TheYouth Pledge, a pledge made by Indonesian youth on October 28, 1928, defining the identity of the Indonesian nation. On the last pledge, there was an affirmation of Indonesian language as aunifying language throughout the archipelago.Indonesian language speaker
Most Indonesians, aside from speaking the national language, are fluent in at least one of the more than 700 indigenouslocal languages; examples includeJavanese andSundanese, which are commonly used at home and within the local community.[12][13] However, most formaleducation and nearly all nationalmass media,governance,administration, andjudiciary and other forms of communication are conducted in Indonesian.[14]
Under Indonesian rule from 1976 to 1999, Indonesian was designated as the official language ofEast Timor. It has the status of aworking language under the country'sconstitution along withEnglish.[6][15]: 3 [16] In November 2023, the Indonesian language was recognized as one of the official languages of theUNESCO General Conference.
The termIndonesian is primarily associated with the national standard dialect (bahasa baku).[17] However, in a looser sense, it also encompasses the various local varieties spoken throughout the Indonesianarchipelago.[8][18] Standard Indonesian is confined mostly to formal situations, existing in adiglossic relationship with vernacular Malay varieties, which are commonly used for daily communication, coexisting with the aforementioned regional languages and withMalay creoles;[17][12] standard Indonesian is spoken in informal speech as a lingua franca between vernacular Malay dialects, Malay creoles, and regional languages.
Rencong alphabet, native writing systems found in central andSouth Sumatra. The text reads (Voorhoeve's spelling): "haku manangis ma / njaru ka'u ka'u di / saru tijada da / tang [hitu hadik sa]", which is translated by Voorhoeve as: "I am weeping, calling you; though called, you do not come" (in modern Malay "Aku menangis, menyeru kau, kau diseru, tiada datang [itu adik satu]").Kedukan Bukit Inscription, written inPallava script, is the oldest surviving specimen of theOld Malay language.
Malaysian Malay claims to be closer to the classical Malay of earlier centuries,[citation needed] even though modern Malaysian has been heavily influenced, in lexicon as well as in syntax, by English[citation needed]. The question of whether High Malay (Court Malay) or Low Malay (Bazaar Malay) was the true parent of the Indonesian language is still in debate. High Malay was the official language used in the court of theJohor Sultanate and continued by the Dutch-administered territory ofRiau-Lingga, while Low Malay was commonly used in marketplaces and ports of the archipelago. Some linguists have argued that it was the more common Low Malay that formed the base of the Indonesian language.[22]
For centuries,Srivijaya, through its expansion, economic power and military prowess, was responsible for the wide spread ofOld Malay throughout theMalay Archipelago. It was the working language of traders and it was used in various ports, and marketplaces in the region.[23]
Trade contacts carried on by variousethnic peoples at the time were the mainvehicle for spreading the Old Malay language, which was the maincommunications medium among the traders. Ultimately, the Old Malay language became alingua franca and was spoken widely by most people in the archipelago.[24][25] The beginning of the common era saw the growing influence of Indian civilisation in the archipelago. With the penetration and proliferation ofSanskrit vocabulary and the influence of majorIndian religions such asHinduism andBuddhism, Ancient Malay evolved into the Old Malay. The oldest uncontroversial specimens of Old Malay are the 7th century CESojomerto inscription fromCentral Java,Kedukan Bukit Inscription fromSouth Sumatra,Indonesia and several other inscriptions dating from the 7th to 10th centuries discovered inSumatra,Java, other islands of theSunda archipelago, as well asLuzon,Philippines. All these Old Malay inscriptions used either scripts of Indian origin such asPallava,Nagari or the Indian-influenced old Sumatran characters.[26] The Old Malay system is greatly influenced bySanskrit scriptures in terms ofphonemes,morphemes,vocabulary and the characteristics of scholarship, particularly when the words are closely related to Indian culture. Further research stated that Old Malay and Modern Malay are forms of the same language,[27][28] in spite of some considerable differences between them.
Standard Indonesian is astandard language of "Riau Malay",[3][4] which despite its common name is not based on the vernacular Malay dialects of theRiau Islands, but rather represents a form ofClassical Malay as used in the 19th and early 20th centuries in theRiau-Lingga Sultanate. Classical Malay had emerged as a literary language in the royal courts along both shores of theStrait of Malacca, including theJohor Sultanate andMalacca Sultanate.[19][11]: 70 [20] The period of Classical Malay started whenIslam gained its foothold in the region and the elevation of its status to astate religion. As a result ofIslamisation and growth in trade with theMuslim world, this era witnessed the penetration ofArabic andPersian vocabulary as well as the integration of majorIslamic cultures with local Malay culture. The earliest instances of Arabic lexicons incorporated in the pre-Classical Malay written in Kawi was found in theMinye Tujoh inscription dated 1380 CE fromAceh inSumatra. Nevertheless, pre-Classical Malay took on a more radical form more than half a century earlier as attested in the 1303 CETerengganu Inscription Stone as well as the 1468 CEPengkalan Kempas Inscription, both from the Malay Peninsula. Both inscriptions not only serve as the evidence of Islam as a state religion but also as the oldest surviving specimen of the dominant classicalorthographic form, theJawi script. Similar inscriptions containing various adopted Arabic terms with some of them still written the Indianised scripts were also discovered in other parts ofSumatra andBorneo.[29][30]
When theDutch East India Company (VOC) first arrived in the archipelago at the start of the 1600s, the Malay language was a significant trading and political language due to the influence of theMalaccan Sultanate and later thePortuguese. However, the language had never been dominant among the population of the Indonesian archipelago as it was limited to mercantile activity. The VOC adopted the Malay language as the administrative language of their trading outpost in the east. Following thebankruptcy of the VOC, theBatavian Republic took control of the colony in 1799, and it was only then that education in and promotion of Dutch began in thecolony.[citation needed]
The 19th century was the period of strongWestern political and commercial domination in the archipelago. The Dutch colonists, realising the importance of understanding the local languages and cultures, began establishing various centres of linguistic, literary and cultural studies in universities likeLeiden andLondon. The use ofLatin script began to expand in the fields of administration and education whereby the influence ofDutch literatures and languages started to penetrate and spread gradually into the language.
Even then, Dutch administrators were remarkably reluctant to promote the use of Dutch compared to other colonial regimes. Dutch thus remained the language of a small elite: in 1940, only 2% of the total population could speak Dutch. Nevertheless, it did have a significant influence on the development of Malay in the colony: during the colonial era, the language that would be standardized as Indonesian absorbed a large amount of Dutch vocabulary in the form ofloanwords.
The Dutch colonial government recognised the Malacca-Johor Malay used inRiau-Lingga as "High Malay" and promoted it as a medium of communication between the Dutch and local population. The language was also taught in schools not only in Riau but also inEast Sumatra,Java,Kalimantan and East Indonesia.[31] In 1864, the Dutch colonial government was therefore decided to disseminate this language - and not Dutch - throughout the colony.[32][33] To this end, the colonial government stimulated the study, standardisation and modernisation of Malay, imposing it via its institutions, via education, the missions and the media, and via the literary works produced by the state publishersBalai Poestaka. In this respect, the Dutch pursued a non-chauvinistic cultural policy.[32] Another catalyst in the movement towards standardization of Malay in Western script was an amalgam of philology and a growing consciousness of an Indies identity such that a "lingua franca" justification for Malay had become insufficient.[34] In reality, Klinkert's pure Malacca or Riau Malay was unusable in the eastern part of Indies even in the coastal regions.[34] In 1910, Sasrasoeganda Koewatin, a prominent Malay language teacher of Kweekschool and OpIeidingschool inYogyakarta, wrote a Malay grammar book entitledKitab Jang Menjatakan Djalannja Bahasa Melajoe in which is the first Malay grammar book in Latin script which became the basis for the Indonesian language in use today.[35]
Indonesian speaker
The birth of Indonesian: adoption as the national language
Thenationalist movement that ultimately brought Indonesian to its national language status rejectedDutch from the outset. However, the rapid disappearance of Dutch was a very unusual case compared with other colonized countries, where the colonial language generally has continued to function as the language of politics,bureaucracy, education,technology, and other fields of importance for a significant time after independence.[36] The Indonesian scholarSoenjono Dardjowidjojo [id] even goes so far as to say that when compared to the situation in other Asian countries such asIndia,Malaysia,Singapore andthe Philippines, "Indonesian is perhaps the only language that has achieved the status of a national language in its true sense" since it truly dominates in all spheres ofIndonesian society.[37] The ease with which Indonesia eliminated the language of its former colonial power can perhaps be explained as much by Dutchpolicy as byIndonesian nationalism. In marked contrast to theFrench,Spanish and Portuguese, who pursued anassimilation colonial policy, or even theBritish, the Dutch did not attempt to spread their language among the indigenous population. In fact, they consciously prevented the language from being spread by refusing to provide education, especially in Dutch, to the native Indonesians so they would not come to see themselves as equals.[36] Moreover, the Dutch wished to prevent the Indonesians from elevating their perceived social status by taking on elements of Dutch culture. Thus, until the 1930s, they maintained a minimalist regime and allowed Malay to spread quickly throughout the archipelago.
