| Makasar | |
| Nativename: | |
| Pronunciation: | pronounced as /mak/ |
| States: | Indonesia |
| Region: | South Sulawesi (Sulawesi) |
| Ethnicity: | Makassarese |
| Speakers: | million |
| Date: | 2000 census |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Map: | Makassarese and Makassaric locator map.svg |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam2: | Malayo-Polynesian |
| Fam3: | South Sulawesi |
| Fam4: | Makassaric |
| Iso2: | mak |
| Iso3: | mak |
| Dia1: | Gowa |
| Dia2: | Turatea |
| Dia3: | Maros-Pangkep |
| Glotto: | maka1311 |
| Glottorefname: | Makasar |
| Script: | Lontara (present) Latin (present) Serang (Makassar Annals, religious purpose) Old Makassarese (historical) |
| Notice: | IPA |
Makassarese (Makasar: basa Mangkasara{{hamza, IPA: in Makasar pronounced as /basa maŋˈkasaraʔ/), sometimes called Makasar, Makassar, or Macassar, is a language of the Makassarese people, spoken in South Sulawesi province of Indonesia. It is a member of the South Sulawesi group of the Austronesian language family, and thus closely related to, among others, Buginese, also known as Bugis. The areas where Makassarese is spoken include the Gowa, Sinjai, Maros, Takalar, Jeneponto, Bantaeng, Pangkajene and Islands, Bulukumba, and Selayar Islands Regencies, and Makassar. Within the Austronesian language family, Makassarese is part of the South Sulawesi language group, although its vocabulary is considered divergent compared to its closest relatives. In 2000, Makassarese had approximately 2.1 million native speakers.
Makassarese is an Austronesian language from the South Sulawesi branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subfamily, specifically the Makassaric group, which also includes the Konjo language (both Highland and Coastal varieties) and the Selayar language. The Konjo and Selayar language varieties are sometimes considered dialects of Makassarese. As part of the South Sulawesi language family, Makassarese is also closely related to the Bugis, Mandar, and Toraja-Saʼdan languages.
In terms of vocabulary, Makassarese is considered the most distinct among the South Sulawesi languages. The average percentage of vocabulary similarity between Makassarese and other South Sulawesi languages is only 43%. Specifically, the Gowa or Lakiung dialect is the most divergent; the vocabulary similarity of this dialect with other South Sulawesi languages is about 5–10 percentage points lower compared to the vocabulary similarity of Konjo and Selayar with other South Sulawesi languages. However, etymostatistical analysis and functor statistics conducted by linguist Ülo Sirk shows a higher vocabulary similarity percentage (≥ 60%) between Makassarese and other South Sulawesi languages. These quantitative findings support qualitative analyses that place Makassarese as part of the South Sulawesi language family.
The language varieties within the Makassaric group form a dialect continuum. A language survey in South Sulawesi conducted by linguists and anthropologists Charles and Barbara Grimes separated the Konjo and Selayar languages from Makassarese. Meanwhile, a subsequent survey by linguists Timothy Friberg and Thomas Laskowske divided the Konjo language into three varieties: Coastal Konjo, Highland Konjo, and Bentong/Dentong. However, in a book on Makassarese grammar published by the Center for Language Development and Cultivation, local linguist Abdul Kadir Manyambeang and his team include the Konjo and Selayar varieties as dialects of Makassarese.
Excluding the Konjo and Selayar varieties, Makassarese can be divided into at least three dialects: the Gowa or Lakiung dialect, the Jeneponto or Turatea dialect, and the Bantaeng dialect. The main differences among these varieties within the Makassar group lie in vocabulary; their grammatical structures are generally quite similar. Speakers of the Gowa dialect tend to switch to Indonesian when communicating with speakers of the Bantaeng dialect or with speakers of the Konjo and Selayar languages, and vice versa. The Gowa dialect is generally considered the prestige variety of Makassarese. As the dialect spoken in the central region, the Gowa dialect is also commonly used by speakers of other varieties within the Makassaric group.
