Balinese language

Balinese is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by 3.3 million people () on the Indonesian island of Bali as well as Northern Nusa Penida, Western Lombok, Eastern Java, Southern Sumatra, and Sulawesi. Most Balinese speakers also know Indonesian. The Bali Cultural Agency estimated in 2011 that the number of people still using the Balinese language in their daily lives on the Bali Island is under 1 million. The language has been classified as "not endangered" by '' Glottolog''.

The higher registers of the language borrow extensively from Javanese: an old form of classical Javanese, Kawi, is used in Bali as a religious and ceremonial language.

Classification

Balinese is an Austronesian language belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the family. Within Malayo-Polynesian, it is part of the Bali–Sasak–Sumbawa subgroup. Internally, Balinese has three distinct varieties; Highland Bali, Lowland Bali and Nusa Penida.

Demographics

According to the 2000 census, Balinese language is spoken by 3.3 million people in Indonesia, mainly concentrated on the island of Bali and the surrounding areas.

In 2011, the Bali Cultural Agency estimated that the number of people still using the Balinese language in their daily lives on the Bali Island does not exceed 1 million, as in urban areas their parents only introduce the Indonesian language or even English as a foreign language, while daily conversations in the institutions and the mass media have disappeared. The written form of the Balinese language is increasingly unfamiliar and most Balinese people use the Balinese language only as a means of oral communication, often mixing it with Indonesian in their daily speech. But in the transmigration areas outside Bali Island, the Balinese language is extensively used and believed to play an important role in the survival of the language.

Phonology

Vowels

The official spelling denotes both and by . However, is usually pronounced when it ends a word, and occurs also in prefixes ''ma-'', ''pa-'' and ''da-''.

Consonants

Depending on dialect, the phoneme is realized as a voiceless alveolar or retroflex stop. This is in contrast with most other languages in western Indonesia (including Standard Indonesian), which have a dental patterning with an otherwise alveolar phoneme series.

Stress

Stress falls on the last syllable.

Vocabulary

Registers

Even though most of the basic vocabulary in Balinese and Indonesian are of Austronesian and Sanskrit origin, many cognates in both languages sound quite different. Balinese has different registers depending on the relationship and status of those speaking: low (), middle (), and high (). contains many loanwords from Sanskrit and Javanese (specifically Old Javanese) which reflect the fifteenth century usage spoken Old Javanese. The common mutations in inherited Balinese words are:

* First, mutation r into h of initial r, intervocalic r, and final r
* Second, h into ø, everywhere except final consonant

However, these mutations are not expressed by the High Balinese, thus this infer high Balinese was loanwords from Sanskrit and ( Old) Javanese. These loanwords are identical in sound with their Javanese cognates.

Numerals

Balinese has a decimal numeral system, but this is complicated by numerous words for intermediate quantities such as 45, 175, and 1600.

Grammar

The word order is similar to that of Indonesian, and verb and noun inflectional morphology is similarly minimal. However, derivational morphology is extensive, and suffixes are applied to indicate definite or indefinite articles, and optionally to indicate possession.

Writing

Balinese has been written in two different writing systems: the Balinese script, and in modern times the Latin script.

Balinese script

The Balinese script (, ), which is arranged as (), is an abugida, ultimately derived from the Brāhmī script of India. The earliest known inscriptions date from the 9th century AD.

Few people today are familiar with the Balinese script. The Balinese script is almost the same as the Javanese script.

Latin alphabet

Schools in Bali today teach a Latin alphabet known as .

Gallery

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Geschrift op lontarblad TMnr 1534-8b.jpg, Balinese palm-leaf manuscript
File:Pura Puseh 05153.jpg, Sign at Pura Puseh Temple, Batuan, Bali
File:Bible printed with Balinese script.jpg, Page from a Bible printed with Balinese script
File:JL DIPONEGORO 200507.jpg, Street sign in Singaraja, written in Latin and Balinese script
File:Sign of Klungkung Regent's Office.JPG, Klungkung Regent's Office sign

Note

In Balinese script, Sanskrit and Kawi loanwords tend use conservative orthography as standard form in Balinese script. The word for language, ''basa'', in Balinese is a loanword from Old Javanese which came from the Sanskrit word , hence it is written according to Sanskrit and Old Javanese spelling in Balinese script. The form in Balinese script is used by beginner writers. Meanwhile, diacritics are not written in the current romanization of the Balinese language. Thus, both and are the standard forms.

See also

* Balinese (Unicode block)

References

External links

Balinese man speaking Balinese language in different Balinese dialects
*

The Balinese Digital Library

* Widiadana R. A. & Erviani N. K. (29 January 2011)

''The Jakarta Post''.
* Erviani N. K. (14 January 2011)
US scholar brings ancient Balinese scripts to digital age
''The Jakarta Post''.

Unicode website
* Paradisecbr>open access recording
of Balinese song.
* Kaipuleohone's Blust collection includes materials on Balinese, includin
RB2-006RB2-009


The Balinese Language (ᬩᬲᬩᬮᬶ) - YouTube

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balinese Language

Languages attested from the 9th century
Bali–Sasak–Sumbawa languages
Subject–verb–object languages
Balinese culture