Volksraad session held in July 1938 in Jakarta, where Indonesian was formally used for the first time by Jahja Datoek Kajo
Dutch dominance at that time covered nearly all aspects, with official forums requiring the use of Dutch, although since the Second Youth Congress (1928) the use of Indonesian as the national language was agreed on as one of the tools in the independence struggle. As of it,Mohammad Hoesni Thamrin inveighed actions underestimating Indonesian. After some criticism and protests, the use of Indonesian was allowed since theVolksraad sessions held in July 1938.[38] By the time they tried to counter the spread of Malay by teaching Dutch to the natives, it was too late, and in 1942, the Japanese conquered Indonesia. The Japanese mandated that all official business be conducted in Indonesian and quickly outlawed the use of the Dutch language.[39] Three years later, the Indonesians themselves formally abolished the language and establishedbahasa Indonesia as the national language of the new nation.[40] The termbahasa Indonesia itself had been proposed byMohammad Tabrani in 1926,[41] and Tabrani had further proposed the term over calling the languageMalay language during the First Youth Congress in 1926.[2]
TheYouth Pledge was the result of the Second Youth Congress held inBatavia in October 1928. On the last pledge, there was an affirmation of Indonesian language as aunifying language throughout the archipelago.
"Jang dinamakan "bahasa Indonesia" jaitoe bahasa Melajoe jang soenggoehpoen pokoknja berasal dari "Melajoe Riau" akan tetapi jang soedah ditambah, dioebah atau dikoerangi menoeroet keperloean zaman dan alam baharoe, hingga bahasa itoe laloe moedah dipakai oleh rakjat di seloeroeh Indonesia; pembaharoean bahasa Melajoe hingga kini mendjadi bahasa Indonesia itoe haroes dilakoekan oleh kaoem ahli jang beralam baharoe, ialah alam kebangsaan Indonesia." (Indonesian for "What is called "Indonesian" is the Malay which originally came from "Riau Malay" but which has been added to, changed or modified according to the needs of the times and the new world, so that the language is now used by the people throughout Indonesia; the renewal of the Malay until now to become Indonesian must be carried out by experts who are from the new world, namely the Indonesian national world.")
— Excerpt ofKi Hadjar Dewantara's "Bahasa Indonesia didalam pergoroean", a paper presented at the First Indonesian Language Conference atSurakarta, 25–28 June 1938.[42][43][44]
Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana was a great promoter of the use and development of Indonesian and he was greatly exaggerating the decline of Dutch. Higher education was still in Dutch and many educated Indonesians were writing and speaking in Dutch in many situations (and were still doing so well after independence was achieved). He believed passionately in the need to develop Indonesian so that it could take its place as a fully adequate national language, able to replace Dutch as a means of entry into modern international culture. In 1933, he began the magazinePujangga Baru (New Writer —Poedjangga Baroe in the original spelling) with co-editorsAmir Hamzah andArmijn Pane. The language of Pujangga Baru came in for criticism from those associated with the more classical School Malay and it was accused of publishing Dutch written with an Indonesian vocabulary. Alisjahbana would no doubt have taken the criticism as a demonstration of his success. To him the language of Pujangga Baru pointed the way to the future, to an elaborated, Westernised language able to express all the concepts of the modern world. As an example, among the many innovations they condemned was use of the wordbisa instead ofdapat for 'can'. In Malaybisa meant only 'poison from an animal's bite' and the increasing use of Javanesebisa in the new meaning they regarded as one of the many threats to the language's purity. Unlike more traditional intellectuals, he did not look to Classical Malay and the past. For him, Indonesian was a new concept; a new beginning was needed and he looked to Western civilisation, with its dynamic society of individuals freed from traditional fetters, as his inspiration.[11]
"Bahasa Indonesia ialah bahasa Melajoe Perhoeboengan, jang diperkaja dengan zat-zat dari Melajoe Kesoesastraan, bahasa Djawa, bahasa Belanda dan dengan lebih koerang bahasa Austronesia jang Iain-lain, sedang peroebahan saraf banjak terdjadi dan begitoe poela peroebahan tinggi boenji dan tekanan. Bahasa Indonesia soedah djadi bahasa keboedajaan dan akan toemboeh dengan keboedajaan Indonesia." (Indonesian for "Indonesian is a communication Malay, enriched with elements from literary Malay, Javanese, Dutch and to a greater extent other Austronesian languages, while many grammar changes have occurred and so have changes in the pitch and stress. Indonesian has become the language of culture and will grow with Indonesian culture.")
— Excerpt ofSanoesi Pane's "Sedjarah Bahasa Indonesia", a paper presented at the First Indonesian Language Conference atSurakarta, 25–28 June 1938.[45]
Indonesian language in Japanese occupation, Old Order, and New Order
Once the Japanese overturned Dutch rule, a prohibition on the use of the Dutch language led to an expansion of Indonesian language newspapers and pressure on them to increase the language's wordstock. The Japanese agreed to the establishment of theKomisi Bahasa (Language Commission) in October 1942, formally headed by three Japanese but with a number of prominent Indonesian intellectuals playing the major part in its activities. Soewandi, later to be Minister of Education and Culture, was appointed secretary, Alisjahbana was appointed an 'expert secretary' and other members included the future president and vice-president, Sukarno and Hatta.[citation needed] Journalists, beginning a practice that has continued to the present, did not wait for theKomisi Bahasa to provide new words, but actively participated themselves in coining terms. Many of the Komisi Bahasa's terms never found public acceptance and after the Japanese period were replaced by the original Dutch forms, includingjantera (Sanskrit for 'wheel'), which temporarily replacedmesin (machine),ketua negara (literally 'chairman of state'), which had replacedpresiden (president) andkilang (meaning 'mill'), which had replacedpabrik (factory). In a few cases, however, coinings permanently replaced earlier Dutch terms, includingpajak (earlier meaning 'monopoly') instead ofbelasting (tax) andsenam (meaning 'exercise') instead ofgimnastik (gymnastics). The Komisi Bahasa is said to have coined more than 7000 terms, although few of these gained common acceptance.[11]
The adoption of Indonesian as the country's national language was in contrast to most other post-colonial states. Neither the language with the most native speakers (Javanese) nor the language of the former European colonial power (Dutch) was to be adopted. Instead, a local language with far fewer native speakers than the most widely spoken local language was chosen (nevertheless, Malay was the second most widely spoken language in the colony after Javanese, and had many L2 speakers using it for trade, administration, and education).
In 1945, whenIndonesia declared its independence, Indonesian was formally declared the national language,[7] despite being the native language of only about 5% of the population. In contrast, Javanese and Sundanese were the mother tongues of 42–48% and 15% respectively.[46] The combination ofnationalistic,political, andpractical concerns ultimately led to the successful adoption of Indonesian as a national language. In 1945, Javanese was easily the most prominent language in Indonesia. It was the native language of nearly half the population, the primary language of politics andeconomics, and the language ofcourtly,religious, and literary tradition.[36] What it lacked, however, was the ability to unite the diverse Indonesian population as a whole. With thousands of islands and hundreds of different languages, the newly independent country of Indonesia had to find a national language that could realistically be spoken by the majority of the population and that would not divide the nation by favouring one ethnic group, namely the Javanese, over the others. In 1945, Indonesian was already in widespread use;[46] in fact, it had been for roughly a thousand years. Over that long period, Malay, which would later become standardized as Indonesian, was the primary language ofcommerce andtravel. It was also the language used for the propagation ofIslam in the 13th to 17th centuries, as well as the language of instruction used by Portuguese and Dutch missionaries attempting to convert the indigenous people toChristianity.[36] The combination of these factors meant that the language was already known to some degree by most of the population, and it could be more easily adopted as the national language than perhaps any other. Moreover, it was the language of the sultanate ofBrunei and of futureMalaysia, on whichsome Indonesian nationalists had claims.
