Javanese language
Javanese is the language of the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. There are also pockets of Javanese speakers on the northern coast of western Java. It is the native language of more than 98 million people.
Javanese is one of the Austronesian languages, but it is not particularly close to other languages and is difficult to classify. Its closest relatives are the neighbouring languages such as Sundanese, Madurese and Balinese. Most speakers of Javanese also speak Indonesian, the standardized form of Malay spoken in Indonesia, for official and commercial purposes as well as a means to communicate with non-Javanese-speaking Indonesians.
There are speakers of Javanese in Malaysia and Singapore. Javanese is also spoken by traditional immigrant communities of Javanese descent in Suriname and in New Caledonia.
Classification
Javanese is part of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family, although its precise relationship to other Malayo-Polynesian languages is hard to determine. Using lexicostatistical method, Isidore Dyen classified Javanese as part of the "Javo-Sumatra Hesion", which also includes the Sundanese and "Malayic" languages. This grouping is also called "Malayo-Javanic" by linguist Berndt Nothofer, who was the first to attempt a reconstruction of it based on only four languages with best attestation at the time.Malayo-Javanic has been criticized and rejected by various linguists. Alexander Adelaar does not include Javanese in his proposed Malayo-Sumbawan grouping. Robert Blust also does not include Javanese in the Greater North Borneo subgroup, which he proposes as an alternative to Malayo-Sumbawan grouping. However, Blust also expresses the possibility that Greater North Borneo languages are closely related to many other western Indonesian languages, including Javanese. Blust's suggestion has been further elaborated by Alexander Smith, who includes Javanese in the Western Indonesian grouping, which Smith considers as one of Malayo-Polynesian's primary branches.
History
In general, the history of the Javanese language can be divided into two distinct phases: 1) Old Javanese and 2) New Javanese.Old Javanese
The earliest attested form of Old Javanese can be found in the Sukabumi inscription, which dates from 804 CE. Between the 9th and the 15th century, this form of Javanese flourished in the island of Java. Old Javanese is commonly written in the form of verses. This language variety is also called kawi or 'of poets, poetical', although this term could also be used to refer to the archaic elements of New Javanese literature. The writing system used to write Old Javanese is a descendant of the Pallava script from India. Almost half of the entire vocabularies found in Old Javanese literature are Sanskrit loanwords, although Old Javanese also borrowed terms from other languages in the Maritime Southeast Asia.The form of Old Javanese found in several texts from 14th century onward is sometimes referred to as "Middle Javanese". Both Old and Middle Javanese written forms are no longer widely used in Java since early 16th century. However, Old Javanese works and poetic tradition continue to be preserved in the Javanese-influenced Bali, and the variety is also used for religious purpose.
New Javanese
New Javanese emerged as the main literary form of Javanese in the 16th century. The change in the literary system happened as Islam started to gain influence in Java. In its early form, New Javanese literary form was based on the variety spoken in the north coast of Java, where Islam had already gained foothold among the local people. Many of the written works in this variety were Islamic in nature, and several of them were translation from works in Malay. The Arabic abjad was also adopted to write Javanese.The rise of Mataram in the 17th century shifted the main literary form of Javanese to be based on the inland variety. This written tradition of Javanese was preserved by writers of Surakarta and Yogyakarta, and later became the basis of the modern written standard of Javanese. Another linguistic development associated with the rise of Mataram is the stratification of Javanese into speech levels such as ngoko and krama. Speech levels were unknown in Old Javanese.
Books in Javanese were printed since 1830s, at first using the Javanese script, although the Latin alphabet started to be used later. Since mid-19th century, Javanese started to be used in newspapers and travelogue, and later on, also novels, short stories, as well as free verses. Today, Javanese is used in many media, ranging from books to TV programs, and the language is also taught at schools in primarily Javanese area. The variety of New Javanese used since 20th century onward is sometimes referred to as "Modern Javanese".
