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Javanese script (natively known as ''Aksara Jawa'', ''Hanacaraka'', ''Carakan'', and ''Dentawyanjana'') is one of
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
's traditional scripts developed on the island of
Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
. The script is primarily used to write the
Javanese language Javanese ( , , ; , Aksara Jawa, Javanese script: , Pegon script, Pegon: , IPA: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language spoken primarily by the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, Indones ...
and has also been used to write several other regional languages such as Sundanese and Madurese, the regional
lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...
Malay, as well as the historical languages Kawi and
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
. It heavily influenced the
Balinese script The Balinese script, natively known as and , (Balinese language, Balinese: ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬩᬮᬶ) is an abugida used in the island of Bali, Indonesia, commonly for writing the Austronesian language, Austronesian Balinese language, Kawi la ...
from which the
writing system A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...
for Sasak developed. Javanese script was actively used by the Javanese people for writing day-to-day and literary texts from at least the mid-16th century CE until the mid-20th century CE, before it was gradually supplanted by the Latin alphabet. Today, the script is taught in the
Yogyakarta Special Region The Special Region of Yogyakarta is a province-level special region of Indonesia in southern Java. It is a semi-enclave that is surrounded by on the landward side by Central Java Province to the west, north, and east, but has a long coastline ...
as well as the provinces of
Central Java Central Java (, ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogya ...
and
East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...
as part of the local curriculum, but with very limited function in everyday use. Javanese script is an
abugida An abugida (; from Geʽez: , )sometimes also called alphasyllabary, neosyllabary, or pseudo-alphabetis a segmental Writing systems#Segmental writing system, writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as units; each unit ...
writing system which consists of 20 to 33 basic letters, depending on the language being written. Like other
Brahmic scripts The Brahmic scripts, also known as Indic scripts, are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout South Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia. They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India and are used b ...
, each letter (called an ''aksara'') represents a syllable with the
inherent vowel An inherent vowel is part of an abugida (or alphasyllabary) script. It is a vowel sound which is used with each unmarked or basic consonant symbol. There are many known abugida scripts, including most of the Brahmic scripts and Kharosthi, the c ...
/a/ or /ɔ/ which can be changed with the placement of
diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...
s around the letter. Each letter has a conjunct form called ''pasangan'', which nullifies the inherent vowel of the previous letter. Traditionally, the script is written without spaces between words (''
scriptio continua (Latin for 'continuous script'), also known as or , is a style of writing without spaces or other marks between the words or sentences. The form also lacks punctuation, diacritics, or distinguished letter case. In the West, the oldest Greek ...
'') but is interspersed with a group of decorative
punctuation Punctuation marks are marks indicating how a piece of writing, written text should be read (silently or aloud) and, consequently, understood. The oldest known examples of punctuation marks were found in the Mesha Stele from the 9th century BC, c ...
.


