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User:Bubamara/Javanese language
The Javanese language is part of the Austronesian family, and is therefore related to Bahasa Indonesia and Malay. Many speakers of Javanese also speak Bahasa Indonesia for official and business purposes.
IntroductionJavanese belongs to the Sundic sub-branch of the Western Malayo-Polynesian (also called Hesperonesian) branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subfamily of the Austronesian super family. It is a close linguistic relative of Malay, Sundanese, Madurese, Balinese, and to a lesser extent, of various Sumatran and Borneo languages, including Malagasy. Javanese is spoken in Central and East Java, as well as on the north coast of West Java. In Madura, Bali, Lombok and the Sunda region of West Java, Javanese is also used as a literary language. It was the court language in Palembang, South Sumatra until their palace was sacked by the Dutch in the late 18th century. Javanese can be regarded as one of the classical languages of the world, with a vast literature spanning more than 12 centuries. Scholars divide the development of Javanese language in four different stages:
Javanese is written with the Javanese script, (a descendant of the Brahmi script of India), Arabo-Javanese script, Arabic script (modified for Javanese) and Latin script. Although not currently an official language anywhere, Javanese is by far the Austronesian language with the largest number of native speakers. It is spoken or understood by approximately 80 million people. At least 45% of the total population of Indonesia are of Javanese descent or live in an area where Javanese is the dominant language. Four out of five Indonesian presidents since 1945 are of Javanese descent. It is therefore not surprising that Javanese has a deep impact on the development of Bahasa Indonesia (or Indonesian), the national language of Indonesia, which is a modern dialect of Malay. There are three main dialect groups of Modern Javanese: Central Javanese, Eastern Javanese and Western Javanese. There is a dialect continuum from Banten in the extreme west of Java to Banyuwangi, in the foremost eastern corner of the island. All Javanese dialects are more or less mutually intelligible. PhonologyThe phonemes of Modern Standard Javanese. Vowels:
The pronunciation of the vowels is rather complicated. The main characteristic of the standard dialect of Surakarta is that /a/ in open-word final syllables and penultimate syllables is pronounced as [(ò)] (as in English 'hot' or in French 'os'). Consonants:
Javanese, together with Madurese, are the only Austronesian languages to possess retroflex phonemes. (Madurese even possesses aspirated phonemes including at least one aspirated retroflex phoneme.) Some scholars assume this might be an influence of the Sanskrit, but others believe this could be an independent development within the Austronesian super family. It is interesting to note that a sibilant before a retroflex stop in Sanskrit loanwords is pronounced as a retroflex sibilant whereas in modern Indian languages it is pronounced as a palatal sibilant. Though Achinese and Balinese also possess a retroflex voiceless stop, this is merely an allophone of /t/. MorphologyJavanese, like other Austronesian languages, is an agglutinative language, where base words are modified through extensive use of affixes. SyntaxModern Javanese usually employs SVO word order. However, Old Javanese particularly had VSO or sometimes VOS word orders. Even in Modern Javanese archaic sentences using VSO structure can still be made. Examples:
Both sentences mean: "He (S) comes (V) in (pp.) the (def. art.) palace (O)". In the Old Javanese sentence, the verb is placed at the beginning and is separated by the particle ta from the rest of the sentence. Also in Modern Javanese the definite article is lost in prepositions, it is expressed in another way. Verbs are not inflected for person or number. Tense is not indicated either, but is expressed by auxiliary words such as "yesterday", "already", etc. There is also a complex system of verb affixes to express the different status of the subject and object. However, in general the structure of Javanese sentences both Old and Modern can be described using the so-called topic-comment model without having to refer to classical grammatical or syntactical categories such as subject, object, predicate, etc. Topic is the head of the sentence, comment is the modifier. So our Javanese above-mentioned sentence could then be described as follows: Dheweke = topic; tĕka = comment; neng kĕdhaton = setting. VocabularyJavanese has a rich vocabulary, with many borrowed foreign words as well as the native Austronesian base. Sanskrit has had a deep and lasting impact on the vocabulary of the Javanese language. The "Old Javanese – English Dictionary", written by professor P.J. Zoetmulder in 1982, contains approximately 25.500 entries, no less than 12.500 of which are borrowings from Sanskrit. Clearly this large number is not a gauge of usage, but it is an indication that the Ancient Javanese knew and employed these Sanskrit words in their literary works. In any given Old Javanese literary work, approximately 25% of the vocabulary is derived from Sanskrit. Many Sanskrit words are still in current usage. Modern Javanese speakers refer to much of the Old Javanese and Sanskrit words as kawi words, which can be roughly translated as "literary". There is significant word borrowing from Arabic, Dutch and Malay as well, but none as extensively as from Sanskrit. There are far fewer Arabic loanwords in Javanese than in Malay. These Arabic loanwords are usually concerned with Islamic religion, but some words have entered the basic vocabulary such as pikir ("to think" from the Arabic fikr), badan ("body"), mripat ("eye" thought to be derived from the Arabic ma'rifah, meaning "knowledge" or "vision"). However, these Arabic words typically have native Austronesian and/or Sanskrit equivalents. In this case, pikir = galih, idhĕp (Austronesian), manah, cipta, or cita (Sanskrit), badan = awak (Austronesian), slira, sarira, or angga (Sanskrit), and mripat = mata (Austronesian), soca, or netra (Sanskrit). Dutch loanwords usually have the same form and meaning as in Indonesian but there are few exceptions. Consider this table:
The latter is interesting, as the word sepur also exists in Indonesian. Its meaning has preserved the Dutch meaning more faithfully, meaning "railway tracks". Malay was the lingua franca of the Indonesian archipelago before the proclamation of Indonesia in 1945 and is currently the official national language of Indonesia. As such, there has been an influx of Malay and Indonesian vocabulary into Javanese recently. Many of these words are concerned with the bureaucracy or politics. PolitenessJavanese speech varies depending on social context, yielding three distinct styles, or levels. Each style employs its own vocabulary, grammatical rules and even prosody. This is not unique to Javanese; neighbouring Austronesian languages as well as East Asian languages such as Korean, Japanese and Thai share similar constructions. In Javanese these styles are called:
In addition, there are also "meta-style" words — the honorifics and humilifics . When one talks about oneself, one has to be humble. But when one speaks of someone else with a higher status or to whom one wants to be respectful, honorific terms are used. Status is defined by age, social position and other factors. The humilific words are called krama andhap words while the honorific words are called krama inggil words. For example, children often use the ngoko style when talking to the parents, but they must use both krama inggil and krama andhap. Below some examples are provided to explain these different styles.
The employ of these different styles is very complicated and requires thorough knowledge of the Javanese culture. This is one element that makes it difficult for foreigners to learn Javanese. On the other hand, these different styles of speech are actually not mastered by the majority of Javanese. Most people only master the first style and a rudimentary form of the second style. Persons who have correct mastery of these different styles are held in high esteem. DialectsThere are three main groups of Javanese dialects based on the subregion where the speakers live. They are: Western Javanese, Central Javanese and Eastern Javanese. The differences between these dialectical groups are primarily pronunciation and, to a lesser extent, vocabulary. All Javanese dialects are more or less mutually intelligible. The dialectsThe Central Javanese variant, based on the speech of Surakarta (and also to a degree of Yogyakarta), is considered as the most "refined" Javanese dialect. Accordingly standard Javanese is based on this dialect. These two cities are the seats of the four Javanese principalities, heirs to the dynasty of Mataram II, which once reigned over almost the whole of Java and beyond. Speakers spread fom north to south of the Central Java province and utilize many dialects, such as Muria and Semarangan, as well as Surakarta and Yogyakarta. Western Javanese, spoken in the western part of the Central Java province and throughout the West Java province (particularly in the north coast region), contains dialects distinct for their Sundanese influences and which still maintain many archaic words. The dialects include Banten, Banyumasan, Tegal, Jawa Serang, North coast, Indramayu (or Dermayon) and Cirebonan (or Basa Cerbon). Eastern Javanese speakers range from the eastern banks of Kali Brantas in Kertosono to Banyuwangi, comprising the majority of the East Java province, excluding Madura island. However, the dialect has been influenced by Madurese, and is always referred to as Surabayan speech. Since 2003, an East Java local television station (JTV) has broadcast some of its programmes in East Javanese dialect. Three such programmes are Pojok kampung (News), Kuis RT/RW and Pojok Perkoro (a criminal programme). The most aberrant dialect is spoken in Balambangan (or Banyuwangi) in the eastern-most part of Java. It is generally known as Basa Osing . Osing is the word for negation and is a cognate of the Balinese tusing, Balinese being the neighbouring language directly to the east. In the past this area of Java was in possession of Balinese kings and warlords. PronunciationMost Javanese people, except those who live in West Java, accept the pronunciation of the phoneme "a" as (@). Therefore, there is a different pronunciation of many words; for example apa (Eng.=what) is pronounced (apa?) in Western Javanese and (@:P@:) in Central and Eastern Javanese. When there is a condition of phoneme stem VCV (Vowel-Consonant-Vowel) with the same vowels, Central and Eastern Javanese speakers drop the second vowel into another sound, with the following formula: (i) becomes (e) and (u) becomes (o), whereas Western Javanese maintains the sounds (i) and (u). So the word cilik (Eng.= small), is pronounced (cile?) in Central, (ce:le?) in Eastern, and (cilik) in Western Javanese; the word tutup is pronounced (tutop) in Central, (to:top) in Eastern, and (tutup) in Western Javanese. VocabularyThe vocabulary of Javanese language is enriched by dialectal words. For example, to get the meaning of "you", Western Javanese speakers say rika (rika?), Eastern Javanese use kon (k@n), and Central Javanese speakers say kowe (kowe/). Another example is the expression of "how": the Tegal dialect of Western Javanese uses kepriben (ke^pribe/n), the Banyumasan dialect of Western Javanese employs kepriwe (ke^priwe/), Eastern Javanese speakers say yok apa (y@k?