Sundanese ( ; , Sundanese script: , Pegon script: , ) is an Austronesian language spoken in Java, primarily 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
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, even as far as Banyumas, such as Cilongok, Cingebul, Gumelar, and others.
Until 1600 AD, Sundanese was the state language in the kingdoms of Salakanagara, Tarumanagara, Sunda, Galuh, Pajajaran, and Sumedang Larang. During this period, Sundanese was heavily influenced by the Sanskrit language as seen in the Ciaruteun inscription written at the time of King Purnawarman, using the Pallava script.Shell character rock inscription at Ci-Auroton Java, EI Vol. XXII, p. 4-5 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, Bengkulu, 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:
Baduy dialect, spoken by Baduy people in Lebak, but it is often considered as separate language. Western dialect, spoken in the provinces of Banten, the western part of Bogor Regency (especially in Greater Jasinga area), and some parts of Lampung. Northern dialect, spoken in Bogor Regency, and northwestern coastal areas of West Java. Southern or Priangan dialect, spoken in Sukabumi, Sumedang, Cianjur, Bandung, Garut, and Tasikmalaya. Mid-east dialect, spoken in Cirebon, Majalengka, and southern part of Indramayu. Northeast dialect, spoken in Kuningan (West Java) and Brebes (Central Java). Southeast dialect, spoken in Ciamis, Pangandaran, Banjar, and Cilacap (Central Java).
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 system
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 (). 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 script. Meanwhile, the regional governments of West Java and Banten have been actively promoting the use of Standard Sundanese script () in public places and on road signs. Although Pegon script is now mostly used in pesantrens (Islamic boarding schools) and Sundanese Islamic literature, it can still occasionally be seen in public places and on road signs in certain areas, such as Lembang and Tasikmalaya. Latin alphabet Letter (Capital) A B C D É E Eu F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Letter (Non-capital) a b c d é e eu f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z IPA phoneme a b tʃ d e, ɛ ə ɤ f g h i dʒ k l m n o p k r s t u v~f w ks j z
Below is a comparison table of letter usage between previous Sundanese spellings and the current spelling. Letter Pronunciation Ardiwinata (1912–1947) Surawidjaja (1947–1959) LBBS (1959) EBSYD (1972–1987) EBS (1988–present) A a A / a A / a A / a A / a A / a B b (bé) B / b B / b B / b B / b B / b C c (cé) Tj / tj Tj / tj C / c C / c C / c D d (dé) D / d D / d D / d D / d D / d E (é) e, ɛ E / e É / é É / é E / e É / é E (pepet) ə E / e (no distinction) Ĕ / ĕ E / e Ě / ě E / e Eu ɤ (eu) Eu / eu Eu / eu Eu / eu Ö / ö Eu / eu F f (éf) F / f F / f F / f F / f F / f G ɡ (gé) G / g G / g G / g G / g G / g H h (ha) H / h H / h H / h H / h H / h I i I / i I / i I / i I / i I / i J j (jé) Dj / dj Dj / dj J / j J / j J / j K k (ka) K / k K / k K / k K / k K / k L l (él) L / l L / l L / l L / l L / l M m (ém) M / m M / m M / m M / m M / m N n (én) N / n N / n N / n N / n N / n O o O / o O / o O / o O / o O / o P p (pé) P / p P / p P / p P / p P / p Q q (ki) Q / q Q / q Q / q Q / q Q / q R r (ér) R / r R / r R / r R / r R / r S s (és) S / s S / s S / s S / s S / s T t (té) T / t T / t T / t T / t T / t U u Oe / oe U / u U / u U / u U / u V v (vé) V / v V / v V / v V / v V / v W w (wé) W / w W / w W / w W / w W / w X x (éks) X / x X / x X / x X / x X / x Y y (yé) J / j J / j Y / y Y / y Y / y Z z (zét) Z / z Z / z Z / z Z / z Z / z
Phonology Vowels
There are seven vowels: a , é , i , o , u , e , and eu .
FrontCentralBackCloseMidOpen
/ɨ/ may be pronounced as back , close-mid , or both by younger speakers. In other side, /ɨ/ realized as /ɤ/ in Bandung and as /ɯ/ in Tangerang, also as /ɘ/ by Indonesian speakers for Sundanese loanwords/names, e.g. keukeuh /kɘkɘh/ and Pameungpeuk /pamɘŋpɘʔ/.SINTAKSIS - VOLUME 1, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2023 hal 62-71.pdf
Open-mid vowels may be heard as close-mid.
Consonants According to Müller-Gotama (2001) there are 18 consonants in the Sundanese phonology: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ; however, influences from foreign languages have introduced several additional consonants such as , /q/ (as in fonem, qur'an, xerox, zakat). The consonantal phonemes are transcribed with the letters p, b, t, d, k, g, c , j , h, ng (), ny , m, n, s , w, l, r , and y . Other consonants that originally appear in Indonesian loanwords are mostly transferred into native consonants: f/v → p, sy → s, z → j /d͜ʑ/(initial) and s /s/ (final), and kh → h.
BilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalNasalPlosive/Affricate FricativeApproximantTrill
Epenthetic semivowels and are inserted after a high vowel immediately followed by another vowel, as in the words: kuéh – muih – béar – miang – euweuh –
Register Sundanese has an elaborate system of register distinguishing levels of formality. At the beginning of speech level development, six levels of Sundanese register were known: 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 Javanese, Japanese, Korean and Thai.
Basic vocabulary
Personal pronouns 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)simkuring sadayana (formal)kuring saréréa aing kabéhan'we'urang samudayanaarurang/urang-'you all'aranjeunharidep (for younger)maranéhsaria, sararia'they'aranjeunnamaranéhna-
Numeral
NumberSundanese scriptSundanese1||hiji, sa2||dua3||tilu4||opat5||lima6||genep7||tujuh8||dalapan9||salapan10||sapuluh11||sabelas12||dua belas20||dua puluh21||dua puluh hiji30||tilu puluh31||tilu puluh hiji40||opat puluh50||lima puluh60||genep puluh70||tujuh puluh80||dalapan puluh90||salapan puluh100||saratushundredsratusan1000||sarébuthousandsrébu
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: Mangga téh, tarahuna haneut kénéh. "Please ma'am, the bean curds are still warm/hot." The plural form of tahu 'bean curd, tofu' is formed by infixing ar after the initial consonant. 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. 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). 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.