History

Javanese script's evolutionary history can be traced fairly well because significant amounts of inscriptional evidence left behind allowed for
epigraphical Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
studies to be carried out. The oldest root of Javanese script is the
Tamil-Brahmi Tamil-Brahmi, also known as Tamili or Damili, was a variant of the Brahmi script in southern India. It was used to write inscriptions in Old Tamil.Richard Salomon (1998) ''Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prak ...
script which evolved into the
Pallava script The Pallava script, or Pallava Grantha, is a style of Grantha script named after the Pallava dynasty of Southern India (Tamilakam) and is attested to since the 4th century CE. In India, the Pallava script evolved from Tamil-Brahmi. The Gran ...
in Southern and Southeast Asia between the 6th and 8th centuries. The Pallava script, in turn, evolved into Kawi script, which was actively used throughout Indonesia's Hindu-Buddhist period between the 8th and 15th centuries. In various parts of Indonesia, Kawi script would then evolve into Indonesia's various traditional scripts, one of them being Javanese script. The modern Javanese script seen today evolved from Kawi script between the 14th and 15th centuries, a period in which Java began to receive significant Islamic influence. From the 15th until the mid-20th centuries, Javanese script was actively used by the Javanese people for writing day-to-day and literary texts spanning a wide range of themes. Javanese script was used throughout the island at a time when there was no easy means of communication between remote areas and no impulse towards standardization. As a result, there is a huge variety of historical and local styles of Javanese writing throughout the ages. The great differences between regional styles make the "Javanese script" appear like a family of scripts. Javanese writing traditions were especially cultivated in the Kraton environment in Javanese cultural centers, such as
Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...
and
Surakarta Surakarta (Javanese script, Javanese: , Pegon script, Pegon: ), known colloquially as Solo (Javanese script, Javanese: ; ), is a major List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in Central Java, Indonesia. The city adjoins Karanganyar Reg ...
. However, Javanese texts are known to be made and used by various layers of society with varying usage intensities between regions. In
West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...
, for example, the script was mainly used by the Sundanese nobility (''ménak'') due to the political influence of the Mataram kingdom. However, most Sundanese people within the same time period more commonly used the
Pegon script Pegon (Javanese language, Javanese and Sundanese language, Sundanese: , ; also known as , , Madurese language, Madurese: , ''Abjâd Pèghu'') is a modified Arabic script used to write the Javanese language, Javanese, Sundanese language, Sundan ...
which was adapted from the
Arabic alphabet The Arabic alphabet, or the Arabic abjad, is the Arabic script as specifically codified for writing the Arabic language. It is a unicase, unicameral script written from right-to-left in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters, of which most ...
. Javanese writing tradition also relied on periodic copying due to the deterioration of writing materials in the tropical Javanese climate; as a result, many physical manuscripts that are available now are 18th or 19th century copies, though their contents can usually be traced to far older prototypes.


Media

Javanese script has been written with numerous media that have shifted over time. Kawi script, which is ancestral to Javanese script, is often found on stone inscriptions and copper plates. Everyday writing in Kawi was done in palm leaf form (ocally known as ''lontar''), which are processed leaves of the tal palm (''
Borassus flabellifer ''Borassus flabellifer'', commonly known as doub palm, palmyra palm, tala or tal palm, toddy palm, lontar palm, wine palm, or ice apple, is a fan palm native to South Asia (especially in Bangladesh, East India, and South India) and Southeast As ...
''). Each ''lontar'' leaf has the shape of a slim rectangle 2.8 to 4 cm in width and varies in length between 20 and 80 cm. Each leaf can only accommodate around 4 lines of writing, which are incised horizontally with a small knife and then blackened with soot to increase readability. This media has a long history of attested use all over South and Southeast Asia. In the 13th century,
paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...
began to be used in the
Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...
. This introduction is related to the spread of
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
in the region, since Islamic writing traditions were supported by the use of paper and
codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...
manuscript. As Java began to receive significant Islamic influence in the 15th century, coinciding with the period in which Kawi script began to transition into the modern Javanese script, paper became widespread in Java while the use of ''lontar'' only persisted in a few regions. There are two kinds of paper that are commonly used in Javanese manuscript: locally produced paper called ''daluang'', and imported paper. ''Daluang'' (also spelled ''dluwang'') is a paper made from the beaten bark of the ''saéh'' tree ('' Broussonetia papyrifera''). Visually, ''daluang'' can be easily differentiated from regular paper by its distinctive brown tint and fibrous appearance. A well made ''daluang'' has a smooth surface and is quite durable against manuscript damage commonly associated with tropical climates, especially insect damage. Meanwhile, a coarse ''daluang'' has a bumpy surface and tends to break easily. ''Daluang'' is commonly used in manuscripts produced by Javanese ''kraton'' (palaces) and ''
pesantren ''Pesantren'' is a traditional Islamic boarding school in Indonesia. It is taught either in private houses, a ''wiktionary:pondok, pondok'' or a mosque, the teaching includes classical Islamic texts and ''santri'' thought, taught by Kyai, ''kya ...
'' (Islamic boarding schools) between the 16th and 17th centuries. Most imported paper in Indonesian manuscripts came from Europe. In the beginning, only a few scribes were able to use European paper due to its high price—paper made using European methods at the time could only be imported in limited numbers. In colonial administration, the use of European paper had to be supplemented with Javanese ''daluang'' and imported Chinese paper until at least the 19th century. As the paper supply increased due to growing imports from Europe, scribes in palaces and urban settlements gradually opted to use European paper as the primary medium for writing, while ''daluang'' paper was increasingly associated with ''pesantren'' and rural manuscripts. Alongside the increase of European paper supply, attempts to create Javanese printing type began, spearheaded by several European figures. With the establishment of printing technology in 1825, materials in Javanese script could be mass-produced and became increasingly common in various aspects of pre-independence Javanese life, from letters, books, and newspapers, to magazines, and even advertisements and paper currency.


