.1 . free .
  6. Book: Bennett, Wm G. . The Phonology of Consonants: Harmony, Dissimilation, and Correspondence . 2015 . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge . 132 . en.
  7. Web site: Pernyataan Umum Ngeunaan Hak-hak Asasi Manusa . United Nations OHCHR. su . Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 21 May 2024.
  8. Web site: Universal Declaration of Human Rights - English . United Nations OHCHR . United Nations Department of Public Information, NY . 21 May 2024.