According to a demographic study based on the 2010 census data, about 1.87 million Indonesians over the age of five speak Makassarese as their mother tongue. Nationally, Makassarese ranks 16th among the 20 languages with the most speakers. Makassar is also the second most-spoken language in Sulawesi after Bugis, which has over 3.5 million speakers.
The Makassarese language is primarily spoken by the Makassar people, although a small percentage (1.89%) of the Bugis people also use it as their mother tongue. Makassarese speakers are concentrated in the southwestern peninsula of South Sulawesi, particularly in the fertile coastal areas around Makassar, Gowa Regency, and Takalar Regency. The language is also spoken by some residents of Maros Regency and Pangkajene and Islands Regency to the north, alongside Bugis. Residents of Jeneponto and Bantaeng Regencies generally identify themselves as part of the Makassarese-speaking community, although the varieties they speak (the Jeneponto or Turatea dialect and the Bantaeng dialect) differ significantly from the dialects used in Gowa and Takalar. The closely-related Konjo language is spoken in the mountainous areas of Gowa and along the coast of Bulukumba Regency, while the Selayar language is spoken on Selayar Island, to the south of the peninsula.
Makassarese is one of the relatively well-developed regional languages in Indonesia. It is still widely used in rural areas and parts of Makassar. Makassarese is also considered important as a marker of ethnic identity. However, in urban communities, code-switching or code-mixing between Makassar and Indonesian is common. Some urban Makassar residents, especially those from the middle class or with multiethnic backgrounds, also use Indonesian as the primary language in their households. Ethnologue classifies Makassar as a 6b (Threatened) language on the EGIDS scale, indicating that although the language is still commonly used in face-to-face conversations, the natural intergenerational transmission or teaching of the language is beginning to be disrupted.
The following description of Makassarese phonology is based on Jukes (2005).[1]
Makassarese has five vowels: pronounced as //a//, pronounced as //e//, pronounced as //i//, pronounced as //o//, pronounced as //u//. The mid vowels are lowered to pronounced as /[ɛ]/ and pronounced as /[ɔ]/ in absolute final position and in the vowel sequences pronounced as //ea// and pronounced as //oa//.
| Close | pronounced as /i/ | pronounced as /u/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /e/ | pronounced as /o/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /a/ |
Vowels can be pronounced nasally when they are around nasal consonants within the same syllable. There are two levels of nasalization intensity for vowels: strong nasalization and weak nasalization. Weak nasalization can be found on vowels before nasal consonants that are not at the end of a word. Strong nasalization can be found on vowels before final nasal consonants or generally after nasal consonants. Nasalization can spread to vowels in syllables after nasal vowels if there are no consonants blocking it. However, the intensity of nasalization in vowels like this is not as strong as in the vowels before them, as in the pronunciation of the word Makasar: niaʼ pronounced as /[ni͌.ãʔ]/ 'there is'.
There are 17 consonants in Makassarese, as outlined in the following table.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ (ny) | pronounced as /ink/ (ng) | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ (ʼ) | |
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ (j) | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| Fricative | pronounced as /ink/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | |||||
| Semivowel | pronounced as /ink/ (y) | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||
| Trill | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||
The phoneme pronounced as //t// is the only consonant with a dental pronunciation, unlike the phonemes pronounced as //n d s l r//, which are alveolar consonants. The voiceless plosive phonemes pronounced as //p t k// are generally pronounced with slight aspiration (a flow of air), as in the words Makasar: katte pronounced as /[ˈkat̪.t̪ʰɛ]/ 'we', Makasar: lampa pronounced as /[ˈlam.pʰa]/ 'go', and Makasar: kana pronounced as /[ˈkʰa.nã]/ 'say'. The phonemes pronounced as //b// and pronounced as //d// have implosive allophones pronounced as /[ɓ]/ and pronounced as /[ɗ]/, especially in word-initial positions, such as in Makasar: balu pronounced as /[ˈɓa.lu]/ 'widow', and after the sound pronounced as /[ʔ]/, as in Makasar: aʼdoleng pronounced as /[aʔ.ˈɗo.lẽŋ]/ 'to let hang'. These two consonants, especially pronounced as //b// in word-initial positions, can also be realized as voiceless consonants without aspiration. The palatal phoneme pronounced as //c// can be realized as an affricate (a stop sound with a release of fricative) pronounced as /[cç]/ or even pronounced as /[tʃ]/. The phoneme pronounced as //ɟ// can also be pronounced as an affricate pronounced as /[ɟʝ]/. Jukes analyzes both of these consonants as stop consonants because they have palatal nasal counterparts pronounced as //ɲ//, just as other oral stop consonants have their own nasal counterparts.