Usage

From the 15th century until the mid-20th century, Javanese script was used by all layers of Javanese society for writing day-to-day and literary texts with a wide range of theme and content. Due to the significant influence of oral tradition, reading in pre-independence Javanese society was usually a performance; Javanese literature texts are almost always composed in metrical verses that are designed to be recited, thus Javanese texts are not only judged by their content and language, but also by the merit of their melody and rhythm during recitation sessions. Javanese poets are not expected to create new stories and characters; instead the role of the poet is to rewrite and recompose existing stories into forms that cater to local taste and prevailing trends. As a result, Javanese literary works such as the ''
Panji tales The Panji tales are a cycle of Javanese stories, centred around the legendary prince of the same name (actually a title) from East Java, Indonesia. Along with the Ramayana and Mahabharata, the tales are the basis of various poems, sculpture and ...
'' do not have a single authoritative version referenced by all others; instead, the ''Cerita Panji'' is a loose collection of numerous tales with various versions bound together by the common thread of the Panji character. Literature genres with the longest attested history are Sanskrit epics such as the ''
Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...
'' and the ''
Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...
'', which have been recomposed since the Kawi period and introduced hundreds of familiar characters in Javanese
wayang ( , ) is a traditional form of puppet theatre play originating from the Indonesian island of Java. The term refers both to the show as a whole and the puppet in particular. Performances of wayang puppet theatre are accompanied by a ''gamel ...
stories today, including
Arjuna Arjuna (, , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �ɾd͡ʒun̪ə is one of the central characters of the ancient Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. He is the third of the five Pandava brothers, and is widely regarded as the most important and renowned among them. ...
, Srikandi,
Ghatotkacha Ghatotkacha (, ; ) is a character in the ancient Indian epic ''Mahabharata''. His name comes from the fact that he was bald (''utkacha'') and shaped like a ghatam, or a pot. He is the son of the Pandava Bhima and the demoness Hidimbi. As th ...
and many others. Since the introduction of Islam, characters of Middle-Eastern provenance such as
Amir Hamzah Tengku Amir Hamzah (February 1911 – 20 March 1946) was an Indonesian poet and National Hero of Indonesia. Born into a Malay people, Malay aristocratic family in the Sultanate of Langkat in North Sumatra, he was educated in both Sumatra ...
and the Prophet Joseph have also been frequent subjects of writing. There are also local characters, usually set in Java's semi-legendary past, such as Prince Panji, Damar Wulan, and
Calon Arang Calon Arang is a character in Javanese and Balinese folklore dating from the 12th century. Tradition calls her a witch, a master of black magic. It is unknown who composed the story, but a manuscript of the Calon Arang text (written in the Latin ...
. When studies of Javanese language and literature began to attract European attention in the 19th century, an initiative to create a Javanese
movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable Sort (typesetting), components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric charac ...
began to take place in order to mass-produce and quickly disseminate Javanese literary materials. One of the earliest attempts to create a movable Javanese type was by Paul van Vlissingen. His typeface was first put in use in the ''Bataviasche Courant'' newspaper's October 1825 issue. While lauded as a considerable technical achievement, many at the time felt that Vlissingen's design was a coarse copy of the fine Javanese hand used in literary texts, and so this early attempt was further developed by numerous other people to varying degrees of success as the study of Javanese developed over the years. In 1838, Taco Roorda completed his typeface, known as Tuladha Jejeg, based on the hand of
Surakarta Surakarta (Javanese script, Javanese: , Pegon script, Pegon: ), known colloquially as Solo (Javanese script, Javanese: ; ), is a major List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in Central Java, Indonesia. The city adjoins Karanganyar Reg ...
n scribes with some European typographical elements mixed in. Roorda's font garnered positive feedback and soon became the main choice to print any Javanese text. From then, reading materials in printed Javanese using Roorda's typeface became widespread among the Javanese populace and were widely used in materials other than literature. The establishment of print technology gave rise to a printing industry which, for the next century, produced various materials in printed Javanese, from administrative papers and school books, to mass media such as the magazine which was entirely printed in Javanese in all of its articles and columns. Javanese script was part of the multilingual legal text on the
Netherlands Indies gulden The Netherlands Indies guilder (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Nederlands-Indische gulden'', Indonesian language, Malay-Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, Van Ophuijsen spelling: ''Roepiah Hindia-Belanda'') was the unit of account of the Dutch East Indie ...
banknotes circulated by the Bank of Java. File:Serat jatipustaka.jpg, Opening pages of ''Serat Jatipustaka'' copied in 1830, Denver Museum collection File:Babad-tanah-jawi.jpg, Opening page of ''
Babad Tanah Jawi ''Babad Tanah Jawi'' (), is a generic title for many manuscripts written in the Javanese language Javanese ( , , ; , Aksara Jawa, Javanese script: , Pegon script, Pegon: , IPA: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language spoke ...
'' copied in 1862, Library of Congress collection File:Groot Javaansch No.2 cursief - Lettergieterij Amsterdam.jpg, A Javanese type sample from the
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
type foundry, 1910 File:Kajawen 1933-08-16-1 sampul.jpg, Cover of ''Kajawèn'' magazine, issue 65, 16 August 1933 File:TDKGM 01.147 Koleksi dari Perpustakaan Museum Tamansiswa Dewantara Kirti Griya.pdf, ''Serat kekancingan'', a document issued by the Kraton of Yogyakarta in 1935, Dewantara Kirti Griya Museum collection File:Serat Babad Tuban.pdf, ''Serat Babad Tuban'' published by
Tan Khoen Swie Tan Khoen Swie (; 1883/1894–1953) was a Chinese Indonesian publisher who, through the Tan Khoen Swie Publishing Company, published numerous books in Javanese and Malay. Born in Wonogiri, Tan took an early interest in Javanese culture, study ...
in 1936