Over the first 53 years ofIndonesian independence, the country's first two presidents,Sukarno andSuharto, constantly nurtured the sense of national unity embodied by Indonesian, and the language remains an essential component of Indonesian identity. Through a language planning program that made Indonesian the language ofpolitics,education, and nation-building in general, Indonesian became one of the few success stories of anindigenous language effectively overtaking that of a country's colonisers to become thede jure andde facto official language.[40] Today, Indonesian continues to function as the language ofnational identity as the Congress of Indonesian Youth envisioned, and also serves as the language of education,literacy,modernization, andsocial mobility.[40] Despite still being a second language to most Indonesians, it is unquestionably the language of the Indonesian nation as a whole, as it has had unrivalled success as a factor in nation-building and the strengthening of Indonesian identity.
Indonesian is spoken as amother tongue and national language. Over 200 million people regularly make use of the national language, with varying degrees of proficiency. In a nation that is home to more than 700 native languages and a vast array of ethnic groups, it plays an important unifying and cross-archipelagic role for the country. Use of the national language is abundant in the media,government bodies,schools,universities,workplaces, among members of the upper-class or nobility and also in formal situations, despite the 2010 census showing only 19.94% of over-five-year-olds speak mainly Indonesian at home.[47]
Standard Indonesian is used in books and newspapers and on television/radio news broadcasts. The standard dialect, however, is rarely used in daily conversations, being confined mostly to formal settings. While this is a phenomenon common to most languages in the world (for example, spoken English does not always correspond to its written standards), the proximity of spoken Indonesian (in terms of grammar and vocabulary) to its normative form is noticeably low. This is mostly due to Indonesians combining aspects of their own local languages (e.g.,Javanese,Sundanese, andBalinese) with Indonesian. This results in various vernacular varieties of Indonesian, the very types that a foreigner is most likely to hear upon arriving in any Indonesian city or town.[48] This phenomenon is amplified by the use ofIndonesian slang, particularly in the cities. Unlike the relatively uniform standard variety, Vernacular Indonesian exhibits a high degree of geographical variation, though Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian functions as thede facto norm of informal language and is a popular source of influence throughout the archipelago.[17] There islanguage shift offirst language among Indonesian into Indonesian from other language in Indonesia caused by ethnic diversity than urbanicity.[49]
The most common and widely used colloquial Indonesian is heavily influenced by theBetawi language, aMalay-based creole ofJakarta, amplified by its popularity in Indonesian popular culture in mass media and Jakarta's status as the national capital. In informal spoken Indonesian, various words are replaced with those of a less formal nature. For example,tidak (no) is often replaced with the Betawi formnggak or the even simplergak/ga, whileseperti (like, similar to) is often replaced withkayak[kajaʔ].Sangat oramat (very), the term to express intensity, is often replaced with the Javanese-influencedbanget. As for pronunciation, the diphthongsai andau on the end of base words are typically pronounced as/e/ and/o/. In informal writing, the spelling of words is modified to reflect the actual pronunciation in a way that can be produced with less effort. For example,capai becomescape orcapek,pakai becomespake,kalau becomeskalo. In verbs, the prefixme- is often dropped, although an initial nasal consonant is often retained, as whenmengangkat becomesngangkat (the base word isangkat). The suffixes-kan and-i are often replaced by-in. For example,mencarikan becomesnyariin,menuruti becomesnurutin. The latter grammatical aspect is one often closely related to the Indonesian spoken in Jakarta and its surrounding areas.[citation needed]
Malay historical linguists agree on the likelihood of the Malay homeland being in westernBorneo.[50] A form known as Proto-Malay language was spoken in Borneo at least by 1000 BCE and was, it has been argued, the ancestral language of all subsequentMalayan languages. Its ancestor,Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, a descendant of theProto-Austronesian language, began to break up by at least 2000 BCE, possibly as a result of the southward expansion ofAustronesian peoples intoMaritime Southeast Asia from the island ofTaiwan.[51] Indonesian, which originated from Malay, is a member of theAustronesian family of languages, which includes languages fromSoutheast Asia, thePacific Ocean andMadagascar, with a smaller number in continentalAsia. The formal register has a high degree ofmutual intelligibility with the Malaysian standard of Malay, which is officially known there asbahasa Malaysia, despite the numerous lexical differences.[52] However, vernacular varieties spoken in Indonesia and Malaysia share limited intelligibility, which is evidenced by the fact that Malaysians have difficulties understanding Indonesiansinetron (soap opera) aired on Malaysia TV stations, and vice versa.[53]
Malagasy, a geographic outlier spoken inMadagascar in theIndian Ocean; the Philippines national language,Filipino;Formosan in Taiwan's aboriginal population; and the nativeMāori language of New Zealand are also members of this language family. Although each language of the family is mutually unintelligible, their similarities are rather striking. Many roots have come virtually unchanged from their common ancestor,Proto-Austronesian language. There are manycognates found in the languages' words for kinship, health, body parts and common animals. Numbers, especially, show remarkable similarities.
There are more than 700 local languages in Indonesian islands, such asJavanese,Sundanese, etc. While Malay as the source of Indonesian is the mother tongue of ethnic Malay who lives along the east coast of Sumatra, in the Riau Archipelago, and on the south and west coast of Kalimantan (Borneo). There are several areas, such asJakarta,Manado,Lesser Sunda islands, andMollucas which has Malay-based trade languages. Thus, a large proportion of Indonesians use at least two languages daily, including Indonesian and local languages. When two languages are used by the same people in this way, they are likely to influence each other.[59]
Aside from local languages,Dutch made the highest contribution to the Indonesian vocabulary, due to the Dutchcolonization over three centuries, from the 16th century until the mid-20th century.[60][61][59]Asian languages also influenced the language, withChinese influencing Indonesian during the 15th and 16th centuries due to thespice trade;Sanskrit,Prakrit contributing during the flourishing ofHindu and Buddhist kingdoms from the 2nd to the 14th century; followed byArabic after thespread of Islam in the archipelago in the 13th century.[62] Loanwords fromPortuguese were mainly connected with articles that the early European traders and explorers brought to Southeast Asia. Indonesian also receives manyEnglish words as a result ofglobalization andmodernization, especially since the 1990s, as far as theInternet's emergence and development until the present day.[63] Some Indonesian words correspond to Malay loanwords in English, among them the common wordsorangutan,gong,bamboo,rattan,sarong, and the less common words such aspaddy,sago andkapok, all of which were inherited in Indonesian from Malay but borrowed from Malay in English. The phrase "to run amok" comes from the Malay verbamuk (to run out of control, to rage).[64][65][66][67]
Indonesian is neither apidgin nor acreole since its characteristics do not meet any of the criteria for either. It is believed that the Indonesian language was one of the means to achieve independence, but it is opened to receive vocabulary from other foreign languages aside from Malay that it has made contact with since the colonialism era, such as Dutch, English and Arabic among others, as theloan words keep increasing each year.[68]
According to the 2025 census, Indonesian had 80 millionnative speakers and 180 millionsecond-language speakers,[10] who speak it alongside theirlocal mother tongue, giving a total number of speakers in Indonesia of 260 million.[69] It is common as a first language in urban areas, and as a second language by those residing in more rural parts of Indonesia. Globally, Ethnologue (2025) estimates about 80 million native speakers and 180.2 million second-language speakers, for a total of 260 million.[1]
TheVOA andBBC use Indonesian as one of their standard language for broadcasting.[70][71] InAustralia, Indonesian is one of three Asian target languages, together withJapanese andMandarin, taught in some schools as part of theLanguages Other Than English programme.[72] Indonesian has been taught in Australian schools and universities since the 1950s.[73]
InEast Timor, which was occupied by Indonesia between 1975 and 1999, Indonesian is recognized by the constitution as one of the two working languages (the other beingEnglish),[74] alongside the official languages ofTetum andPortuguese.[6]
As the national language of a majority-Muslim country, Indonesian unites diverse communities and reflects broader traditions of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence. Its vocabulary, drawing from Arabic, local languages, and colonial histories, stands as a marker of Indonesia's inclusive, pluralistic society.[85]
Indonesian is also the language of Indonesian mass media, such as magazines. Printed and broadcast mass media are encouraged to use standard Indonesian, although more relaxed popular slang often prevails.