The basic structure of syllables in Makassarese is . The position of C1 can be filled by almost any consonant, while the position of C2 has some limitations. In syllables located at the end of a morpheme, C2 can be filled by a stop (T) or a nasal (N), the pronunciation of which is determined by assimilation rules. The sound T assimilates with (is pronounced the same as) voiceless consonants except pronounced as /[h]/, and is realized as pronounced as /[ʔ]/ in other contexts. The sound N is realized as a homorganic nasal (pronounced at the same articulation place) before a stop or nasal consonant, assimilates with the consonant's pronounced as //l// and pronounced as //s//, and is realized as pronounced as /[ŋ]/ in other contexts. On the other hand, in syllables within root forms, Makassarese contrasts an additional sound in the C2 position besides K and N, which is pronounced as //r//. This analysis is based on the fact that Makassarese distinguishes between the sequences pronounced as /[nr]/, pronounced as /[ʔr]/, and pronounced as /[rr]/ across syllables. However, pronounced as /[rr]/ can also be considered as the realization of a geminate segment rather than a sequence across syllables.
| V | o | 'oh' (interjection) | |||||
| CV | ri | (particle) | |||||
| VC | uʼ | 'hair' | |||||
| CVC | piʼ | 'birdlime' | |||||
| VV | io | 'yes' | |||||
| VVC | aeng | 'father' | |||||
| CVV | tau | 'person' | |||||
| CVVC | taung | 'year' | |||||
| VCVC | anaʼ | 'child' | |||||
| CVCV | sala | 'wrong' | |||||
| CVCVC | sabaʼ | 'reason' | |||||
| CVCCVC | leʼbaʼ | 'already' | |||||
| CVCVCV | binánga | 'river' | |||||
| CVCVCVC | pásaraʼ | 'market' | |||||
| CVCVCCV | kalúppa | 'forget' | |||||
| CVCCVCVC | kaʼlúrung | 'palm wood' | |||||
| CVCVCVCVC | balakeboʼ | 'herring' | |||||
| CVCVCVCCVC | kalumanynyang | 'rich' | |||||
Generally, base words in Makassarese consist of two or three syllables. However, longer words can be formed due to the agglutinative nature of Makassarese and the highly productive reduplication process. According to Jukes, words with six or seven syllables are commonly found in Makassarese, while base words with just one syllable (that are not borrowed from other languages) are very rare, although there are some interjections and particles consisting of only one syllable.
All consonants except for pronounced as //ʔ// can appear in initial position. In final position, only pronounced as //ŋ// and pronounced as //ʔ// are found.
Consonant clusters only occur medially and (with one exception) can be analyzed as clusters of pronounced as //ŋ// or pronounced as //ʔ// + consonant. These clusters also arise through sandhi across morpheme boundaries.
| nasal/lateral | voiceless obstruents | voiced stops + pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | mm | nn | ɲɲ | ŋŋ | ll | mp | nt | ɲc | ŋk | ns | mb | nd | ɲɟ | ŋg | nr | |
| pronounced as /link/ | ʔm | ʔn | ʔɲ | ʔŋ | ʔl | pp | tt | cc | kk | ss | ʔb | ʔd | ʔɟ | ʔg | ʔr | |
Sequences of like vowels are contracted to a single vowel; e.g., Makasar: sassa 'to wash' + Makasar: -ang 'nominalizing suffix' > Makasar: sassáng 'laundry', Makasar: caʼdi 'small' + Makasar: -i 'third person' > Makasar: caʼdi 'it is small'.