Decline

As literacy rates and the demand for reading materials increased at the beginning of the 20th century, Javanese publishers paradoxically began to decrease the amount of Javanese script publication due to a practical and economic consideration: printing any text in Javanese script at the time required twice the amount of paper compared to the same text rendered in the Latin alphabet, making Javanese texts more expensive and time-consuming to produce. In order to lower production costs and keep book prices affordable to the general populace, many publishers gradually prioritized publications in the Latin alphabet. However, the Javanese population at the time maintained the use of Javanese script in various aspects of everyday life. It was, for example, considered more polite to write a letter using Javanese script, especially one addressed toward an elder or superior. Many publishers, including Balai Pustaka, continued to print books, newspapers, and magazines in Javanese script due to sufficient, albeit declining, demand. The use of Javanese script only started to drop significantly during the
Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945. In May 1940, Germany German invasion of the Netherlands, occupied the Netherlands, and ma ...
beginning in 1942. Some writers attribute this sudden decline to prohibitions issued by the Japanese government banning the use of native script in the public sphere, though no documentary evidence of such a ban has yet been found. Nevertheless, the use of Javanese script did decline significantly during the Japanese occupation and it never recovered its previous widespread use in post-independence Indonesia.


Contemporary use

In contemporary usage, Javanese script is still taught as part of the local curriculum in
Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...
,
Central Java Central Java (, ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogya ...
, and the
East Java Province East Java (, , ) is a province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern and southern coasts, res ...
. Several local newspapers and magazines have columns written in Javanese script, and the script can frequently be seen on public signage. However, many contemporary attempts to revive Javanese script are symbolic rather than functional; there are no longer, for example, periodicals like the ''Kajawèn'' magazine that publish significant content in Javanese script. Most Javanese people today know the existence of the script and recognize a few letters, but it is rare to find someone who can read and write it meaningfully. Therefore, as recently as 2019, it is not uncommon to see Javanese script signage in public places with numerous misspellings and basic mistakes. Several hurdles in revitalizing the use of Javanese script includes information technology equipment that does not support correct rendering of Javanese script, lack of governing bodies with sufficient competence to consult on its usage, and lack of typographical explorations that may intrigue contemporary viewers. Nevertheless, attempts to revive the script are still being conducted by several communities and public figures who encourage the use of Javanese script in the public sphere, especially with digital devices.