Speakers
The language is spoken in Yogyakarta, Central and East Java, as well as on the north coast of West Java and Banten. It is also spoken elsewhere by the Javanese people in other provinces of Indonesia, which are numerous due to the government-sanctioned transmigration program in the late 20th century, including Lampung, Jambi, and North Sumatra provinces. In Suriname, Javanese is spoken among descendants of plantation migrants brought by the Dutch during the 19th century. In Madura, Bali, Lombok, and the Sunda region of West Java, it is also used as a literary language. It was the court language in Palembang, South Sumatra, until the palace was sacked by the Dutch in the late 18th century.Javanese is written with the Latin script, Javanese script, and Arabic script. In the present day, the Latin script dominates writings, although the Javanese script is still taught as part of the compulsory Javanese language subject in elementary up to high school levels in Yogyakarta, Central and East Java.
Javanese is the tenth largest language by native speakers and the largest language without official status. It is spoken or understood by approximately 100 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. All seven Indonesian presidents since 1945 have been of Javanese descent. It is therefore not surprising that Javanese has had a deep influence on the development of Indonesian, the national language of Indonesia.
There are three main dialects of the modern language: Central Javanese, Eastern Javanese, and Western Javanese. These three dialects form a dialect continuum from northern Banten in the extreme west of Java to Banyuwangi Regency in the eastern corner of the island. All Javanese dialects are more or less mutually intelligible.
Phonology
The phonemes of Modern Standard Javanese as shown below.Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
| Closed | |||
| Half closed | |||
| Half open | |||
| Open |
In closed syllables the vowels are pronounced respectively. In open syllables, are also when the following vowel is in an open syllable; otherwise they are, or identical. In the standard dialect of Surakarta, is pronounced in word-final open syllables, and in any open penultimate syllable before such an.
Consonants
The Javanese "voiced" phonemes are not in fact voiced but voiceless, with breathy voice on the following vowel. The relevant distinction in phonation of the plosives is described as stiff voice versus slack voice.
A Javanese syllable can have the following form:, where C = consonant, S = sonorant, and V = vowel. As with other Austronesian languages, native Javanese roots consist of two syllables; words consisting of more than three syllables are broken up into groups of disyllabic words for pronunciation. In Modern Javanese, a disyllabic root is of the following type:.
Apart from Madurese, Javanese is the only language of Western Indonesia to possess a distinction between dental and retroflex phonemes. The latter sounds are transcribed as "th" and "dh" in the modern Roman script, but previously by the use of an underdot: "ṭ" and "ḍ".
Morphology
Javanese, like many other Austronesian languages, is an agglutinative language, where base words are modified through extensive use of affixes.Syntax
Modern Javanese usually employs SVO word order. However, Old Javanese sometimes had VSO and sometimes VOS word order. Even in Modern Javanese, archaic sentences using VSO structure can still be made.Examples:
- Modern Javanese: "Dhèwèké teka ing karaton ".
- Old Javanese: "Teka ta sira ri -ng kadhatwan ".
Verbs are not inflected for person or number. There is no grammatical tense; time is expressed by auxiliary words meaning "yesterday", "already", etc. There is a complex system of verb affixes to express differences of status in subject and object. However, in general the structure of Javanese sentences both Old and Modern can be described using the topic–comment model, without having to refer to conventional grammatical categories. The topic is the head of the sentence; the comment is the modifier. So the example sentence has a simpler description: Dhèwèké = topic; teka = comment; ing karaton = setting.
Vocabulary
Javanese has a rich and varied vocabulary, with many loanwords supplementing those from the native Austronesian base. Sanskrit has had a deep and lasting impact. The Old Javanese–English Dictionary contains approximately 25,500 entries, over 12,600 of which are borrowings from Sanskrit. Such a high number is no measure of usage, but it does suggest the extent to which the language adopted Sanskrit words for formal purposes. In a typical Old Javanese literary work about 25% of the vocabulary is from Sanskrit. Many Javanese personal names also have clearly recognisable Sanskrit roots.Sanskrit words are still very much in use. Modern speakers may describe Old Javanese and Sanskrit words as kawi ; but kawi words may also be from Arabic. Dutch and Malay are influential as well; but none of these rivals the position of Sanskrit.
There are far fewer Arabic loanwords in Javanese than in Malay, and they are usually concerned with Islamic religion. Nevertheless, some words have entered the basic vocabulary, such as pikir, badan, mripat. However, these Arabic words typically have native Austronesian or Sanskrit alternatives: pikir = galih, idhep and manah, cipta, or cita ; badan = awak and slira, sarira, or angga ; and mripat = mata and soca or nétra.
