Indonesian slang vernacular (, ), also known as Jakarta colloquial speech (), is a term that subsumes various urban vernacular and non-standard styles of expression used throughout Indonesia that are not necessarily mutually intelligible. Regional slang from the capital of Jakarta, based on Betawi language, is however heavily exposed and promoted in national media, and considered the de facto Indonesian slang. Despite its direct origins, Indonesian slang often differs quite significantly in both vocabulary and grammatical structure from the most standard form of Indonesia's national language. These expressions are neither standardized nor taught in any formal establishments, but rather function in daily discourse, usually in informal settings. Several dictionaries of bahasa gaul has been published. Indonesian speakers regularly mix several regional slangs in their conversations regardless of origin, but depending on the audience and the familiarity level with the listeners.
History
It is exactly unclear when the slang was first appeared in conversation. However, the earliest documented use of the slang started during the Dutch colonial era in Indonesia around the 1860s and 1870s. Its native name, bahasa gaul (the 'social language'), was a term coined in the late 1990s where bahasa means 'language' and gaul means 'social', 'cool' or 'trendy'. Similarly, the term bahasa prokem (a more outdated name for Indonesian slang) created in the early 1970s means 'the language of gangsters'. Prokem is a slang form of the word préman 'gangster' and was derived from the Dutch word vrijman, which literally means 'freeman'.
Indonesian slang is predominantly used in everyday conversation, social milieus, among popular media and, to a certain extent, in teen publications or pop culture magazines. For those living in more urbanized regions of Indonesia, Indonesian slang language often functions as the primary language medium for communication in daily life. While it would be unusual to communicate orally with people on a casual basis with very formal Indonesian, the use of proper or 'good and correct' Indonesian (bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar) is abundant in the media, government bodies, schools, universities, workplaces, amongst some members of the Indonesian upper-class or nobility and also in many other more formal situations.
Indonesian slang has evolved rapidly. This is, in part, due to its vocabulary that is often so different from that of standard Indonesian and Malaysian and also because so many new words (both original and foreign) are quite easily incorporated into its increasingly wide vocabulary list. However, as with any language, the constant changing of the times means that some words become rarely used or are rendered obsolete as they are considered to be outdated or no longer follow modern day trends.
Classification At present, there is no formal classification for Indonesian slang language but it is purportedly and erroneously claimed by many to be essentially a manipulated and popularized form of the Indonesian (the national language of Indonesia). This is not true in the case of Jakartan bahasa gaul, as it is primarily based on the Betawi language.
Indonesian is part of the Western Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages. According to the Ethnologue, Indonesian is modelled after Riau Malay, a form of Old Malay originally spoken in northeast Sumatra. Betawi language is classified as Malay-based creole.
Geographic distribution Indonesian slang language is mostly spoken in urban regions of the Indonesian archipelago. It also spoken in some Indonesian soap operas and animated television series (such as Tukang Ojek Pengkolan or Adit Sopo Jarwo). Variations of slang language can be found from city to city, mainly characterised by derivatives of the different local ethnic languages. For example, in Bandung, West Java, the local slang language contains vocabulary from the Sundanese language, while the slang found in Jakarta tends to be heavily influenced by English or the old Batavian dialect (i.e. the language of the original inhabitants of Jakarta or Batavia as it was known during the Dutch colonial period). For more information relating to the geographic distribution of Indonesian slang and regional influences, please see "Region Specific Slang" below.
Official status Indonesian slang language is not an official language of Indonesia. However, it is claimed as a modified form of the Indonesian language and is widely used for everyday communication and in informal situations. Sometimes it is mixed with formal Indonesian in formal situations, except during state ceremonies, business meetings, and sacred prayers. A number of Indonesians sometimes speak a mixture of Indonesian slang and formal Indonesian in everyday conversation and informal situations.
Writing Indonesian slang generally uses the same pronunciation as standard Indonesian, although there are many influences from regional dialects on certain aspects such as accent and grammatical structure. Loan words adopted from foreign languages (especially European) such as English or Dutch are often transliterated according to the modern Indonesian orthography. For example, the word "please" is often written as plis. Another closely related phenomenon to arise in recent years is the formation of complex nouns or phrases created using a combination of English and Indonesian (slang) in the one sentence. A prime example of this is the phrase "so what gitu loh!", meaning "who cares?!" or quite simply "so what!" with added emphasis from the phrase "gitu loh". Gitu is an abbreviated form of the Indonesian word begitu meaning 'like that/such as', while loh (also spelt lho) is a particle commonly used in slang or conversational Indonesian to show surprise or instigate a warning. In these cases of combined, interlingual phrases, the original spelling (and quite often the pronunciation) of the foreign word(s) are retained. Hence, the English component of the Indonesian slang phrase "so what gitu loh!" remains relatively unchanged as far as spelling and pronunciation are concerned.
Grammar The overall structure of Indonesian slang is not all that different from formal Indonesian, although in many cases sentences are simplified or shortened when necessary. The differences between formal and colloquial Indonesian are most evident in vocabulary and grammatical structures (e.g. affixes).