Letters


Aksara

''Aksara'' are base letters that represent a single syllable. Javanese script has approximately 45 base ''aksara'' (letters), but not all of them are equally used. Over time, some ''aksara'' have fallen out of use, while others are only employed in specific contexts. Therefore, the ''aksara'' in Javanese script are classified into several types based on their function and usage.


''Wyanjana''

''Aksara wyanjana'' (ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫꦮꦾꦚ꧀ꦗꦤ) are consonants with an inherent vowel sound of /a/ or /ɔ/. As a descendant of the Brahmi script, Javanese script originally had 33 ''wyanjana'' characters to write the 33 consonant sounds used in Sanskrit and Kawi. Their forms can be seen as follows:


Aksara nglegéna

Modern Javanese only uses 20 consonant sounds, represented by 20 of the original 33 ''aksara wyanjana'', which are then referred to as . They are commonly arranged in the ''hanacaraka'' sequence, a
pangram A pangram or holoalphabetic sentence is a sentence using every letter of a given alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and typing. Origins The best-k ...
whose name is derived from its first five letters, similar to the word "alphabet" which comes from the first two letters of the
Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as wel ...
, ''alpha'' and ''beta''. This sequence has been used at least the 15th century, when the island of Java started to receive significant Islamic influence. There are numerous interpretations on the supposed philosophical and esoteric qualities of the ''hanacaraka'' sequence, and it is often linked to the myth of Aji Saka.


Aksara murda

Some of the remaining characters were repurposed as . ''Aksara murda'' are used to write the names of both respected individuals and legendary figures (for example ) and real individuals. The use of ''murda'' differs from the use of capital letters in Latin script, in that not every letter has a corresponding murda and if there is no ''murda'' for the first syllable of a name, a murda form can be used for whichever succeeding syllable ''does'' one. A name of great respect can be written entirely in ''murda''. In traditional writing, the application of ''murda'' was essentially optional and not consistent. So, a name like ''Gani'' could be written as ꦒꦤꦶ (without ''murda''), ꦓꦤꦶ (with ''murda'' at the beginning), or ꦓꦟꦶ (entirely in ''murda''). The remaining characters that are not included in ''nglegena'' or ''murda'' are ''mahaprana'' characters. ''Mahaprana'' characters have no function in modern Javanese writing and are only used in writing Sanskrit-Kawi.


Additional letters in loan words

The Javanese script includes additional letters ( used to write foreign sounds. Initially developed to transcribe loanwords from
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, they were later adapted for loanwords from Dutch, and in contemporary use, they are also used to write words from Indonesian and English. Most ''rékan'' characters are formed by adding the ''cecak telu'' diacritic to the character whose sound is considered closest to the foreign sound. For example, the ''rékan'' character fa (ꦥ꦳) is formed by adding the ''cecak telu'' to the ''wyanjana'' character pa (ꦥ). The combination of ''wyanjana'' and the foreign sound equivalent for each ''rékan'' may vary among writers due to the lack of a unified standard. According to Padmasusastra and Dwijasewaya, there are five ''rékan'' characters: ''kha'', ''dza'', ''fa'', ''za'', and ''gha''. However, according to Hollander, there are nine.


Diacritics

Diacritics (''sandhangan'' ꦱꦤ꧀ꦝꦔꦤ꧀) are marks attached to characters to modify the inherent vowel of the respective character. Similar to the characters themselves, Javanese diacritics can also be divided into several groups depending on their function and usage.