Dutch loanwords usually have the same form and meaning as in Indonesian, with a few exceptions such as:
| Javanese | Indonesian | Dutch | English |
| pit | sepeda | fiets | bicycle |
| pit montor | sepeda motor | motorfiets | motorcycle |
| sepur | kereta api | spoor, i.e. track | train |
The word sepur also exists in Indonesian, but there it has preserved the literal Dutch meaning of "railway tracks", while the Javanese word follows Dutch figurative use, and "spoor" is used as metonymy for "trein".
Malay was the lingua franca of the Indonesian archipelago before the proclamation of Indonesian independence in 1945; and Indonesian, which was based on Malay, is now the official language of Indonesia. As a consequence, there has been an influx of Malay and Indonesian vocabulary into Javanese. Many of these words are concerned with bureaucracy or politics.
Registers
In common with other Austronesian languages, Javanese is spoken differently depending on the social context. In Austronesian there are often three distinct styles or registers. Each employs its own vocabulary, grammatical rules, and even prosody. In Javanese these styles are called:- Ngoko. Informal speech, used between friends and close relatives. It is also used by persons of higher status addressing those of lower status.
- Madya. Intermediate between ngoko and krama. Strangers on the street would use it, where status differences may be unknown and one wants to be neither too formal nor too informal. The term is from Sanskrit madhya.
- Krama. The polite and formal style. It is used between those of the same status when they do not wish to be informal. It is used by persons of lower status to persons of higher status, such as young people to their elders, or subordinates to bosses; and it is the official style for public speeches, announcements, etc. The term is from Sanskrit krama.
The most polite word meaning "eat" is dhahar. But it is forbidden to use these most polite words for oneself, except when talking with someone of lower status; and in this case, ngoko style is used. Such most polite words are reserved for addressing people of higher status:
- Mixed usages
- * Bapak kersa dhahar?
- * Iya, aku kersa dhahar.
- * Iya, aku arep mangan.
- * Inggih, kula badhé nedha.
Dialects of modern Javanese
There are three main groups of Javanese dialects, based on sub-regions: Western Javanese, Central Javanese, and Eastern Javanese. The differences are primarily in pronunciation, but with vocabulary differences also. Javanese dialects are all mutually intelligible.Central Javanese is founded on the speech of Surakarta and to a lesser extent of Yogyakarta. It is considered the most "refined" of the regional variants, and serves as a model for the standard language. Those two cities are the seats of four Javanese principalities that once dominated the whole of Java and beyond. This variant is used throughout Central Java and Special Region of Yogyakarta, and there are many lower-level dialects such as Muria and Semarangan, as well as Surakarta and Yogyakarta themselves. The variations in Central Java are said to be so plentiful that almost every administrative region has its own local slang; but those minor dialects are not seen as distinct by most Javanese speakers.
Central Javanese is also used in the western part of East Java province. For example, Javanese spoken in the Madiun region bears a strong influence of Surakarta Javanese.
- Mataraman dialect / Standard dialect is spoken commonly in Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Klaten, Karanganyar, Wonogiri, Sukoharjo, Sragen, and Boyolali.
- Pekalongan dialect is spoken in Pekalongan and Pekalongan regency, and also in Pemalang.
- Kedu dialect is spoken in the former Kedu residency, including: Temanggung, Kebumen, Magelang, and Wonosobo.
- Bagelen dialect is spoken in Purworejo.
- Semarang dialect is spoken in Semarang, Semarang regency, and also Salatiga, Demak and Kendal.
- Eastern North-Coast dialect, or dhialèk Muria, is spoken in Jepara, Rembang, Kudus, Pati, and also in Tuban and Bojonegoro.
- Blora dialect is spoken in Blora, the eastern part of Grobogan, and the western part of Ngawi.
- Madiunan dialect is spoken mainly in western part of East Java province, including Madiun, Blitar, Ngawi, Pacitan, Ponorogo, and Magetan.
- North Banten dialect is spoken in Serang, Cilegon, and the western part of Tangerang regency.