Indonesian is theofficial language ofIndonesia, and its use is encouraged throughout the Indonesian archipelago. It is regulated in Chapter XV,1945 Constitution of Indonesia about the flag, official language, coat of arms, and national anthem of Indonesia.[7] Also, in Chapter III, Section 25 to 45, Government regulation No. 24/ 2009 mentions explicitly the status of the Indonesian language.[86]
Indonesian functions as a symbol of national identity and pride, and is alingua franca among the diverseethnic groups in Indonesia and the speakers of vernacular Malay dialects and Malay creoles. The Indonesian language serves as the national and official language, the language of education, communication, transaction and trade documentation, the development of national culture, science, technology, and mass media. It also serves as a vehicle of communication among the provinces and different regional cultures in the country.[86]
According to Indonesian law, the Indonesian language was proclaimed as the unifying language during theYouth Pledge on 28 October 1928 and developed further to accommodate the dynamics of Indonesian civilization.[86] As mentioned previously, the language was based on Riau Malay,[3][1] though linguists note that this is not the local dialect of Riau, but the Malaccan dialect that was used in theRiau court.[11] Since its conception in 1928 and its official recognition in the 1945 Constitution, the Indonesian language has been loaded with a nationalist political agenda to unify Indonesia (formerDutch East Indies). This status has made it relatively open to accommodate influences from other Indonesian ethnic languages, most notably Javanese as the majority ethnic group, andDutch as the previous coloniser. Compared to the indigenous dialects ofMalay spoken in Sumatra and Malay peninsula or the normative Malaysian standard, the Indonesian language differs profoundly by a large number ofJavanese loanwords incorporated into its already-rich vocabulary. As a result, Indonesian has more extensive sources ofloanwords, compared to Malaysian Malay.
The disparate evolution of Indonesian and Malaysian has led to a rift between the two standardized varieties. This has been based more upon political nuance and the history of their standardization than cultural reasons, and as a result, there are asymmetrical views regarding each other's variety among Malaysians and Indonesians. Malaysians tend to assert that Malaysian and Indonesian are merely different normative varieties of the same language, while Indonesians tend to treat them as separate, albeit closely related, languages. Consequently, Indonesians feel little need to harmonise their language with Malaysia and Brunei, whereas Malaysians are keener to coordinate the evolution of the language with Indonesians,[87] although the 1972Indonesian alphabet reform was seen mainly as a concession of Dutch-based Indonesian to the English-based spelling of Malaysian.
In November 2023, the Indonesian language was recognised as one of the official languages of theUNESCO General Conference. Currently there are 10 official languages of the UNESCO General Conference, consisting of the sixUnited Nations languages, namelyEnglish,French,Arabic,Chinese,Russian, andSpanish, as well as four other languages of UNESCO member countries, namelyHindi,Italian,Portuguese, and Indonesian.[88][89]
As regulated by Indonesian state law UU No 24/2009, other than state official speeches and documents between or issued to Indonesian government, Indonesian language is required by law to be used in:[90]
Official speeches by thepresident,vice president, and other state officials delivered within or outside Indonesia
Agreements involving either government, private institutions, or individuals
National or international forums held in Indonesia
Scientific papers and publications in Indonesia
Geographical names in Indonesia (name of buildings, roads, offices, complexes, institutions)
Public signs, road signs, public facilities, banners, and other information of public services in public area.
Information through mass media
However, other languages may be used in dual-language setting to accompany but not to replace Indonesian language in: agreements, information regarding goods / services, scientific papers, information through mass media, geographical names, public signs, road signs, public facilities, banners, and other information of public services in public area.[90]
While there are no sanctions of the uses of other languages,[90] in Indonesian court's point of view, any agreements made in Indonesia but not drafted in Indonesian language, is null and void.[91] In any different interpretations in dual-language agreements setting, Indonesian language shall prevail.[92]
In standard Indonesianorthography, theLatin alphabet is used, and five vowels are distinguished:a, i, u, e, o. In materials for learners, the mid-front vowel /e/ is sometimes represented with a diacritic as ⟨é⟩ to distinguish it from the mid-central vowel ⟨ê⟩ /ə/. Since 2015, the auxiliarygraphemes ⟨é⟩ and ⟨è⟩ are used respectively for phonetic [e] and [ɛ] in Indonesian, while Standard Malay has rendered both of them as ⟨é⟩.[95]
The phonetic realization of the mid vowels /e/ and /o/ ranges from close-mid ([e]/[o]) to open-mid ([ɛ]/[ɔ])allophones. Some analyses set up a system which treats the open-mid vowels/ɛ/ and/ɔ/ as distinct phonemes.[96] Poedjosoedarmo argued the split of the front mid vowels in Indonesian is due toJavanese influence which exhibits a difference between ⟨i⟩ [i], ⟨é⟩ [e] and è [ɛ]. Another example of Javanese influence in Indonesian is the split of back mid vowels into two allophones of [o] and [ɔ]. These splits (and loanwords) increase instances ofdoublets in Indonesian, such as ⟨satai⟩ and ⟨saté⟩. Javanese words adopted into Indonesian have greatly increased the frequency of Indonesian ⟨é⟩ and ⟨o⟩.[59]
In traditional Malay, high vowels (⟨i⟩, ⟨u⟩) could not appear in a final syllable if a mid-vowel (⟨e⟩, ⟨o⟩) appeared in the previous syllable, and conversely, mid-vowels (⟨e⟩, ⟨o⟩) could not appear in the final syllable if a high vowel (⟨i⟩, ⟨u⟩) appeared in the previous syllable.[11]
Traditional Malay does not allow the mid-centralschwa vowel to occur in consonant open or closed word-final syllables. The schwa vowel was introduced in closed syllables under the influence of Javanese and Jakarta Malay, but Dutch borrowings made it more acceptable. Although Alisjahbana argued against it, insisting on writing ⟨a⟩ instead of an ⟨ê⟩ in final syllables such askoda (vskode 'code') and nasionalisma (vsnasionalisme 'nationalism'), he was unsuccessful.[11] This spelling convention was instead survived inBalinese orthography[clarification needed].
Indonesian has fourdiphthong phonemes only in open syllables.[97] They are:
/ai̯/:kedai ('shop'),pandai ('clever')
/au̯/:kerbau ('buffalo'),limau ('lime')
/oi̯/ (or/ʊi̯/ in Indonesian):amboi ('wow'), toilet ('toilet')
/ei̯/:survei ('survey'),geiser ('geyser')
Some analyses assume that these diphthongs are actually a monophthong followed by an approximant, so⟨ai⟩ represents/aj/,⟨au⟩ represents/aw/, and⟨oi⟩ represents/oj/. On this basis, there are no phonological diphthongs in Indonesian.[98]
Diphthongs are differentiated from two vowels in two syllables[how?], such as:
Theconsonants of Indonesian are shown above.[93][99] Non-native consonants that only occur in borrowed words, principally from Arabic and English, are shown in parentheses. Some analyses list 19 "primary consonants" for Indonesian as the 18 symbols that are not in parentheses in the table as well as the glottal stop[ʔ]. The secondary consonants /f/, /v/, /z/, /ʃ/ and /x/ only appear in loanwords. Only small amounts of speakers pronounce /v/ in loanwords as [v], most of them pronounce them as [f]. Likewise, /x/ is mostly replaced with [h] or [k] by some speakers. /ʃ/ is sometimes replaced with /s/, which was traditionally used as a substitute for /ʃ/ in older borrowings fromSanskrit, and /f/ is rarely replaced, though /p/ was substituted for /f/ in older borrowings such as kopi "coffee" fromDutch koffie. /z/ may occasionally be replaced with /s/ or /d͡ʒ/. [z] can also be an allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants.[100][101] According to some analyses, postalveolar affricates/tʃ/ and/dʒ/ are instead palatals[c] and[ɟ] in Indonesian.[102]
The consonants in Indonesian are influenced by other important languages in Indonesian history. The influences included schwa in final closed syllable (e.g. Indonesian pəcəl vs Malay pəcal), initial homorganic nasal stop clusters of ⟨mb⟩, ⟨nd⟩, and ⟨nj⟩ (e.g. Indonesianmbolos 'to malinger'), the consonant-semivowel clusters (e.g. Indonesianpria vs Malaypəria 'male'),[clarification needed] introduction of consonant clusters ⟨-ry-⟩ and ⟨-ly-⟩ (e.g. Indonesiangərilya vs Malaygərila 'guerrilla'), increased usage of initial ⟨w-⟩ (e.g.warta andbərita 'news') and intervocalic ⟨w-⟩, and increase of initial and post-consonant ⟨y⟩ [j]. These changes resulted from influences of local languages in Indonesia, such as Balinese, Madurese, Sundanese and especially Javanese, and foreign languages such as Arabic and Dutch.[59]
Orthographic note:
The sounds are represented orthographically by their symbols as above, except:
Indonesian has lightstress that falls on either the final orpenultimate syllable, depending on regional variations as well as the presence of the schwa (/ə/) in a word. It is generally the penultimate syllable that is stressed, unless its vowel is a schwa/ə/. If the penult has a schwa, then stress usually moves to the final syllable.[103]
However, there is some disagreement among linguists over whether stress isphonemic (unpredictable), with some analyses suggesting that there is no underlying stress in Indonesian.[99][104][105]
The classification of languages based on rhythm can be problematic.[106] Nevertheless, acoustic measurements suggest that Indonesian has more syllable-based rhythm than British English,[107] even though doubts remain about whether the syllable is the appropriate unit for the study of Malay prosody.[104]
Word order in Indonesian is generallysubject-verb-object (SVO), similar to that of most modernEuropean languages as well as English. However, considerable flexibility in word ordering exists, in contrast with languages such asJapanese orKorean, for instance, which always end clauses with verbs. Indonesian, while allowing for relatively flexible word orderings, does not mark forgrammatical case, nor does it make use ofgrammatical gender.