The stress is generally placed on the penultimate (second-last) syllable of a base word. In reduplicated words, secondary stress will be placed on the first element, as in the word Makasar: ammèkang-mékang pronounced as //amˌmekaŋˈmekaŋ// 'to fish (casually)'. Suffixes are generally counted as part of the phonological unit receiving stress, while enclitics are not counted (extrametrical). For example, the word Makasar: gássing 'strong', if the benefactive suffix Makasar: -ang is added, becomes Makasar: gassíngang 'stronger than' with stress on the penultimate syllable, but if given the first-person marker enclitic Makasar: =aʼ, it becomes Makasar: gássingaʼ 'I am strong', with stress on the antepenultimate syllable (third-last).
Other morphemes counted as part of the stress-bearing unit include the affixal clitic, marking possession, as in the word Makasar: 2=tedóng=ku (buffalo=.) 'my buffalo'. Particularly for the definite marker Makasar: ≡a, this morpheme is counted as part of the stress-bearing unit only if the base word it attaches to ends in a vowel, as in the word Makasar: batúa 'the stone'—compare with the stress pattern in Makasar: kóngkonga 'the dog', where the base word ends in a consonant. A word can have stress on the preantepenultimate (fourth-last) syllable if a two-syllable enclitic combination such as Makasar: =mako (Makasar: =ma, Makasar: =ko) is appended; e.g., Makasar: náiʼmako 'go up!' The stress position can also be influenced by the process of vocalic degemination, where identical vowels across morphemes merge into one. For example, the word Makasar: jappa 'walk', when the suffix -ang is added, becomes Makasar: jappáng 'to walk with', with stress on the ultimate (last) syllable.
The stress on base words with VC-geminate always falls on the antepenultimate syllable; for example, Makasar: lápisiʼ 'layer', Makasar: bótoloʼ 'bottle', Makasar: pásaraʼ 'market', and Makasar: Mangkásaraʼ 'Makassar', because syllables with VK-geminate are extrametrical. However, the addition of suffixes Makasar: -ang and Makasar: -i will remove this epenthetic syllable and move the stress to the penultimate position, as in the word Makasar: lapísi 'to layer'. Adding the possessive clitic suffix also shifts the stress to the penultimate position but does not remove this epenthetic syllable, as in the word Makasar: botolóʼna 'its bottle'. Meanwhile, the addition of the definite marker and enclitics neither remove nor alter the stress position of this syllable, as in the words Makasar: pásaraka 'that market' and Makasar: appásarakaʼ 'I'm going to the market'.
Personal pronouns in the Makassar language have three forms, namely:
The following table shows these three forms of pronouns along with possessive markers for each series.
| Makasar: (i)nakke | Makasar: 2=ku= | Makasar: =aʼ | Makasar: =ku | ||
| ./ | Makasar: (i)katte | Makasar: 2=ki= | Makasar: 2==kiʼ | Makasar: =ta | |
| . | †Makasar: (i)kambe |
| †Makasar: =mang | ||
| Makasar: (i)kau | Makasar: nu= | Makasar: =ko | Makasar: =nu | ||
| Makasar: ia | Makasar: na= | Makasar: =i | Makasar: =na |
Proclitic and enclitic forms are the most common pronominal forms used to refer to the person or object being addressed (see the
Nouns in Makassarese are a class of words that can function as arguments for a predicate, allowing them to be cross-referenced by pronominal clitics. Nouns can also serve as the head of a noun phrase (including relative clauses). In possessive constructions, nouns can act as either the possessor or the possessed; an affixal clitic will be attached to the possessed noun phrase. The indefiniteness of a noun can be expressed by the affixal clitic Makasar: ≡a. Uninflected nouns can also function as predicates in a sentence. All of these main points are illustrated in the following example:
In addition, nouns can also be specified by demonstratives, modified by adjectives, quantified by numerals, become complements in prepositional phrases, and become verbs meaning 'wear/use [the noun in question]' when affixed with the prefix Makasar: aK-.
