Sundanese (, Sundanese script:, Pegon script: بَاسَا سُوْندَا, ) is a Malayo-Polynesian 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 Batu Tapak Kaki Kiri Nyoreang inscription at the time of King Purnawarman, using the Pallava script. 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: 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

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 (Aksara Sunda Kuno). 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. Meanwhile, the regional governments of West Java and Banten have been actively promoting the use of Standard Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda Baku) 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.

Phonology

Sundanese orthography is highly phonemic (see also Sundanese script).

Vowels

There are seven vowels: a, é , i , o , u , e , and eu.

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 , , (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, and kh → h. Epenthetic semivowels and are inserted after a high vowel immediately followed by another vowel, as in the words:

Register

Sundanese has an elaborate system of register distinguishing levels of formality. At the beginning of speech level development, it was known 6 levels of Sundanese language: 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" (lit. 'language manners'), 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 Japanese, Korean and Thai.

Basic vocabulary

Pronoun

Numeral

Grammar

Root word

Root verb

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: 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. The prefix can be reduplicated to denote very-, or the plural of groups. For example, "bararudak" denotes many, many children or many groups of children (budak is child in Sundanese). Another example, "balalageur" denotes plural adjective of "very well-behaved".

Active form

Most active forms of Sundanese verbs are identical to the root, as with diuk "sit" or dahar "eat". Some others depend on the initial phoneme in the root:

Negation

There are several words to negate a statement in Sundanese. These are also different by the polite (lemes) and casual (loma) registers, as well as dialect.

Polite

In Priangan Sundanese, Polite negation is done by adding a henteu**** (the shorter form, teu is also commonly used) to negate most verbs (akin to adding a "not" to English "do" or "does"). To negate clauses where the subject is linked to adjectives or nouns (where, in English, it would normally require a linking verb like "be"), sanés is used. In this sentence, "acan" is used to signpost that the speaker has not done something, but they will do it in a short notice. Other words that can be used to negate clauses are moal (to signpost that the speaker is not going to do something) and alim (to show that the speaker does not want to do something). Other Sundanese dialects may have different ways to negate statements.

Casual

There are a wide range of casual negation helper words. In Priangan Sundanese, this can be done with a number of words. The shorter version, can, is also commonly used especially in spoken speech. The word lain can be used as a casual variant of sanés. Moal and its longer variant moal waka can also be used casually. Other words include teu hayang (which can also sound aggressive depending on context) and embung (which is somewhat a casual counterpart of alim).

Question

Dupi (for polite situation)/Ari (for formal situation)-(question) example: Polite: Formal:

Interrogatives

Passive form

Polite: Formal:

Adjectives

Examples: teuas (hard), tiis (cool for water and solid objects), tiris (cool for air), hipu (soft), lada (hot/spicy, usually for foods), haneut (warm), etc.

Prepositions

Place

Sundanese has three generic prepositions for spatial expressions: Using different type of prepositions can result in different meanings. di cai: at the bathroom/toilet dina cai: inside of water ka cai: going to a bathroom/toilet kana cai: into water ti cai: (someone) comes from the bathroom/toilet tina cai: (something) made of water, or (something) comes from water ka mobil: going inside a car kana mobil: something is done/happened to a car To express more specific spatial relations (like 'inside', 'under' etc.), these prepositions have been combined with locative nouns: Di gigir/luhur/handap/tukang/hareup (also ka gigir, ti gigir etc.) are absolute adverial expressions without a following noun. To express relative position, they have to add the suffix -eun, e.g.: Polite: Formal: Di jero, di luar and the polite forms luhur & pengker can be used both with and without a following noun.

Time

Miscellaneous

Sample text

The following texts are excerpts from article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Sundanese, along with the original declaration in English. Sakumna jalma gubrag ka alam dunya téh sipatna merdika jeung boga martabat katut hak-hak anu sarua. Maranéhna dibéré akal jeung haté nurani, campur-gaul jeung sasamana aya dina sumanget duduluran. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.