Indonesian words are composed of a root or a root plus derivational affixes. The root is the primary lexical unit of a word and is usually bisyllabic, of the shape CV(C)CV(C). Affixes are "glued" onto roots (which are either nouns or verbs) to alter or expand the primary meaning associated with a given root, effectively generating new words, for example,masak (to cook) may becomememasak (cooking),memasakkan (cook for),dimasak (be cooked),pemasak (a cook),masakan (a meal, cookery),termasak (accidentally cooked). There are four types of affixes:prefixes (awalan),suffixes (akhiran),circumfixes (apitan) andinfixes (sisipan). Affixes are categorized into noun, verb, and adjective affixes. Many initial consonants alternate in the presence of prefixes:sapu (to sweep) becomesmenyapu (sweeps/sweeping);panggil (to call) becomesmemanggil (calls/calling),tapis (to sieve) becomesmenapis (sieves).
Other examples of the use ofaffixes to change the meaning of a word can be seen with the wordajar (to teach):
ajar = to teach
ajari = to teach (imperative, locative)
ajarilah = to teach (jussive, locative)
ajarkan = to teach (imperative, causative/applicative)
ajarkanlah = to teach (jussive, causative/applicative)
Noun affixes are affixes that form nouns upon addition to root words. The following are examples of noun affixes:
Type of noun affixes
Affix
Example of root word
Example of derived word
Prefix
pə(r)- ~ pəng-
duduk (sit)
penduduk (population)
kə-
hendak (want)
kehendak (desire)
Infix
⟨əl⟩
tunjuk (point)
telunjuk (index finger, command)
⟨əm⟩
kelut (dishevelled)
kemelut (chaos, crisis)
⟨ər⟩
gigi (teeth)
gerigi (toothed blade)
Suffix
-an
bangun (wake up, raise)
bangunan (building)
Circumfix
kə-...-an
raja (king)
kerajaan (kingdom)
pə(r)-...-an pəng-...-an
kerja (work)
pekerjaan (occupation)
The prefixper- drops itsr beforer, l and frequently beforep, t, k. In some words it ispeng-; though formally distinct, these are treated as variants of the same prefix in Indonesian grammar books.
Adjective affixes are attached to root words to form adjectives:
Type of adjective affixes
Affix
Example of root word
Example of derived word
Prefix
tər-
panas (hot)
terpanas (hottest)
sə-
baik (good)
sebaik (as good as)
Infix
⟨əl⟩
serak (disperse)
selerak (messy)
⟨əm⟩
cerlang (radiant bright)
cemerlang (bright, excellent)
⟨ər⟩
sabut (husk)
serabut (dishevelled)
Circumfix
kə-...-an
barat (west)
kebaratan (westernized)
In addition to these affixes, Indonesian also has a lot of borrowed affixes from other languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic and English. For example,maha-,pasca-,eka-,bi-,anti-,pro- etc.
Common derivational affixes for nouns are peng-/per-/juru- (actor, instrument, or someone characterized by the root), -an (collectivity, similarity, object, place, instrument), ke-...-an (abstractions and qualities, collectivities), per-/peng-...-an (abstraction, place, goal or result).
Indonesian does not make use ofgrammatical gender, and there are only selected words that use naturalgender. For instance, the same word is used forhe/him andshe/her (dia oria) or forhis andher (dia,ia or-nya). No real distinction is made between "girlfriend" and "boyfriend", both of which can be referred to aspacar (although more colloquial terms ascewek girl/girlfriend andcowok boy/boyfriend can also be found). A majority of Indonesian words that refer to people generally have a form that does not distinguish between the natural genders. However, unlike English, distinction is made between older or younger.
There are some words that have gender: for instance,putri means "daughter" whileputra means "son";pramugara means "male flight attendant" whilepramugari means "female flight attendant". Another example isolahragawan, which means "sportsman", versusolahragawati, meaning "sportswoman". Often, words like these (or certain suffixes such as "-a" and "-i" or "-wan" and "wati") are absorbed from other languages (in these cases, fromSanskrit).In some regions of Indonesia such as Sumatra and Jakarta,abang (a gender-specific term meaning "older brother") is commonly used as a form of address for older siblings/males, whilekakak (a non-gender specific term meaning "older sibling") is often used to mean "older sister". Similarly, more direct influences from other languages, such as Javanese and Chinese, have also seen further use of other gendered words in Indonesian. For example:mas ("older brother"),mbak ("older sister"),koko ("older brother") andcici ("older sister").
Indonesian grammar does not regularly markplurals. In Indonesian, to change a singular into a plural one either repeats the word or addspara before it (the latter for living things only); for example, "students" can be eithermurid-murid orpara murid. Plurals are rarely used in Indonesian, especially in informal parlance. Reduplication is often mentioned as the formal way to express the plural form of nouns in Indonesian; however, in informal daily discourse, speakers of Indonesian usually use other methods to indicate the concept of something being "more than one". Reduplication may also indicate the conditions of variety and diversity as well, and not simply plurality.
Reduplication is commonly used to emphasise plurality; however, reduplication has many other functions. For example,orang-orang means "(all the) people", butorang-orangan means "scarecrow". Similarly, whilehati means "heart" or "liver",hati-hati is a verb meaning "to be careful". Also, not all reduplicated words are inherently plural, such asorang-orangan "scarecrow/scarecrows",biri-biri "a/some sheep" andkupu-kupu "butterfly/butterflies". Some reduplication is rhyming rather than exact, as insayur-mayur "(all sorts of) vegetables".
Distributive affixes derive mass nouns that are effectively plural:pohon "tree",pepohonan "flora, trees";rumah "house",perumahan "housing, houses";gunung "mountain",pegunungan "mountain range, mountains".
Quantity words come before the noun:seribu orang "a thousand people",beberapa pegunungan "a series of mountain ranges",beberapa kupu-kupu "some butterflies".
Plural in Indonesian serves just to explicitly mention the number of objects in sentence. For example,Ani membeli satu kilo mangga (Ani buys one kilogram of mangoes). In this case, "mangoes", which is plural, is not said asmangga-mangga because the plurality is implicit: the amounta kilogram means more than one mango rather than one giant mango. So, as it is logically, one does not change the singular into the plural form, because it is not necessary and considered apleonasm (in Indonesian often calledpemborosan kata).
Personal pronouns are not a separate part of speech, but a subset of nouns. They are frequently omitted, and there are numerous ways to say "you". Commonly the person's name, title, title with name, or occupation is used ("does Johnny want to go?", "would Madam like to go?"); kin terms, includingfictive kinship, are extremely common. However, there are also dedicated personal pronouns, as well as the demonstrative pronounsini "this, the" anditu "that, the".
From the perspective of a European language, Indonesian boasts a wide range of different pronouns, especially to refer to the addressee (the so-called second person pronouns). These are used to differentiate several parameters of the person they are referred to, such as the social rank and the relationship between the addressee and the speaker. Indonesian also exhibitspronoun avoidance, often preferring kinship terms and titles over pronouns, particularly for respectful forms of address.
The table below provides an overview of the most commonly and widely used pronouns in the Indonesian language:
Common pronouns
Person
Respect
Singular
Plural
1st person exclusive
Informal, Familiar
aku
I
kami
we (not including the listener)
Standard, Polite
saya
1st person inclusive
All
kita
we (including the listener)
2nd person
Familiar
kamu, engkau, kau
you
kalian
you all
Polite
Anda
Anda sekalian
3rd person
Familiar
dia, ia
s/he, it
mereka
they
Polite
beliau
s/he
First person pronouns
Notable among the personal-pronoun system is a distinction betweentwo forms of "we":kita (you and me, you and us) andkami (us, but not you). The distinction is not always followed in colloquial Indonesian.