Nouns that are usually affixed with the definite clitic Makasar: ≡a and possessive markers are common nouns. On the other hand, proper nouns such as place names, personal names, and titles (excluding kinship terms) are usually not affixed with definiteness and possessive markers but can be paired with the personal prefix Makasar: i- like pronouns.
Some common nouns are generic nouns that often become the core of a compound word, such as the words Makasar: jeʼneʼ 'water', Makasar: tai 'excrement', and Makasar: anaʼ 'child'. Examples of compound words derived from these generic nouns are Makasar: jeʼneʼ inung 'drinking water', Makasar: tai bani 'wax, beeswax' (literal meaning: 'bee excrement'), and Makasar: anaʼ baine 'daughter'. Kinship terms that are commonly used as greetings are also classified as common nouns, such as the words Makasar: mangge 'father', Makasar: anrong 'mother', and Makasar: sariʼbattang 'sibling'. Another example is the word Makasar: daeng which is used as a polite greeting in general, or by a wife to her husband.
The other main noun group is temporal nouns, which usually appear after prepositions in adjunct constructions to express time. Examples of temporal nouns are clock times (such as Makasar: tetteʼ lima '5.00 [five o'clock]'), estimated times based on divisions of the day (such as Makasar: bariʼbasaʼ 'morning'), days of the week, as well as dates, months, and seasons.
Derived nouns in Makassarese are formed through several productive morphological processes, such as reduplication and affixation with Makasar: pa-, Makasar: ka-, and Makasar: -ang, either individually or in combination. The following table illustrates some common noun formation processes in Makassarese:
| Process | Productive meanings | Samples | Note | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| reduplication | diminution or imitation | Makasar: tau 'people' → Makasar: tau-tau 'statue, doll' | |||
| suffix Makasar: pa- | Makasar: pa- | actor, creator,or user | Makasar: jarang 'horse' → Makasar: pajarang 'rider';Makasar: botoroʼ 'gamble' → Makasar: pabotoroʼ 'gambler' | ||
| Makasar: pa- | instrument | Makasar: akkutaʼnang 'ask' → Makasar: pakkutaʼnang 'question';Makasar: anjoʼjoʼ 'point' → Makasar: panjoʼjoʼ 'index finger, pointer' | |||
| Makasar: pa- | instrument | Makasar: appakagassing 'fortifiying' → Makasar: pappakagassing 'tonic, fortifying medicine or drink' | |||
| Makasar: pa>Makasar: <ang | place or time | Makasar: aʼjeʼneʼ 'bathe' → Makasar: paʼjeʼnekang 'bathing place, bathtime';Makasar: angnganre 'eat' → Makasar: pangnganreang 'plate' | |||
| paK>Makasar: <ang | someone who iseasily, inclined to be | Makasar: garring 'sick' → Makasar: paʼgarringang 'sickly person' | |||
| confix Makasar: ka>...Makasar: <ang | Makasar: ka>Makasar: <ang | -ness | Makasar: kodi 'bad' → Makasar: kakodiang 'badness' | ||
| Makasar: ka>Makasar: <ang | peak of | Makasar: gassing 'strong' → Makasar: kagassing-gassingang 'greatest strength' | |||
| Makasar: ka>Makasar: <ang | state or process | Makasar: battu 'come' → Makasar: kabattuang 'arrival' | |||
| suffix Makasar: -ang | instrument | Makasar: buleʼ 'carry on shoulders' → Makasar: bulekang 'sedan chair' | |||
There are some exceptions to the general patterns described above. For example, reduplication of the word Makasar: oloʼ 'worm' to Makasar: oloʼ-oloʼ results in a broadening of meaning to 'animal'. The affixation of Makasar: pa- to a verb base does not always indicate an instrument or tool, for example Makasar: paʼmaiʼ 'breath, character, heart' (as in the phrase Makasar: lompo paʼmaiʼ 'big-hearted') which is derived from the word Makasar: aʼmaiʼ 'to breathe'. The affixation of Makasar: pa>...<ang to the verb base Makasar: ammanaʼ 'to give birth' results in the word Makasar: pammanakang meaning 'family', although it is possible that this word was originally a metaphor ('place to have children').
