Sundanese is mainly spoken on the west side of the island of Java, in an area known as Tatar Sunda (Pasundan). However, Sundanese is also spoken in the western part of Central Java, especially in Brebes and Cilacap Regency, because these areas were previously under the control of the Galuh Kingdom. Many place names in Cilacap are still Sundanese names such as Dayeuhluhur, Cimanggu, Cipari, even as far as Banyumas, such as Cilongok, Cingebul, Gumelar, and others.
Until 1600 AD, Sundanese was the state language in the kingdoms of Salakanagara, Tarumanagara, Sunda, Galuh, Pajajaran, and Sumedang Larang. During this period, Sundanese was heavily influenced by the Sanskrit language as seen in the Batu Tapak Kaki Kiri Nyoreang inscription at the time of King Purnawarman, using the Pallava script. Sundanese at that time was used in the fields of state, art, and daily life, many religious books were written in Sundanese and used Old Sundanese script such as the Sanghyang Siksa Kandang Karesian Manuscript, Carita Parahyangan, Amanat Galunggung, and Guru Talapakan.
In addition, according to some Sundanese language experts until around the 6th century, the area of speech reached around the Dieng Plateau in Central Java, based on the name "Dieng" which is considered the name Sundanese (from the origin of the word dihyang which is an Old Sundanese word). Along with transmigration and immigration carried out by the Sundanese ethnics, speakers of this language have spread beyond the island of Java. For example, in Lampung, South Sumatra, Bengkulu, Riau, West Kalimantan, Southeast Sulawesi, and even outside the country of Indonesia, such as Taiwan, Japan, Australia, and other countries, a significant number of ethnic Sundanese live in areas outside the Pasundan.
Dialects
Sundanese has several dialects, conventionally described according to the locations of the people:[5]
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 language has been written in different writing systems throughout history. The earliest attested documents of the Sundanese language were written in the Old Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda Kuno). After the arrival of Islam, the Pegon script is also used, usually for religious purposes. The Latin script then began to be used after the arrival of Europeans. In modern times, most of Sundanese literature is written in Latin. Meanwhile, the regional governments of West Java and Banten have been actively promoting the use of Standard Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda Baku) in public places and on road signs. Although Pegon script is now mostly used in pesantrens (Islamic boarding schools) and Sundanese Islamic literature,[6] it can still occasionally be seen in public places and on road signs in certain areas, such as Lembang and Tasikmalaya.[7][8]
Phonology
Sundanese orthography is highly phonemic (see also Sundanese script).
Vowels
There are seven vowels: a /a/, é /ɛ/, i /i/, o /ɔ/, u /u/, e /ə/, and eu /ɨ/.[9]
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 in fonem, 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.
Epenthetic semivowels /w/ and /j/ are inserted after a high vowel immediately followed by another vowel, as in the words:
kuéh – /kuwɛh/
muih – /muwih/
béar – /bejar/
miang – /mijaŋ/
eweuh – /ɜwɜh/
Register
Sundanese has an elaborate system of register distinguishing levels of formality.[10] At the beginning of speech level development, it was known 6 levels of Sundanese language: basa kasar (rough), sedeng (medium), lemes (polite), lemes pisan (very polite), kasar pisan (very rough), and basa panengah (intermediate). But since the 1988 Congress of Sundanese Language in Bogor, the speech level has been narrowed to only two parts: basa hormat (respectful) and basa loma (fair). Besides that, the term was changed to "tatakrama basa" (lit.'language manners'), although the substance remained the same. The hormat variant is a subtle language to respect, while the loma variant is fair, neutral and familiar use. This variety of loma language is then used as a kind of "standard" variety of written languages in Sundanese society. Sundanese magazines, newspapers, literary books and theses, mostly using the loma variant.
Apart from the two previous levels, there is actually one more lowest level, namely cohag (rough). This level is only used when angry or just to show intimacy between speakers. This register can only be found in the Sundanese Priangan dialect, while other dialects such as Bantenese Language, generally do not recognize this register.
For many words, there are distinct loma and lemes forms, e.g. arék (loma) vs. badé (lemes) "want", maca (loma) vs. maos (lemes) "read". In the lemes level, some words further distinguish humble and respectful forms, the former being used to refer to oneself, and the latter for the addressee and third persons, e.g. rorompok "(my own) house" vs. bumi "(your or someone else's) house" (the loma form is imah).
Similar systems of speech levels are found in Japanese, Korean and Thai.
Other Austronesian languages (especially those in western Indonesia) commonly use reduplication to create plural forms. However, Sundanese inserts the ar infix into the stem word. If the stem word starts with l, or contains r following the infix, the infix ar becomes al. Also, as with other Sundanese infixes (such as um), if the word starts with vowel, the infix becomes a prefix.
Examples:
Mangga A, tarahuna haneut kénéh. "Please sir, the bean curds are still warm/hot." The plural form of tahu 'bean curd, tofu' is formed by infixing ar after the initial consonant.