Saya andaku are the two major forms of "I".Saya is the more formal form, whereasaku is used with family, friends, and between lovers. Colloquially,gue orgua (derived from Hokkien) is often used. However, this is only used when talking with close friends, and not used in family context as it is considered not polite.Sahaya is an old or literary form ofsaya.Sa(ha)ya may also be used for "we", but in such cases it is usually used withsekalian orsemua "all"; this form is ambiguous as to whether it corresponds with inclusivekami or exclusivekita. Less common arehamba "slave",hamba tuan, hamba datuk (all extremely humble),beta (a royal addressing oneselves),patik (a commoner addressing a royal),kami (royal or editorial "we"),kita,təman, andkawan.
Second person pronouns
There are three common forms of "you",Anda (polite),kamu (familiar), andkalian "all" (commonly used as a plural form of you, slightly informal).Anda is used with strangers, recent acquaintances, in advertisements, in business, and when you wish to show distance, whilekamu is used in situations where the speaker would useaku for "I". Colloquially,lu (derived from Hokkien) is often used among close friends, just like howgue orgua is used when referring to "I".Anda sekalian is polite plural. Particularly in conversation, respectful titles likeBapak/Pak "father" (used for any older male),Ibu/Bu "mother" (any older woman), andtuan "sir" are often used instead of pronouns.[110][better source needed]
Engkau (əngkau), commonly shortened tokau.
Third person pronouns
The common word for "s/he" and "they" isia, which has the object and emphatic/focused formdia.Bəliau "his/her Honour" is respectful. As with "you", names and kin terms are extremely common.Mereka "someone",mereka itu, ororang itu "those people" are used for "they".
Regional varieties
There are a large number of other words for "I" and "you", many regional, dialectical, or borrowed from local languages.Saudara "you" (male) andsaudari (female) (pluralsaudara-saudara orsaudari-saudari) show utmost respect.Daku "I" anddikau "you" are poetic or romantic. Indonesiangua "I" (fromHokkienChinese:我;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:góa) andlu "you" (Chinese:汝;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:lú) are slang and extremely informal.
The pronounsaku, kamu, engkau, ia, kami, andkita are indigenous to Indonesian.
Aku, kamu, engkau, andia have short possessiveenclitic forms. All others retain their full forms like other nouns, as does emphaticdia:meja saya, meja kita, meja anda, meja dia "my table, our table, your table, his/her table".
Possessed forms ofmeja "table"
Pronoun
Enclitic
Possessed form
aku
-ku
mejaku (my table)
kamu
-mu
mejamu (your table)
ia
-nya
mejanya (his, her, their table)
There are alsoproclitic forms ofaku,ku- andkau-. These are used when there is no emphasis on the pronoun:
Kudengar raja itu menderita penyakit kulit.Aku mengetahui ilmu kedokteran.Akulah yang akan mengobati dia.
"It has come to my attention that the King has a skin disease. I am skilled in medicine.I will cure him."
Hereku-verb is used for a general report,aku verb is used for a factual statement, and emphaticaku-lah meng-verb (≈ "I am the one who...") for focus on the pronoun.[111]
The suffix-nya is a special case: it can be also used to markdefiniteness, or to link two nouns in possession (his genitive). It is also even extended to pronouns and names. However, this usage has been occasionally criticized.[112]
There are twodemonstrative pronouns in Indonesian.Ini "this, these" is used for a noun which is generally near to the speaker.Itu "that, those" is used for a noun which is generally far from the speaker. Either may sometimes be equivalent to English "the". There is no difference between singular and plural. However, plural can be indicated through duplication of a noun followed by aini oritu. The wordyang "which" is often placed before demonstrative pronouns to give emphasis and a sense of certainty, particularly when making references or enquiries about something/ someone, like English "this one" or "that one".
Verbs are notinflected for person or number, and they are not marked for tense; tense is instead denoted by time adverbs (such as "yesterday") or by other tense indicators, such assudah "already" andbelum "not yet". On the other hand, there is a complex system of verb affixes to render nuances of meaning and to denotevoice or intentional and accidentalmoods. Some of these affixes are ignored in colloquial speech.
Examples of these are the prefixesdi- (patient focus, traditionally called "passive voice", with OVA word order in the third person, and OAV in the first or second persons),meng- (agent focus, traditionally called "active voice", with AVO word order),memper- anddiper- (causative, agent and patient focus),ber- (stative or habitual; intransitive VS order), andter- (agentless actions, such as those which are involuntary, sudden, stative or accidental, for VA = VO order); the suffixes-kan (causative orbenefactive) and-i (locative, repetitive, or exhaustive); and the circumfixesber-...-an (plural subject, diffuse action) andke-...-an (unintentional or potential action or state).
duduk to sit down
mendudukkan to sit someone down, give someone a seat, to appoint
menduduki to sit on, to occupy
didudukkan to be given a seat, to be appointed
diduduki to be sat on, to be occupied
terduduk to sink down, to come to sit
kedudukan to be situated
Forms inter- andke-...-an are often equivalent to adjectives in English.
There are grammatical adjectives in Indonesian.Stative verbs are often used for this purpose as well. Adjectives are always placed after the noun that they modify.
Indonesian
Gloss
English
Hutan hijau
forest green
(The) green forest
Hutan itu hijau
forest that green
That/the forest is green
Kereta yang merah
carriage which red
(The) carriage which is red = the red carriage
Kereta merah
carriage red
Red carriage
Dia orang yang terkenal sekali
he/she person which famous very
He/she is a very famous person
Orang terkenal
person famous
Famous person
Orang ini terkenal sekali
person this famous very
This person is very famous
To say that something "is" an adjective, the determiners "itu" and "ini" ("that" and "this") are often used. For example, in the sentence "anjing itu galak", the use of "itu" gives a meaning of "the/that dog is ferocious", while "anjing ini galak", gives a meaning of "this dog is ferocious". However, if "itu" or "ini" were not to be used, then "anjing galak" would only mean "ferocious dog", a plain adjective without any stative implications. The all-purpose determiner, "yang", is also often used before adjectives, hence "anjing yang galak" also means "ferocious dog" or more literally "dog which is ferocious"; "yang" will often be used for clarity. Hence, in a sentence such as "saya didekati oleh anjing galak" which means "I was approached by a ferocious dog", the use of the adjective "galak" is not stative at all.
Often the "ber-" intransitive verb prefix, or the "ter-" stative prefix is used to express the meaning of "to be...". For example, "beda" means "different", hence "berbeda" means "to be different"; "awan" means "cloud", hence "berawan" means "cloudy". Using the "ter-" prefix, implies a state of being. For example, "buka" means "open", hence "terbuka" means "is opened"; "tutup" means "closed/shut", hence "tertutup" means "is closed/shut".
Adjectives,demonstrative determiners, andpossessive determiners follow the noun they modify.
Indonesian does not have agrammatical subject in the sense that English does.[citation needed] In intransitive clauses, the noun comes before the verb. When there is both anagent and anobject, these are separated by the verb (OVA or AVO), with the difference encoded in the voice of the verb. OVA, commonly but inaccurately called "passive", is the basic and most common word order.
Either the agent or object or both may be omitted. This is commonly done to accomplish one of two things:
1) Adding a sense of politeness and respect to a statement or question
For example, a polite shop assistant in a store may avoid the use of pronouns altogether and ask:
Ellipses of pronoun (agent & object)
Literal English
Idiomatic English
Bisadibantu?
Can +to be helped?
Can (I)help (you)?
2) Agent or object is unknown, not important, or understood from context
For example, a friend may enquire as to when you bought your property, to which you may respond:
Ellipses of pronoun (understood agent)
Literal English
Idiomatic English
Rumah inidibeli lima tahun yang lalu
House this +be purchased five-year(s) ago
The house 'was purchased' five years ago
Ultimately, the choice of voice and therefore word order is a choice between actor and patient and depends quite heavily on the language style and context.
Word order is frequently modified forfocus or emphasis, with the focused word usually placed at the beginning of the clause and followed by a slight pause (a break inintonation):
Saya pergi ke pasar kemarin "I went to the market yesterday" – neutral, or with focus on the subject.
Kemarin, saya pergi ke pasar "Yesterday I went to the market" – emphasis on yesterday.
Ke pasar, saya pergi kemarin "To the market I went yesterday" – emphasis on where I went yesterday.