- Cirebon dialect is spoken in Cirebon, Indramayu and Losari.
- Tegal dialect, known as Tegalan or Dhialèk Pantura, is spoken in Tegal, Brebes, and the western part of Pemalang regency.
- Banyumas dialect, known as Banyumasan, is spoken in Banyumas, Cilacap, Purbalingga, Banjarnegara, and Bumiayu.
Eastern Javanese speakers range from the eastern banks of Brantas River in Kertosono, and from Nganjuk to Banyuwangi, comprising the majority of the East Java province excluding Madura island. However, the variant has been influenced by Madurese.
The most outlying Eastern Javanese dialect is spoken in Balambangan. It is generally known as Basa Using. Using, a local negation word, is a cognate of tusing in Balinese.
- Arekan dialect is commonly spoken in Surabaya, Malang, Gresik, Mojokerto, Pasuruan, Lumajang, Lamongan and Sidoarjo. Many Madurese people also use this dialect as their second language.
- Jombang dialect
- Tengger dialect used by Tengger people, which is centered in thirty villages in the isolated Tengger mountains within the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in East-Central Java.
- Osing dialect spoken in Banyuwangi.
Not all immigrants from Indonesia to Suriname were speakers of Javanese. Immigration records show that 90 percent of immigrants were Javanese, with 5 percent Sundanese, 0.5 percent Madurese and 2.5 percent from Batavia. The ethnic composition of this last group was not determinable. Probably Sundanese, Madurese or Malay speaking immigrants were forced to learn Javanese during their stay in Suriname to adapt. In view of the language policies in Netherlands Indies at the time of immigration, it is unlikely the immigrants had knowledge of the Dutch language prior to immigration to Suriname. Dutch today is the official language of Suriname.
Surinamese Javanese is somewhat different from Indonesian Javanese. In Surinamese-Javanese there is a difference between formal and informal speech. Surinamese-Javanese took many loanwords from languages like Dutch, Sranantongo, Sarnami and Indonesian. The influence of the latter language, which is not spoken in Suriname, can be attributed to the Indonesian embassy and Islamic teachers from Indonesia. Indonesian movies are popular, and usually shown without subtitles on Surinamese-Javanese television channels.
| Surinamese-Javanese | Sranantongo | Dutch | English |
| ngabrah | abra | over | across |
| bakrah | bakra | blanke | white man |
| blangkeman | blakaman | neger | black man |
| pernangsi | pernasi | plantage | plantation |
| sekaut | skowtu | schout | policeman |
In 1986, the Surinamese government adopted an official spelling for Surinamese-Javanese. It is seldom used as a written language, however.
In the 2012 survey, pupils who indicated Surinamese-Javanese as a language spoken at home, reported Dutch and Sranantongo also being spoken in the household.
Surinamese-Javanese speaking pupils report high proficiency in speaking and understanding, but very low literacy in the language. They report a low preference for the language in interaction with family members, including their parents, with the exception of their grandparents. Pupils where Surinamese-Javanese is spoken at tend at home to speak Dutch rather than Surinamese-Javanese.
Phonetic differences
Phoneme /i/ at closed ultima is pronounced as in Central Javanese, as in Western Javanese, and as in Eastern Javanese.Phoneme /u/ at closed ultima is pronounced as in Central Javanese, as in Western Javanese, and as in Eastern Javanese.
Phoneme /a/ at closed ultima in Central Javanese is pronounced as and at open ultima as . Regardless of position, it tends toward in Western Javanese and as in Eastern Javanese.
Western Javanese tends to add a glottal stop at the end of word-final vowels, e.g.: Ana apa? "What happened?", Aja kaya kuwè! "Don't be like that!".
| Phoneme | Orthography | Central Javanese | Western Javanese | Eastern Javanese | English |
| getih | blood | ||||
| abuh | swollen | ||||
| lenga | oil | ||||
| kancamu/kancané kowé | your friend |
Final consonant devoicing occurs in the standard Central Javanese dialect, but not in Banyumasan. For example, endhog is pronounced in standard Central Javanese, but in Banyumasan. The latter is closer to Old Javanese.