@p@), and Central Javanese speakers say piye (piye/). A short historyWhile evidence of writing in Java dates to the Sanskrit "Tarumanegara inscription" of AD 450, the oldest example written entirely in Javanese, called the "Sukabumi inscription", is dated March 25, AD 804. This inscription, located in the district of Pare in the Kediri regency of East Java, is actually a copy of the original, dated some 120 years earlier; only this copy has been preserved. Its contents concern the construction of a dam for an irrigation canal near the river Çrī Hariñjing (nowadays Srinjing). This inscription is the last of its kind to be written using Pallava script; all consequent examples are written using Javanese script. The 8th and 9th centuries are marked with the emergence of the Javanese literary tradition with Sang Hyang Kamahayanikan, a Buddhist treatise and the Kakawin Ramayana, a Javanese rendering in Indian metres of the Vishnuistic Sanskrit epic, Rāmâyaņ. Although Javanese as a written language appeared considerably later than Malay (already in the 7th century), the Javanese literary tradition is a continuous one up till present time and the oldest works such as the above mentioned Rāmâyaņa and also Javanese rendering of the Indian Mahabharata epic are still studied assiduously. The Malay literary tradition only started in 1600, although recently some codices written in an archaic form of Malay in the old indigenous script sort (i.e. an Indian derived) are found. But these are very rare exceptions. The expansion of the Javanese culture, including Javanese script and language started in the late 13th century with the emergence of the Hindu-Buddhist East-Javanese Empire Majapahit (1293), with expansion eastwards to Madura and Bali. The Javanese campaign in Bali (1363) has had a deep and lasting impact. As already mentioned, the Balinese people preserved much of the older literature of Java and even created their own in Javanese idioms. The Balinese language ceased to be written until the 19th century when writing of Balinese was resumed. Before it was widely used in inscriptions but with the introduction of the Javanese administration, the Javanese language replaced the Balinese as language of the administration and literature. The foundation of the Majapahit Empire also saw the rise of a new language, i.e. Middle Javanese. This language is an intermediate form between Old Javanese and New Javanese. In fact Middle Javanese is already close to New Javanese. Speakers of Modern Javanese with some education and well acquainted with literary Javanese should be able to read works written in Middle Javanese without too much difficulty. Then in the 16th century, a new era began in Javanese history. A new empire rose. This was the Islamic Central Javanese empire Mataram II (Mataram I was a Buddhist Central Javanese kingdom). The Mataram Empire rose after the demise of Majapahit, the last Hindu Javanese Empire, due to internal disturbances and attacks by Islamic forces of the Demak kingdom on the north coast of Java. It is popularly believed that Majapahit collapsed in 1478 as there is a chronogram in a Javanese chronicle which says that Majapahit when collapsed it was sirna ilang krĕtaning bumi, "vanished and gone was the prosperity of the world". These words have the following value: "0 0 4 1". These figures should be read backwards and thus make: "1400" or 1400 Anno Sakae (1478). Ironically, the Mataram Empire rose as an Islamic kingdom, which sought revenge for the demise of the Hindu Majapahit Empire, for it was a vassal state, by first crushing Demak, the first Javanese Islamic kingdom. But in fact, Majapahit might last into in the beginning of the 16th century after it was weakened. During this era Javanese culture spread westwards and gained ground in areas of the Sundanese people with the conquests of Mataram. Many areas, which were previously Sundanese in western parts of Java, became Javanese speaking. More than a third of the former Sundanese area where Sundanese was spoken earlier became Javanese. A similar situation took place as in Bali, the Sundanese language ceased to be written until it was resumed again the 19th century. In the meantime it underwent heavy influences of the Javanese. Some 40% of the vocabulary is believed to have been derived from Javanese. Although in name Islamic, the Mataram II empire preserved many elements of the older culture and incorporated those in the new religion or redefined those, as the Islam was (and is) often just a garb. This is the reason why Javanese script is still in use in contradiction with the writing of Old-Malay for example. After the Malays were converted, they dropped their form of indigenous writing and changed to a form of the "script of the Divine" the Arabic script (Jawi script). The 16th century, together with the rise of Islam, also saw the emergence of the New Javanese language. The first Islamic documents in Javanese were already written in New Javanese although still in antiquated idioms but with numerous Arabic loanwords. This is not strange as these early New Javanese documents are Islamic treatises. Intensive contacts with Dutch and also with other Indonesian gave rise to a simplified form of Javanese and influx of foreign loanwords. Some scholars dub the spoken form of Javanese in the 20th century as Modern Javanese although this is essentially still the same language as New Javanese. Demographic distribution of Javanese speakersJavanese is spoken by Javanese communities throughout Indonesia, neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, the Netherlands, Suriname, New Caledonia and other countries. However, the biggest concentration of the speakers is found in the six provinces of Java itself, and in the neighbouring Sumatran province of Lampung. Below a table with an estimated number of native speakers is provided.
From various sources.
See alsoExternal links
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