Sundanese language - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sundanese
basa Sunda
ᮘᮞ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ
بَاسَا سُوْندَا
Pronunciation/ba.sa sʊn.da/
Native toJava, Indonesia
RegionWest Java, Banten, Jakarta, parts of western Central Java, southern Lampung, also spoken by the Sundanese diaspora in Indonesia and throughout the world.
Ethnicity
Native speakers
42 million (2016)[1]
Early form
Standard forms
Dialects
Latin script (present)
Sundanese script (present; optional)
Old Sundanese script (14-18th centuries AD, present; optional)
Sundanese Cacarakan script (17-19th centuries AD, present; certain areas)
Sundanese Pégon script (17-20th centuries AD, present; religious use only)
Buda Script (13-15th centuries AD, present; optional)
Kawi script (historical)
Pallava (historical)
Pranagari (historical)
Vatteluttu (historical)
Official status
Regulated byLembaga Basa Jeung Sastra Sunda
Language codes
ISO 639-1su
ISO 639-2sun
ISO 639-3Variously:
sun – Sundanese
bac – Baduy Sundanese
osn – Old Sundanese
Glottologsund1251
Linguasphere31-MFN-a
  Areas where Sundanese is a majority native language
  Areas where Sundanese is a minority language with >100,000 speakers
  Areas where Sundanese is a minority language with <100,000 speakers
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Sundanese (/sʌndəˈnz/[2]) is a Malayo-Polynesian language. It is spoken by the Sundanese people.

Yusuf speaking Sundanese
Spoken Sundanese

Writing[change | change source]

Sundanese is written with the Latin script, Sundanese script, or Pegon script. The Sundanese script is based on the Old Sundanese script. It was introduced in 1997.[3] Pegon is based on the Arabic alphabet.[4]

Phonology[change | change source]

Vowels[change | change source]

Sundanese has seven vowels.[5]

Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Mid ɛ ə ɔ
Open a

Consonants[change | change source]

Sundanese has eighteen consonants. There are also consonants such as /f/ and /q/ that are only used in loanwords.[5]

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
Fricative s h
Lateral l
Trill r
Approximant w j

References[change | change source]

  1. Muamar, Aam (2016-08-08). "Mempertahankan Eksistensi Bahasa Sunda" [Maintaining the existence of Sundanese Language]. Pikiran Rakyat (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 2018-09-27.
  2. Bauer, Laurie (2007). The Linguistics Student's Handbook. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  3. "Atlas of Endangered Alphabets: Indigenous and minority writing systems, and the people who are trying to save them". Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  4. Qurtuby, Sumanto Al (4 August 2022). "Language, Islam, and Muslim societies: Perspectives from the Asia-Pacific". Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. 32 (2): 276–287. doi:10.1075/japc.00080.qur. S2CID 248286525.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Müller-Gotama, Franz (2001). Sundanese. Languages of the World. Materials. Vol. 369. Munich: LINCOM Europa.