Jawa
I was raised using Javanese language (hence, my mother-tounge is actually Javanese), following Javanese culture in congregational events, nurturing Javanese values. Those are reason why I’d like to share with you about Javanese.
About Javanese
Javanese 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 and Filipino.
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:
- Old Javanese, from the 9th century
- Middle Javanese, from the 13th century
- New Javanese, from the 16th century
- Modern Javanese, from 20th century (this classification is not used universally)
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 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 Indonesian, the national language of Indonesia, which is a modern dialect of Malay.
There are three main dialects 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.
Morphology
Javanese, like 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 particularly had VSO or sometimes VOS word orders. Even in Modern Javanese archaic sentences using VSO structure can still be made.
Examples:
- Modern Javanese:
“Dhèwèké (S) teka (V) nèng (pp.) kedhaton (O)”.
- Old Javanese:
“Teka (V) ta (part.) sira (S) ri (pp.) ng (def. art.) kadhatwan (O)”.
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. 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 the aforementioned subject, object, predicates, etc. The topic is the head of the sentence; the comment is the modifier. So our Javanese above-mentioned sentence could then be described as follows: Dhèwèké = topic; teka = comment; nèng kedhaton = setting.
Vocabulary
Javanese has a rich vocabulary, with many foreign loan words as well as the native Austronesian base. Sanskrit has had a deep and lasting impact on the vocabulary of the Javanese language.
In any given Old Javanese literary work, approximately 25% of the vocabulary is derived from Sanskrit. In addition, many Javanese personal names have clearly recognisable Sanskrit roots.
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 may be roughly translated as “literary”. However the so-called kawi words also contain some Arabic words. Furthermore there has been 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 the cases mentioned, 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 a few exceptions.
The latter is interesting, as the word sepur also exists in Indonesian. The Indonesian word has preserved the literal Dutch meaning of “railway tracks”, while the Javanese word follows Dutch figurative use, where “spoor” (lit. “rail”) is used as metonymy for “trein” (lit. “train”). (Compare the corresponding metonymic use in English: “to travel by rail” may be used metonymically for “to travel by train”.)
Politeness
Javanese speech varies depending on social context, yielding three distinct styles, or registers. 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 and Japanese share similar constructions.
In Javanese these styles are called:
1. Ngoko
is informal speech, used between friends and close relatives. It is also used by persons of higher status to persons of lower status, such as elders to younger people or bosses to subordinates.
2. Madya
is the intermediary form between ngoko and krama. An example of the context where one would use madya is an interaction between strangers on the street, where one wants to be neither too formal nor too informal.
3.Krama
is the polite and formal style. It is used between persons of the same status who do not wish to be informal. It is also the official style for public speeches, announcements, etc. It is also used by persons of lower status to persons of higher status, such as youngsters to elder people or subordinates to bosses.
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, but when talking to the parents they must use both krama inggil and krama andhap.
Below some examples are provided to explain these different styles.
- Ngoko: Aku arep mangan (I want to eat)
- Madya: Kula ajeng nedha.
- Krama:
- (Neutral) Kula badhé nedha.
- (Humble) Dalem badhé nedha.
- Mixed:
- (Honorific – Addressed to someone with a high(er) status.)
Bapak kersa dhahar?
(Do you want to eat? Literally meaning: Does father want to eat?)
- (reply towards persons with lower status)
Iya, aku kersa dhahar. (Yes, I want to eat).
- (reply towards persons with lower status,
but without having the need to express one’s superiority)
Iya, aku arep mangan.
- (reply towards persons with the same status)
Inggih, kula badhé nedha.
The use of these different styles is 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 the different styles are held in high esteem.
The Dialects of Modern Javanese
There are three main groups of Javanese dialects based on the sub region 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 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 Mataram Sultanate, which once reigned over almost the whole of Java and beyond. Speakers spread from 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 North 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 sometimes referred to as Surabayan speech.
The most aberrant dialect is spoken in Blambangan (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.
In addition to these three main Javanese dialects, there is Surinamese Javanese. Surinamese Javanese is mainly based on Central Javanese dialect, especially from the Kedu residency.
Aksara Jawa
Humor Suroyoboan
Javanese people are reckoned as being warm, polite and eclectic yet simple towards life. They enjoy life in subtle way as well as joyful fashion. They love to laugh! Sometimes, messages in life are conveyed through situational comedy or anectodal conversations. Surabaya is a capital of East Java province. It’s an industrialized city and center of the education and entertainment in the eastern Java. The people somewhat speak Javanese in mixture with their outgoing manner; it’s really entertaining to see them conversing each other: passionate and, often, end up with laughter. Here is the collection that I like: Humor Suroboyoan (Surabayan Humors).
Javanese – Japanese Connection
- Japan-Majapahit Association
- Japan’s Javanese Connection by Ann Kumar