The components of noun phrases in the Makassarese can be categorized into three groups, namely 1) head, 2) specifier, and 3) modifier. Specifiers are the demonstratives and numerals (including classifiers). They can be distinguished from modifiers because they may appear before the head noun. The demonstratives generally precede the head noun, as in Makasar: anjo kongkong≡a (that dog≡) ʻthat dogʼ. Numerals are placed before the head noun if the noun is definite (6), but placed after it if the noun is indefinite (7).
Modifying elements always follow the head noun-they may be of various types:
In Makassarese, relative clauses are placed directly after the head noun without any special marker (unlike Indonesian, which requires a word like Indonesian: yang
In Makassarese intransitive clauses, the 'absolutive' enclitic (=) is used to cross-reference the sole argument in the clause (S) if that argument is definite or salient according to the conversational context. This enclitic tends to be attached to the first constituent in a clause. The Makasar: aK- prefix is commonly used to form intransitive verbs, although some verbs like tinro 'sleep' do not require this prefix.
Many other types of phrases may head intransitive clauses, for example nominals (13) and pronoun (example (4) above), adjectives (14), or a prepositional phrase (15):
Verbs in transitive clauses are not affixed, but instead are marked with a pronominal proclitic indicating the A or actor and a pronominal enclitic indicating the P or undergoer.
If both arguments complementing the verb predicate are third person, ambiguity may arise regarding which argument is cross-referenced by each clitic. In such cases, pragmatic context is necessary to determine the precise meaning of the clause.
In order to be cross-referenced with a clitic, the patient in a transitive clause must be definite. Examples of definite patients include names and titles, words whose reference is pragmatically obvious such as first and second person pronouns, and words paired with possessive markers (like Makasar: miongku and Makasar: tedongku in examples 16-17) or definite markers (like Makasar: untia in example 18).
Exceptions to the normal transitive pattern occur for three main reasons: 1) either A or P may be in focus position; the clitics may appear on separate words if there is some preverbal element (due to second position); or 3) the clause may have an indefinite Undergoer argument. Examination of this type of semi-transitive clause also analyzed by Jukes.
Although Makassarese is now often written in Latin script, Makassarese has been traditionally written with Lontara script and Makasar script, which once was used also to write important documents in Bugis and Mandar, two related languages from Sulawesi. Further, Makassarese was written in the Serang script, a variant of the Arabic-derived Jawi script. Texts written in the Serang script are relatively rare, and mostly appear in connection with Islam-related topics. Parts of the Makassar Annals, the chronicles of the Gowa and Tallo' kingdoms, were also written using the Serang script.
The current Latin-based forms:
| width=2% align="center" | A | width=2% align="center" | B | width=2% align="center" | C | width=2% align="center" | D | width=2% align="center" | E | width=2% align="center" | G | width=2% align="center" | H | width=2% align="center" | I | width=2% align="center" | J | width=2% align="center" | K | width=2% align="center" | L | width=2% align="center" | M | width=2% align="center" | N | width=2% align="center" | Ng | width=2% align="center" | Ny | width=2% align="center" | O | width=2% align="center" | P | width=2% align="center" | R | width=2% align="center" | S | width=2% align="center" | T | width=2% align="center" | U | width=2% align="center" | W | width=2% align="center" | Y | width=2% align="center" | (ʼ) |
| Minuscule forms (lowercase) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | b | c | d | e | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | ng | ny | o | p | r | s | t | u | w | y | (ʼ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IPA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | g | h | i | ɟ | k, ʔ | l | m | n | ŋ | ɲ | o | p | r | s | t | u | w | j | ʔ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Matthes (1859) | oe | t͠j | d͠j | n͠g | n͠j | ◌́, ◌̉ | ◌̂ |
| Cense (1979) | u | tj | dj | ŋ | ñ | -ʼ | ◌̀ |
| Indonesian based (1975) | u | c | j | ng | ny | -k | (not written) |
| Locally preferred | u | c | j | ng | ny | -ʼ |
Makassarese was historically written using Makasar script (also known as "Old Makassarese" or "Makassarese bird script" in English-language scholarly works).[2] In Makassarese the script is known as or ('bird letters'). It was used for official purposes in the kingdoms of Makasar in the 17th century but ceased to be used by the 19th century, being replaced by Lontara script.
