Sundanese is mainly spoken on the west side of the island ofJava, in an area known as Tatar Sunda (Pasundan).[5] However, Sundanese is also spoken in the western part ofCentral Java, especially inBrebes andCilacap Regency, because these areas were previously under the control of theGaluh Kingdom. Many place names in Cilacap are still Sundanese names such asDayeuhluhur, Cimanggu, Cipari, even as far asBanyumas, such as Cilongok, Cingebul, Gumelar, and others.
In addition, according to some Sundanese language experts until around the6th century, the area of speech reached around theDieng Plateau inCentral Java, based on the name "Dieng" which is considered the name Sundanese (from the origin of the worddihyang which is anOld Sundanese word). Along with transmigration and immigration carried out by the Sundanese ethnics, speakers of this language have spread beyond theisland of Java. For example, inLampung,South Sumatra,Bengkulu,Riau,West Kalimantan,Southeast Sulawesi, and even outside the country of Indonesia, such asTaiwan,Japan,Australia, and other countries, a significant number of ethnic Sundanese live in areas outside thePasundan.
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.
The word "Sunda" in several scripts that have been used to write SundaneseThe first page from manuscript ofCarita Waruga Guru which use theOld Sundanese script and theOld Sundanese language.
The language has been written in differentwriting systems throughout history. The earliest attested documents of the Sundanese language were written in theOld Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda Kuno). After the arrival of Islam, thePegon script is also used, usually for religious purposes. TheLatin script then began to be used after the arrival of Europeans. In modern times, most of Sundanese literature is written in Latin script. Meanwhile, the regional governments ofWest Java andBanten have been actively promoting the use of StandardSundanese script (Aksara Sunda Baku) in public places and on road signs. Although Pegon script is now mostly used inpesantrens (Islamic boarding schools) and Sundanese Islamic literature,[8] it can still occasionally be seen in public places and on road signs in certain areas, such asLembang andTasikmalaya.[9][10]
According to Müller-Gotama (2001) there are 18 consonants in the Sundanese phonology:/b/,/tʃ/,/d/,/ɡ/,/h/,/dʒ/,/k/,/l/,/m/,/n/,/p/,/r/,/s/,/ŋ/,/t/,/ɲ/,/w/,/j/; however, influences from foreign languages have introduced several additional consonants such as/f/,/v/,/z/ (as infonem,qur'an,xerox,zakat). The consonantal phonemes are transcribed with the letters p, b, t, d, k, g, c/t͡ʃ/, j/d͡ʒ/, h, ng (/ŋ/), ny/ɲ/, m, n, s/s/, w, l, r/r~ɾ/, and y/j/.Other consonants that originally appear in Indonesian loanwords are mostly transferred into native consonants: f/v/f/ → p, sy/ʃ/ → s, z/z/ → j, and kh/x/ → h.
Apart from the two previous levels, there is actually one more lowest level, namelycohag (rough). This level is only used when angry or just to show intimacy between speakers. This register can only be found in theSundanese Priangan dialect, while other dialects such asBantenese Language, generally do not recognize this register.
For many words, there are distinctloma andlemes forms, e.g.arék (loma) vs.badé (lemes) "want",maca (loma) vs.maos (lemes) "read". In thelemes 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" (theloma form isimah).
Other Austronesian languages (especially those in western Indonesia) commonly usereduplication to create plural forms. However, Sundanese inserts thear infix into the stem word. If the stem word starts withl, or containsr following the infix, the infixar becomesal. Also, as with other Sundanese infixes (such asum), if the word starts with vowel, the infix becomes a prefix. Examples:
Mangga téh, tarahuna haneut kénéh. "Please ma'am, the bean curds are still warm/hot." The plural form oftahu 'bean curd, tofu' is formed by infixingar after the initial consonant.
Barudak leutik lalumpatan. "Small children running around."Barudak "children" is formed frombudak (child) with thear infix; inlumpat (run) thear infix becomesal becauselumpat starts withl.
Ieu kaén batikaralus sadayana. "All of these batik clothes are beautiful." Formed fromalus (nice, beautiful, good) with the infixar that becomes a prefix becausealus starts with a vowel. It denotes the adjective "beautiful" for the plural subject/noun (batik clothes).