Barudak leutik lalumpatan. "Small children running around." Barudak "children" is formed from budak (child) with the ar infix; in lumpat (run) the ar infix becomes al because lumpat starts with l.
Ieu kaén batik aralus sadayana. "All of these batik clothes are beautiful." Formed from alus (nice, beautiful, good) with the infix ar that becomes a prefix because alus 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 from bageur ("good-behaving, nice, polite, helpful") with the infix ar, which becomes al because of r in the root, to denote the adjective "well-behaved" for plural students.
However, it is reported that this use of al instead of ar (as illustrated in (4) above) does not to occur if the 'r' is in onset of a neighbouring syllable. For example, the plural form of the adjective curiga (suspicious) is caruriga and not *caluriga, because the 'r' in the root occurs at the start of the following syllable.[11]
The prefix can be reduplicated to denote very-, or the plural of groups. For example, "bararudak" denotes many, many children or many groups of children (budak is child in Sundanese). Another example, "balalageur" denotes plural adjective of "very well-behaved".
Active form
Most active forms of Sundanese verbs are identical to the root, as with diuk "sit" or dahar "eat". Some others depend on the initial phoneme in the root:
Initial /d/, /b/, /f/, /ɡ/, /h/, /j/, /l/, /r/, /w/, /z/ can be put after prefix nga like in ngadahar.
Initial /i/, /e/, /u/, /a/, /o/ can be put after prefix ng like in nginum "drink".
Negation
There are several words to negate a statement in Sundanese. These are also different by the polite (lemes) and casual (loma) registers, as well as dialect.
Polite
In Priangan Sundanese, Polite negation is done by adding a henteu (the shorter form, teu is also commonly used) to negate most verbs (akin to adding a "not" to English "do" or "does"). To negate clauses where the subject is linked to adjectives or nouns (where, in English, it would normally require a linking verb like "be"), sanés is used.
Abdi teu 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 mah sanés nu ieu. "My book is not this one."
Other words that can be used to negate clauses are moal (to signpost that the speaker is not going to do something) and alim (to show that the speaker does not want to do something). Other Sundanese dialects may have different ways to negate statements.
Casual
There are a wide range of casual negation helper words. In Priangan Sundanese, this can be done with a number of words.
Urang acan dahar. "I have not eaten yet."
The shorter version, can, is also commonly used especially in spoken speech.
Buku Urang mah lain nu ieu. "My book is not this one."
The word lain can be used as a casual variant of sanés.
Moal and its longer variant moal waka can also be used casually. Other words include teu hayang (which can also sound aggressive depending on context) and embung (which is somewhat a casual counterpart of alim).
Question
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2015)
Dupi Tuang Rama nyondong di bumi? "Is your father at home?"
Dupi bumi di palih mana? "Where do you live?"
Formal:
Ari Bapa aya di imah? "Is your father at home?"
Ari imah di beulah mana? "Where do you live?"
Interrogatives
English
Sundanese (formal)
Sundanese (polite)
Indonesian
what
naon
apa
who
saha
siapa
whose/whom
nu saha
kagungan saha
punya siapa
where
(di) mana
(di) manten
(di) mana
when
iraha
kapan
why
naha, kunaon
kenapa
how
kumaha
bagaimana
how many
sabaraha
berapa
Passive form
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2015)
Polite:
Buku dibantun ku abdi. "The book is brought by me." Dibantun is the passive form ngabantun "bring".
Pulpén ditambut ku abdi. "The pen is borrowed by me."
Soal ieu dipidamel ku abdi. "This problem is done by me."
Kacasoca dianggo ku abdi. "Glasses worn by me."
Formal:
Buku dibawa ku urang. "The book is brought by me." Dibawa is the passive form mawa "bring".
Pulpén diinjeum ku urang. "The pen is borrowed by me."
Soal ieu digawékeun ku urang. "This problem is done by me."
Tasma dipaké ku urang. "Glasses worn by me."
Adjectives
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2015)
Examples:
teuas (hard), tiis (cool for water and solid objects), tiris (cool for air), hipu (soft), lada (hot/spicy, usually for foods), haneut (warm), etc.
Prepositions
Place
Sundanese has three generic prepositions for spatial expressions:[12]
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:[13]
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 (also ka gigir, ti gigir etc.) are absolute adverial expressions without a following noun. To express relative position, they have to add the suffix -eun, e.g.:
Polite:
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 forms luhur & pengker can be used both with and without a following noun.
Time
English
Sundanese (formal)
Sundanese (polite)
before
saacan/saméméh
sateuacan
after
sanggeus
saparantos
during
basa
nalika
past
baheula
kapungkur
Miscellaneous
English
Sundanese (formal)
Sundanese (polite)
from
tina/ti
tina/ti
for
jang, paragi
kanggo/kanggé
Sample text
The following texts are excerpts from article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Sundanese, along with the original declaration in English.
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.[14]
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.[15]
^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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