Pergi ke pasar, saya, kemarin "To the market went I yesterday" – emphasis on the process of going to the market.
The last two are more likely to be encountered in speech than in writing.
Measure words are also found in English such astwo head of cattle ora loaf of bread, where*two cattle anda bread[a] would be ungrammatical. The wordsatu reduces tose-/sə/, as it does in other compounds:
Measure word
Used for measuring
Literal translation
Example
buah
things (in general), large things, abstract nouns houses, cars, ships, mountains; books, rivers, chairs, some fruits, thoughts, etc.
'fruit'
dua buah meja (two tables), lima buah rumah (five houses)
ekor
animals
'tail'
seekor ayam (a chicken), tiga ekor kambing (three goats)
orang
human beings
'person'
seorang laki-laki (a man), enam orang petani (six farmers), seratus orang murid (a hundred students)
things in thin layers or sheets paper, cloth, feathers, hair
'leaf'
sepuluh helai pakaian (ten cloths)
kəping keping
flat fragments, slabs of stone, pieces of wood, pieces of bread, land, coins, paper
'chip'
sekeping uang logam (a coin)
pucuk
letters, firearms, needles
'sprout'
sepucuk senjata (a weapon)
bilah
things which cut lengthwise and thicker
'blade'
sebilah kayu (a piece of wood)
bidanɡ
things shaped square or which can be measured with number
'field'
sebidang tanah/lahan (an area)
potong
things that are cut bread
'cut'
sepotong roti (slices of bread)
utas
nets, cords, ribbons
'thread'
seutas tali (a rope)
carik
things easily torn, like paper
'shred'
secarik kertas (a piece of paper)
Example:Measure words are not necessary just to say "a":burung "a bird, birds". Usingse- plus a measure word is closer to English "one" or "a certain":
Indonesian is written with theLatin script. It was originally based on theDutch spelling and still bears some similarities to it. Consonants are represented in a way similar toItalian, although⟨c⟩ is always/tʃ/ (like English⟨ch⟩),⟨g⟩ is always/ɡ/ ("hard") and⟨j⟩ represents/dʒ/ as it does in English. In addition,⟨ny⟩ represents thepalatal nasal/ɲ/,⟨ng⟩ is used for thevelar nasal/ŋ/ (which can occur word-initially),⟨sy⟩ for/ʃ/ (English⟨sh⟩) and⟨kh⟩ for thevoiceless velar fricative/x/. Both/e/ and/ə/ are represented with⟨e⟩.
Spelling changes in the language that have occurred since Indonesian independence include:
Introduced in 1901, thevan Ophuijsen system (named from the advisor of the system, Charles Adriaan van Ophuijsen) was the first standardization of romanized spelling. It was most influenced by the then currentDutch spelling system and based on the dialect of Malay spoken in Johor.[11]: 92 In 1947, the spelling was changed intoRepublican Spelling orSoewandi Spelling (named by at the time Minister of Education, Soewandi). This spelling changed formerly spelledoe intou (however, the spelling influenced other aspects in orthography, for example writing reduplicated words). All of the other changes were a part of thePerfected Spelling System, an officially mandatedspelling reform in 1972. Some of the old spellings (which were derived fromDutch orthography) do survive in proper names; for example, the name of a former president of Indonesia is still sometimes writtenSoeharto, and the central Java city ofYogyakarta is sometimes writtenJogjakarta. In time, the spelling system is further updated and the latest update of Indonesian spelling system issued on 16 August 2022 by Head of Language Development and Fostering Agency decree No 0424/I/BS.00.01/2022.[97]
Indonesian follows the letter names of theDutch alphabet. Indonesian alphabet has aphonemic orthography; words are spelled the way they are pronounced, with few exceptions. The letters Q, V and X are rarely encountered, being chiefly used for writingloanwords.
Pie chart showing percentage of other languages contribute on loan words of Indonesian language
Dutch (42.5%)
English (20.9%)
Arabic (19.0%)
Sanskrit and Hindi (9.00%)
Chinese (3.60%)
Portuguese (2.00%)
Tamil (2.00%)
Persian (1.00%)
As a modern variety of Malay, Indonesian has been influenced by other languages, includingDutch,English,Greek (where the name of the country, Indonesia, comes from),Arabic,Chinese,Portuguese,Sanskrit,Tamil,Hindi, andPersian. The vast majority of Indonesian words, however, come from the root lexical stock of Austronesian (including Old Malay).[40]
The study of Indonesian etymology and loan words reveals both its historical and social contexts. Examples are the early Sanskrit borrowings from the 7th century during the trading era, the borrowings from Arabic and Persian during the time of the establishment of Islam in particular, and those from Dutch during the colonial period. Linguistic history and cultural history are clearly linked.[114]
Note: This list only lists foreign languages, thus omitting numerous local languages of Indonesia that have also been major lexical donors, such as Javanese, Sundanese, Betawi, etc.
TheSanskrit influence came from contacts withIndia since ancient times. The words were either borrowed directly from India or with the intermediary of theOld Javanese language. AlthoughHinduism andBuddhism are no longer the major religions of Indonesia,Sanskrit, which was the language vehicle for these religions, is still held in high esteem and is comparable with the status ofLatin inEnglish and other Western European languages. Sanskrit is also the main source forneologisms, which are usually formed from Sanskrit roots. The loanwords from Sanskrit cover many aspects ofreligion,art and everyday life.
FromSanskrit came such words as स्वर्गsurga (heaven), भाषाbahasa (language), काचkaca (glass, mirror), राज-raja (king), मनुष्यmanusia (mankind), चिन्ताcinta (love), भूमिbumi (earth), भुवनbuana (world), आगमagama (religion), स्त्रीIstri (wife/woman), जयJaya (victory/victorious), पुरPura (city/temple/place) राक्षसRaksasa (giant/monster), धर्मDharma (rule/regulations), मन्त्रMantra (words/poet/spiritual prayers), क्षत्रियSatria (warrior/brave/soldier), विजयWijaya (greatly victorious/great victory), etc.Sanskrit words and sentences are also used in names, titles, and mottos of the Indonesian National Police and Indonesian Armed Forces such as:Bhayangkara,Laksamana,Jatayu,Garuda,Dharmakerta Marga Reksyaka,Jalesveva Jayamahe,Kartika Eka Paksi,Swa Bhuwana Paksa,Rastra Sewakottama,Yudha Siaga, etc.
BecauseSanskrit has long been known in theIndonesian archipelago, Sanskrit loanwords, unlike those from other languages, have entered the basic vocabulary of Indonesian to such an extent that, for many, they are no longer perceived to be foreign. Therefore, one could write a short story using mostly Sanskrit-derived words. The short story below consists of approximately 80 words in Indonesian that are all derived from Sanskrit, as well as a few nativefunction words and affixes.
The relationship with China has been going since the 7th century when Chinese merchants traded in some areas of the archipelago such asRiau,West Borneo,East Kalimantan, andNorth Maluku. As the kingdom of Srivijaya appeared and flourished, China opened diplomatic relations with the kingdom in order to secure trade and seafaring. In 922, Chinese travelers visitedKahuripan inEast Java. Since the 11th century, hundreds of thousands of Chinese migrants leftMainland China and settled in many parts of Nusantara (now called Indonesia).
TheChinese loanwords are usually concerned with cuisine, trade or often just things exclusively Chinese. Words of Chinese origin (presented here with accompanyingHokkien/ Mandarin pronunciation derivatives as well astraditional andsimplified characters) includeloteng, (樓/層 = lóu/céng – [upper] floor/ level),mie (麵 > 面 Hokkien mī – noodles),lumpia (潤餅 (Hokkien = lūn-piáⁿ) – springroll),cawan (茶碗 cháwǎn – teacup),teko (茶壺 > 茶壶 = cháhú [Mandarin], teh-ko [Hokkien] = teapot), 苦力 kuli (= 苦 khu (hard) and 力 li (energy) – coolie) and even the widely used slang termsgua andlu (from the Hokkien 'goa' 我 and 'lu/li' 汝 – meaning 'I/ me' and 'you').
The wordmasjid (mosque) in Indonesian derived fromArabic wordmasjid (مسجد).