Siswa sakola éta mah balageur. "The students of that school are well-behaved." Formed frombageur ("good-behaving, nice, polite, helpful") with the infixar, which becomesal because ofr in the root, to denote the adjective "well-behaved" for plural students.
However, it is reported that this use ofal instead ofar (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 adjectivecuriga (suspicious) iscaruriga and not *caluriga, because the 'r' in the root occurs at the start of the following syllable.[13]
The prefix can be reduplicated to denotevery-, 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".
Most active forms of Sundanese verbs are identical to the root, as withdiuk "sit" ordahar "eat". Some others depend on the initial phoneme in the root:
Initial/d/,/b/,/f/,/ɡ/,/h/,/j/,/l/,/r/,/w/,/z/ can be put after prefixnga like inngadahar.
Initial/i/,/e/,/u/,/a/,/o/ can be put after prefixng like innginum "drink".
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.
In Priangan Sundanese, Polite negation is done by adding ahenteu (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.
Abditeu acan neda. "I have not eaten yet."
In this sentence, "acan" is used to signpost that the speaker has not done something, but they will do it in a short notice.
Buku abdi mahsanés nu ieu. "My book is not this one."
Other words that can be used to negate clauses aremoal (to signpost that the speaker is not going to do something) andalim (to show that the speaker does not want to do something). Other Sundanese dialects may have different ways to negate statements.
There are a wide range of casual negation helper words. In Priangan Sundanese, this can be done with a number of words.
Urangacan dahar. "I have not eaten yet."
The shorter version,can, is also commonly used especially in spoken speech.
Buku Urang mahlain nu ieu. "My book is not this one."
The wordlain can be used as a casual variant ofsanés.
Moal and its longer variantmoal waka can also be used casually. Other words includeteu hayang (which can also sound aggressive depending on context) andembung (which is somewhat a casual counterpart ofalim).
Sundanese has three generic prepositions for spatial expressions:[14]
di: 'in', 'at' etc., indicating position
dina/na: 'on', 'at' etc., indicating specific position
ka: 'to', indicating direction (from places like city, country, buildings, rooms, street, human, entities, etc. and treating the noun as a place where something happens)
kana: 'to', indicating specific direction (from things, tools, containers, plants, organs or parts of body, etc. and treating the noun as an object)
ti: 'from', indicating origin
tina: 'from', indicating specific origin
h
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:[15]
Formal
Polite
Gloss
di jero
di lebet
inside
di luar
di luar
outside
di gigir
di gédéng
beside
di luhur
di luhur
above
di handap
di handap
below
di tukang
di pengker
behind
di hareup
di payun
in front
Di gigir/luhur/handap/tukang/hareup (alsoka 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:
di luhur bumi – 'on top of the house'
dina luhur lomari – 'on top of the cupboard'
ti pengker bumi – 'from behind the house', alternative version: pengkereun bumi
tina pengker lomari – 'from behind the cupboard'
Formal:
di luhureun imah – 'on top of the house'
dina luhureun lomari – 'on top of the cupboard'
ti tukangeun imah – 'from behind the house'
tina tukangeun lomari – 'from behind the cupboard'
Di jero,di luar and the polite formsluhur &pengker can be used both with and without a following noun.
The following texts are excerpts from article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in Sundanese, along with the original declaration in English.
Sundanese in Latin script
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.[16]
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.[17]
^Müller-Gotama, Franz (2001).Sundanese. Languages of the World. Materials. Vol. 369. Munich: LINCOM Europa.
^Anderson, E. A. (1997). "The use of speech levels in Sundanese". In Clark, M. (ed.).Papers in Southeast Asian Linguistics No. 16. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 1–45.doi:10.15144/PL-A90.1.
^Bennett, Wm G. (2015).The Phonology of Consonants: Harmony, Dissimilation, and Correspondence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 132.
Blust, Robert (2013).The Austronesian languages. Asia-Pacific Linguistics 8 (revised ed.). Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University.hdl:1885/10191.ISBN9781922185075.
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