Vocabulary
The structure of the Indonesian slang language is mostly derived from formal Indonesian. However, its vocabularies are different story altogether. Indonesian slang vocabularies are enriched by a combination of derivatives or loan words/structures from foreign languages such as Min Nan commonly referred to as Hokkien, English, and Dutch, as well as local ethnic languages such as Batavian, Sundanese, and Javanese. However, in many cases, new words are simply created at random and their origins often quite obscure.
A large proportion of the vocabulary used in Indonesian slang language was developed from formal Indonesian through several methods, most of which are listed below: Shortening the prefix men-, me-, mem-, or meng- into n- or nge- (Javanese and Betawi influence). For example: mengambil → ngambil 'to take' (from ambil 'to take') menyapu → nyapu 'to sweep' (from sapu 'broom') merasa → ngerasa 'to feel' (from rasa 'taste; feel') membuat → ngebuat 'to make' (from buat 'to make') menutup → nutup 'to close' (from tutup 'close') Replacing the suffix -kan or -i with -in (Balinese and Betawi influence). For example: menanyakan → nanyain 'to ask about something' (from tanya 'to ask') diajari → diajarin 'to be taught' (from ajar 'to teach') Using ke- at the beginning of non-volitional passive verbs instead of using ter-. For example: tertangkap → ketangkep 'to be caught' (from tangkap 'to catch') terpeleset → kepeleset 'to accidentally slip' (from peleset 'to miss a target') Elimination of s or h from a word. For example: habis → abis 'deleted, emptied' tahu → tau 'to know' hitung → itung 'count' hitam → item 'black' hijau → ijo 'green' sudah → udah 'already' saja → aja 'just' lihat → liat 'see' Contraction of two or more words into one word or abbreviation. For example: terima kasih → makasih 'thank' gak jelas → gaje 'not clear, absurd' males gerak → mager 'lazy' () bokap-nyokap → bonyok 'parents' () sange gak ketampung → sagapung or segapung 'hypersex' (). ewe bo'ol/entot di bo'ol → ebol 'anal intercourse (for consensual anal intercourse), sodomy (for non-consensual anal intercourse)' buka paha tinggi-tinggi → bupati (showing their thighs off). sekitaran wilayah dada → sekwilda (breast) percaya diri → pd or pede 'confidence' gerak cepat → gc or gercep 'hurry up' hand phone → hp or hape 'any kind of cellphone' Altering the pronunciation of in some final closed syllables into (Javanese, Betawi, and Sundanese influence; in many cases this revived the old Proto-Malayic syllable -əC). For example: tangkap → tangkep 'to catch' benar → bener 'correct' pintar → pinter 'smart' malas → males 'lazy' segar → seger 'fresh' cepat → cepet 'fast' hitam → item 'black' diam → diem 'shut up', 'silence' ingat → inget 'remember' sambal → sambel 'chili sauce' dekat → deket 'near' Altering the pronunciation of i into e (Peranakan influence). For example: ingin or pingin → pengen, 'want' naik → naek 'up' kemarin → kemaren 'yesterday' baik → baek 'good' Altering the pronunciation of u into o. For example: belum → belom or belon, 'not yet' telur → telor, 'egg' Contracting a diphthong into a monophthong (monophthongization). For example: kalau → kalo 'if' kacau → kaco 'chaotic' galau → galo 'confusion' hijau → ijo 'green' pakai → pake 'to use' sampai → sampe 'until' cabai → cabe 'chilli' capai → capek 'tired' Addition and exclusion of silent consonants and glottal stops to the beginning/end of a word, usually in speech. For example: kalo → pake → sampe → Making of a prokem word by adding -ok- infix. For example: bapak → bokap 'father' nyak or enyak → nyokap 'mother' (a special case where the consonant /k/ become /p/ to make it rhyme with bokap) jual → jokul 'to sell' berak → boker 'to defecate' sapa → sokap 'who' (sapa is a colloquial word of siapa 'who') polisi → plokis 'police' sini → sokin 'come in' tua → toku 'old' (originated from MAPALA UI, an environmentalist and adventure students club at University of Indonesia) Reversing the phoneme or syllable order from a word. For example: sange → engas 'sexually aroused' anjing → jingan 'fuck (interjection)' () lumayan → nayamul 'not bad' bego → ogeb 'stupid' sikat → takis 'to take something' selow → woles 'relax; taking easy' (from English word "slow") bang → ngab 'older brother; bro' (shortened form of abang 'older brother') mabok → kobam 'drunk' bisa → sabi 'can, be able to' yuk or yuks → kuy or skuy 'let's go, come on' mobil → libom 'car' miskin → kismin 'poor' enak → kane 'delicious' satu, dua, tiga → utas, aud, agit 'one, two, three' (in this context, satu or utas means a freshman in Senior High School; aud or dua means a sophomore in Senior High School; while agit or tiga means a penultimate or senior in Senior High School). Some words are simply loaned from English. For example: amazing → emejing and → n backhoe → beko babe → beb basically → besikli be like → bilek bother → bader break → brek brother → bro by the way → btw or betewe cancel → kenseul or cancel check it out → cekidot clear → klir copy paste → kupipes culture → kalcer double → dobel expect → espek friend → fren or pren healing → hiling level → lepel on the way → otw or otewe page one → pejwan please → plis pleasure → plesir possible → posibel school → skul septic tank → sepiteng simple → simpel sister → sis slow → selow sorry → sori swear → suer thank you → tenkyu triple → tripel welcome → welkam