In spite of their quite distinctive appearance, both the Makasar and Lontara scripts are derived from the ancient Brahmi script of India. Like other descendants of that script, each consonant has an inherent vowel "a", which is not marked. Other vowels can be indicated by adding diacritics above, below, or on either side of each consonant.
Both scripts do not have a virama or other ways to write syllable codas in a consistent manner, even though codas occur regularly in Makassar. For example, in Makassar is baba which can correspond to six possible words: baba, babaʼ, baʼba, baʼbaʼ, bamba, and bambang.
Given that Lontara script is also traditionally written without word breaks, a typical text often has many ambiguous portions which can often only be disambiguated through context. This ambiguity is analogous to the use of Arabic letters without vowel markers; readers whose native language use Arabic characters intuitively understand which vowels are appropriate in a given sentence so that vowel markers are not needed in standard everyday texts.
Even so, sometimes even context is not sufficient. In order to read a text fluently, readers may need substantial prior knowledge of the language and contents of the text in question. As an illustration, Cummings and Jukes provide the following example to illustrate how the Lontara script can produce different meanings depending on how the reader cuts and fills in the ambiguous part:
| Lontara script | Possible reading | |
|---|---|---|
| Latin | Meaning | |
| aʼbétai | he won (intransitive) | |
| ambetái | he beat... (transitive) | |
| nakanrei pepeʼ ballaʼ datoka | fire devouring a temple | |
| nakanrei pepe' Balanda tokkaʼ | fire devouring a bald Hollander | |
| pepe | mute | |
| pepeʼ | fire | |
| pempeng | stuck together | |
| peppeʼ | hit | |
After Islam arrived in 1605, and with Malay traders using the Arabic-based Jawi script, Makassarese could also be written using Arabic letters. This was called 'serang' and was better at capturing the spoken language than the original Makassarese scripts because it could show consonants at the ends of syllables. But it wasn't widely used, with only a few surviving manuscripts. One key example is the diary of the Gowa and Tallo' courts, translated from serang into Dutch. However, Arabic script is commonly found in manuscripts to write Islamic names, dates, and religious ideas
| pronounced as //c// | ca | |||||
| pronounced as //ŋ// | nga | |||||
| pronounced as //ɡ// | gapu | |||||
| pronounced as //ɲ// | nya |
| Old Makassar script | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lontara script | ||
| Serang script | ||
| Latin Script | Nisuromi malaekaka anngukiriki arenna, siagáng empoanna kamateanna, siagáng lanri kamateanna, na naerammo malaekaka mange ri Malakulmauti. | |
| Translation | The angels were ordered to record his name, the circumstances of his death, and the cause of his death, then the angels took him to Malakulmauti. |
| Lontara | Romanized | Indonesian | Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| people | ||||
| bat | ||||
| name | ||||
| child | ||||
| ,,,, | one, two, three, four, five | |||
| , | female, woman, wife | |||
| , | male, man, husband | |||
| , | excuse me, sorry | |||
| ,, | ,, | none, nothing | ||
| already | ||||
| welcome | ||||
| how are you? | ||||
| I am fine | ||||
| what's your name? | ||||
| , , | where are you going? | |||
| where do you live? | ||||
| how old are you? | ||||
| have a safe trip | ||||
| goodbye | ||||
| it depends on you |