Many Arabic words were brought and spread by merchants fromArab Peninsula likeArabian,Persian, and from the western part of India,Gujarat where many Muslims lived.[116] As a result, many Indonesian words come from the Arabic language. Especially since the late 12th century, Old Malay was heavily influenced by the language and produced many great literary works such asSyair,Babad,Hikayat, and Suluk. This century is known asThe Golden Age of Indonesian Literature.[116]
Many loanwords fromArabic are mainly concerned with religion, in particular withIslam, and by extension, with greetings such as the word, "selamat" (fromArabic:سلامةsalāma = health, soundness)[117] means "safe" or "lucky". Words ofArabic origin includedunia (fromArabic:دنياdunyā = the present world), names of days (exceptMinggu), such asSabtu (fromArabic:سبتsabt-u = Saturday),iklan (آعلانiʻlan = advertisement),kabar (خبرkhabar = news),Kursi (كرسيkursī = a chair),ijazah (إجازةijāza = 'permission', certificate of authority, e.g. a school diploma certificate),kitab (كتابkitāb = book),tertib (ترتيبtartīb = order/arrangement) andkamus (قاموسqāmūs = dictionary).Allah (Arabic:الله), as is mostly the case forArabic speakers, this is the word forGod even inChristianBible translations. Many early Bible translators, when they came across some unusualHebrew words or proper names, used the Arabic cognates. In the newer translations this practice is discontinued. They now turn toGreek names or use the original Hebrew Word. For example, the nameJesus was initially translated as'Isa (Arabic:عيسى), but is now spelt asYesus. Several ecclesiastical terms derived from Arabic still exist in Indonesian language. Indonesian word forbishop isuskup (fromArabic:أسقفusquf = bishop). This in turn makes the Indonesian term forarchbishopuskup agung (lit.'great bishop'), which is combining the Arabic word with an Old Javanese word. The termimam (fromArabic:إمامimām = leader, prayer leader) is used to translate a Catholicpriest, beside its more common association with an Islamic prayer leader. Some Protestant denominations refer to their congregationjemaat (fromArabic:جماعةjamāʻa = group, a community). Even the name of theBible in Indonesian translation isAlkitab (fromArabic:الكتابal-kitāb = the book), which literally means "the Book".
The Indonesian word ofbioskop is derived fromDutchbioscoop (movie theater).
The former colonial power, theNetherlands, left a sizeable amount of vocabulary that can be seen in words such aspolisi (frompolitie = police),kualitas (fromkwaliteit = quality),aktual (fromactueel = current),rokok (fromroken = smoking cigarettes),korupsi (fromcorruptie = corruption),kantor (fromkantoor = office),resleting (fromritssluiting = zipper),pelopor (fromvoorloper = frontrunner),persneling (fromversnelling = transmission gear),setrum (fromstroom = electricity current),maskapai (frommaatschappij = company),apotek (fromapotheek = pharmacy),handuk (fromhanddoek = towel),setrika (fromstrijkijzer = clothes iron),bioskop (frombioscoop =movie theater),spanduk (fromspandoeken = banner),korsleting (fromkortsluiting = short circuit),om (fromoom = uncle),tante (fromtante = aunt),traktir (fromtrakteer = treat) andgratis (fromgratis = free).
TheseDutch loanwords, and many other non-Ibero-Romance, European language loanwords that came via Dutch, cover all aspects of life. Some Dutch loanwords, having clusters of several consonants, pose difficulties to speakers of Indonesian. This problem is usually solved by insertion of theschwa. For example, Dutchschroef[ˈsxruf] >sekrup[səˈkrup] (screw (n.)). One scholar argues that 25% of Indonesian words are inspired by the Dutch language.[119]
Before the standardization of the language, many Indonesian words follow standard Dutch alphabet and pronunciation such as "oe" for vowel "u" or "dj" for consonant "j" [dʒ]. As a result, Malay words are written with that orthography such as:passer for the wordPasar ordjalan for the wordjalan, older Indonesian generation tend to have their name written in such order as well.
Many English words were incorporated into Indonesian throughglobalization. Many Indonesians, however, mistake words already adopted from Dutch as words borrowed from English. Indonesian adopts English words with standardization.[120] For example:aksesori fromaccessory.[121][122] However, there are several words that directly borrowed without standardization that have same meanings in English such as:bus,data,domain,detail,internet,film,golf,lift,monitor,radio,radar,unit,safari,sonar,video, andriil as real.[122]
Modern Indonesian draws many of its words from foreign sources; there are manysynonyms. For example, Indonesian has three words for "book", i.e.pustaka (from Sanskrit),kitab (from Arabic) andbuku (from Dutchboek); however, each has a slightly different meaning. Apustaka is often connected with ancient wisdom or sometimes with esoteric knowledge. A derived form,perpustakaan means a library. Akitab is usually a religious scripture or a book containing moral guidance. The Indonesian words for theBible andGospel areAlkitab andInjil, both directly derived from Arabic. The book containing the penal code is also called thekitab.Buku is the most common word for books.
There are direct borrowings from various other languages of the world, such askaraoke (fromカラオケ) fromJapanese, andebi (fromえび) which means dried shrimp. Many words that originally are adopted through the Dutch language today however often are mistaken as English due to the similarity in the Germanic nature of both languages. In some cases the words are replaced by English language through globalization: although the wordarbei (Dutch:aardbei) still literally means strawberry in Indonesian, today the usage of the wordstroberi is more common.Greek words such asdemokrasi (fromδημοκρατίαdēmokratía),filosofi,filsafat (both fromφιλοσοφίαphilosophia),mitos (fromμῦθοςmythos) came through Dutch, Arabic and Portuguese respectively.
It is notable that some of the loanwords that exist in both Indonesian and Malaysian languages are different in spelling and pronunciation mainly due to how they derived their origins: Malaysian utilises words that reflect theEnglish usage (as used by its former colonial power, theBritish), while Indonesian uses aLatinate form (e.g.aktiviti (Malaysian) vs.aktivitas (Indonesian),universiti (Malaysian) vs.universitas (Indonesian)).
Since the time of the independence of Indonesia, Indonesian has seen a surge ofneologisms which are formed asacronyms (less commonly alsoinitialisms) orblend words.
Common acronyms areABRI (pronounced[ˈabri], fromAngkatan Bersenjata Republik Indonesia 'Indonesian National Armed Forces'),SIM (pronounced[sim], fromsurat izin mengemudi 'driving licence'),SARA (pronounced[ˈsara], fromsuku, agama, ras, antargolongan 'ethnic group, religion, race, inter-group [matters]', used when referring to the background of intercommunal conflicts),HAM (pronounced[ham], fromhak asasi manusia 'human rights').
Blend words/portmanteau are very common in Indonesian, and have become a productive tool of word formation in both formal and colloquial Indonesian. Examples from official usage include departments and officeholders (e.g.Menlu <Mentri Luar Negeri 'Foreign Minister',Kapolda <Kepala kepolisian daerah 'Head of Regional Police') or names of provinces and districts (Sulut <Sulawesi Utara 'North Sulawesi',Jabar <Jawa Barat 'West Java'. Other commonly used portmanteau includepuskesmas <pusat kesehatan masyarakat 'community health center',sembako <sembilan bahan pokok 'basic commodities' (lit.'nine basic commodities').[11]: 145–149
BIPA (Bahasa Indonesia untuk Penutur Asing) book, which helps foreigners learn the Indonesian language
Over the past few years, interest in learning Indonesian has grown among non-Indonesians.[127] Various universities have started to offer courses that emphasise the teaching of the language to non-Indonesians. In addition to national universities, private institutions have also started to offer courses, like the Indonesia Australia Language Foundation and theLembaga Indonesia Amerika. As early as 1988, teachers of the language have expressed the importance of a standardizedBahasa Indonesia bagi Penutur Asing (also calledBIPA, literallyIndonesian Language for Foreign Speaker) materials (mostly books), and this need became more evident during the 4th International Congress on the Teaching of Indonesian to Speakers of Other Languages held in 2001.[128]
Since 2013, the Indonesian embassy in the Philippines has given basic Indonesian language courses to 16 batches of Filipino students, as well as training to members of theArmed Forces of the Philippines.Due to increasing demand among students, the embassy will open an intermediate Indonesian language course later in the year.[needs update] In an interview,Department of Education SecretaryArmin Luistro[129] said that the country's government should promote Indonesian or Malay, which are related to Filipino. Thus, the possibility of offering it as an optional subject in public schools is being studied.
The Indonesian embassy in Washington, D.C., United States, also began offering free Indonesian language courses at the beginner and intermediate level.[130]
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.
Indonesian:Pernyataan Umum tentang Hak Asasi Manusia
Semua orang dilahirkan merdeka dan mempunyai martabat dan hak-hak yang sama. Mereka dikaruniai akal dan hati nurani dan hendaknya bergaul satu sama lain dalam semangat persaudaraan.
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