Vocabulary differences
The vocabulary of standard Javanese is enriched by dialectal words. For example, to get the meaning of "you", Western Javanese speakers say rika, Eastern Javanese use kon or koen, and Central Javanese speakers say kowé. Another example is the expression of "how": the Tegal dialect of Western Javanese uses kepribèn, the Banyumasan dialect of Western Javanese employs kepriwé or kepriwèn, Eastern Javanese speakers say ya' apa – originally meaning "like what" or kepiyé – and Central Javanese speakers say piye or kepriyé.| Surakarta-Yogyakarta | Northern Banten | Cirebon-Indramayu | Tegal-Brebes | Banyumas | Surabaya | English |
| aku | kite | kita, isun | enyong | inyong | aku, awakku | I, me |
| kowé | sire | sira | koen | rika, kowè | koen, awakmu | you |
| tenan | pisan | pisan | temen | temen | temenan, temen | truly |
| kepiyé, piyé | keprimèn | kepribèn, kepriwè | kepribèn | kepriwè | ya'apa | how |
| ora | ore | ora, beli | ora, belih | ora | gak, ora | not |
| mlebu | manjing | manjing | manjing, mlebu | mlebu | melbu, menjero | to enter |
| arep | arep | arep, pan | pan | arep | apé, até, katé | will |
| saka | sake | sing | sing | sekang | teka | from |
The Madiun–Kediri dialect has some idiosyncratic vocabulary, such as panggah 'still', lagèk 'progressive modal', and emphatic particles nda, pèh, and lé.
Classification
A preliminary general classification of Javanese dialects given by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology's Department of Linguistics is as follows. Pesisir and Tengger are considered to be among the most conservative dialects. The Banten, Pesisir Lor, Banyumas, Tengger, and Osing dialects do not have the vowel raising and vowel harmony features that are innovations of the "standard" Solo and Yogyakarta dialects.- West Javanese:
- * Banten
- * Cirebon
- Central Javanese:
- * Pesisir Lor dialects
- ** Tegal
- ** Pemalang
- ** Pekalongan
- * Yogyakarta
- * Surakarta/Solo
- * Semarang
- * Banyumas
- ** Cilacap
- ** Purwokerto
- ** Kebumen
- East Javanese:
- * Surabaya
- * Malang
- * Madiun-Kediri-Nganjuk
- * Lumajang
- * Osing
- * Banyuwangi
- * Tengger
- ** Ngadas
- ** Ranu Pane
- Outer Javanese
- * Papuan Javanese
Standard Javanese
Javanese script
Javanese has been traditionally written with Javanese script. Javanese and the related Balinese script are modern variants of the old Kawi script, a Brahmic script introduced to Java along with Hinduism and Buddhism. Kawi is first attested in a legal document from 804 AD. It was widely used in literature and translations from Sanskrit from the 10th century; by the 17th, the script is identified as carakan.The Javanese script is an abugida. Each of the twenty letter represents a syllable with a consonant and the inherent vowel 'a' that is pronounced as /ɔ/ in open position. Various diacritics placed around the letter indicate a different vowel than , a final consonant, or a foreign pronunciation.
Letters have subscript forms used to transcribe consonant clusters, though the shape are relatively straightforward, and not as distinct as conjunct forms of Devanagari. Some letters are only present in old Javanese and became obsolete in modern Javanese. Some of these letters became "capital" forms used in proper names. Punctuation includes a comma; period; a mark that covers the colon, quotations, and indicates numerals; and marks to introduce a chapter, poem, song, or letter.
However, Javanese can also be written with the Arabic script and today generally uses Latin script instead of Javanese script for practical purposes. A Latin orthography based on Dutch was introduced in 1926, revised in 1972–1973; it has largely supplanted the carakan. The current Latin-based forms:
The italic letters are used in loanwords from European languages and Arabic.
Javanese script:
Demographic distribution of Javanese speakers
Javanese is spoken throughout Indonesia, neighboring Southeast Asian countries, the Netherlands, Suriname, New Caledonia, and other countries. The largest populations of speakers are found in the six provinces of Java itself, and in the neighboring Sumatran province of Lampung.A table showing the number of native speakers in 1980, for the 22 Indonesian provinces in which more than 1% of the population spoke Javanese:
| Indonesian province | % of provincial population | Javanese speakers | |
| 1. | Aceh province | 6.7% | 175,000 |
| 2. | North Sumatra | 21.0% | 1,757,000 |
| 3. | West Sumatra | 1.0% | 56,000 |
| 4. | Jambi | 17.0% | 245,000 |
| 5. | South Sumatra | 12.4% | 573,000 |
| 6. | Bengkulu | 15.4% | 118,000 |
| 7. | Lampung | 62.4% | 2,886,000 |
| 8. | Riau | 8.5% | 184,000 |
| 9. | Jakarta | 3.6% | 236,000 |
| 10. | West Java | 13.3% | 3,652,000 |
| 11. | Central Java | 96.9% | 24,579,000 |
| 12. | Yogyakarta | 97.6% | 2,683,000 |
| 13. | East Java | 74.5% | 21,720,000 |
| 14. | Bali | 1.1% | 28,000 |
| 15. | West Kalimantan | 1.7% | 41,000 |
| 16. | Central Kalimantan | 4.0% | 38,000 |
| 17. | South Kalimantan | 4.7% | 97,000 |
| 18. | East Kalimantan | 10.1% | 123,000 |
| 19. | North Sulawesi | 1.0% | 20,000 |
| 20. | Central Sulawesi | 2.9% | 37,000 |
| 21. | Southeast Sulawesi | 3.6% | 34,000 |
| 22. | Maluku | 1.1% | 16,000 |
According to the 1980 census, Javanese was used daily in approximately 43% of Indonesian households. By this reckoning there were well over 60 million Javanese speakers, from a national population of 147,490,298.
In Banten, the descendants of the Central Javanese conquerors who founded the Islamic Sultanate there in the 16th century still speak an archaic form of Javanese. The rest of the population mainly speaks Sundanese and Indonesian, since this province borders directly on Jakarta.
At least one third of the population of Jakarta are of Javanese descent, so they speak Javanese or have knowledge of it. In the province of West Java, many people speak Javanese, especially those living in the areas bordering Central Java, the cultural homeland of the Javanese.
Almost a quarter of the population of East Java province are Madurese ; many Madurese have some knowledge of colloquial Javanese. Since the 19th century, Madurese was also written in the Javanese script.
The original inhabitants of Lampung, the Lampungese, make up only 15% of the provincial population. The rest are the so-called "transmigrants", settlers from other parts of Indonesia, many as a result of past government transmigration programs. Most of these transmigrants are Javanese who have settled there since the 19th century.
In Suriname, South America, approximately 15% of the population of some 500,000 are of Javanese descent, among whom 75,000 speak Javanese. A local variant evolved: the Tyoro Jowo-Suriname or Suriname Javanese.
Javanese today
Although Javanese is not a national language, it has recognized status as a regional language in the three Indonesian provinces with the biggest concentrations of Javanese people: Central Java, Yogyakarta, and East Java. Javanese is taught at schools and is used in some mass media, both electronically and in print. There is, however, no longer a daily newspaper in Javanese. Javanese-language magazines include Panjebar Semangat, Jaka Lodhang, Jaya Baya, Damar Jati, and Mekar Sari.Since 2003, an East Java local television station has broadcast some of its programmes in the Surabayan dialect, including Pojok kampung, Kuis RT/RW, and Pojok Perkoro. In later broadcasts, JTV offers programmes in the Central Javanese dialect and Madurese.
In 2005 a new Javanese language magazine, Damar Jati, appeared. It is not published in the Javanese heartlands, but in Jakarta.
Basic vocabulary
| English | Ngoko | Krama |
| yes | iya | inggih or nggih |
| no | ora | boten |
| what | apa | punapa |
| who | sapa | sinten |
| how | kapriyé or kepiyé | kados pundi or pripun |
| why | nangapa or ngapa | kènging punapa |
| eat | mangan | nedha |
| sleep | turu | saré |
| here | ing kéné | ing riki or mriki |
| there | ing kana | ing rika or mrika |
| there is | ana | wonten |
| there is no | ora ana | boten wonten |
| no! or I don't want it! | emoh | wegah |
| make a visit for pleasure | dolan | amèng-amèng |