Vowels

''Aksara swara'' (ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫꦱ꧀ꦮꦫ) are characters used to write independent vowels. Javanese script has 14 vowel characters inherited from the Sanskrit writing tradition. Modern Javanese no longer uses the entire set of ''swara'', so now only the short vowel characters are generally taught. In modern writing, ''aksara swara'' is used to replace the ''aksara wyanjana'' ha ꦲ (whose pronunciation can be ambiguous as it serves a dual function as the phoneme /ha/ and /a/) in foreign names or terms whose pronunciation needs clarification. ''Sandhangan swara'' (ꦱꦤ꧀ꦝꦁꦔꦤ꧀ꦱ꧀ꦮꦫ) are diacritics used to change a consonant's inherent vowel /a/ to other vowels, as shown below: Just like ''aksara swara'', only short vowel diacritics are generally taught and used in contemporary Javanese, while long vowel diacritics are used in writing Sanskrit and Kawi. ''Pa cerek'' ꦉ, ''pa cerek dirgha'' ꦉꦴ, ''nga lelet'' ꦊ, and ''nga lelet raswadi'' ꦋ are
syllabic consonants A syllabic consonant or vocalic consonant is a consonant that forms the nucleus of a syllable on its own, like the ''m'', ''n'' and ''l'' in some pronunciations of the English words ''rhythm'', ''button'' and ''awful'', respectively. To represen ...
that are considered vowels in Sanskrit-Kawi. When used in languages other than Sanskrit, the pronunciation of these four characters often varies. In modern Javanese, only ''pa cerek'' is pronounced /rə/ and ''nga lelet'' is pronounced /lə/. In modern teaching, these characters are often separated from ''aksara swara'' and known as ''aksara gantèn'' (replacement characters). They are used to replace every combination of ra + pepet (ꦫꦼ → ꦉ) and la + pepet (ꦭꦼ → ꦊ).. ''Pa cerek dirgha'' and ''nga lelet raswadi'' are not used in modern Javanese.


''Panyigeging wanda''

Diacritics () are used to close a syllable with a consonant.


Semivowels and their diacritics

Consonant clusters containing a
semivowel In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel, glide or semiconsonant is a sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary, rather than as the nucleus of a syllable. Examples of semivowels in English are ''y ...
are written by adding a diacritic () to the base syllable.


''Pasangan''

The inherent vowel of each base character can be nullified using the diacritic ''pangkon''. However, the ''pangkon'' is generally not used in the middle of words or sentences. Instead, to write a closed syllable in the middle of a word or sentence, the ''pasangan'' form (ꦥꦱꦔꦤ꧀) is used. Unlike the ''pangkon'', the ''pasangan'' not only nullifies the preceding consonant but also indicates the subsequent consonant. For example, the character ''ma'' (ꦩ) followed by the ''pasangan'' form of ''pa'' (꧀ꦥ) becomes ''mpa'' (ꦩ꧀ꦥ). The ''pasangan'' forms in this table are those used in modern Javanese writing. Some characters have different ''pasangan'' forms in Sanskrit-Kawi writing.


Numbers

Javanese script has its own numerals () that behave similarly to
Arabic numeral The ten Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) are the most commonly used symbols for writing numbers. The term often also implies a positional notation number with a decimal base, in particular when contrasted with Roman numerals. ...
s. Some of their forms closely resemble other Javanese characters. For instance, the numeral 1 resembles the ''wyanjana'' character ga , and the numeral 8 resembles the ''murda'' character pa . To avoid confusion, numerals that are used in the middle of sentences must be surrounded by ''pada pangkat'' or ''pada lingsa'' . For example, ''tanggal 17 Juni'' ("the date 17 June") is written or . These enclosures can be omitted when the numeral's function is clear from context, such as page numbers in the corner of a page. The forms are as follows:


Punctuation

Traditional Javanese text is written without spaces between words (''
scriptio continua (Latin for 'continuous script'), also known as or , is a style of writing without spaces or other marks between the words or sentences. The form also lacks punctuation, diacritics, or distinguished letter case. In the West, the oldest Greek ...
'') and uses a set of punctuation marks known as ''pada'' (ꦥꦢ). To separate sentences, Javanese script employs ''pada lungsi'' (꧉) when the last syllable is open (without a ''pangkon'') but uses ''pada lingsa'' (꧈) when the last syllable is closed (using a ''pangkon''). Conversely, to separate clauses, ''pada lingsa'' (꧈) is used if the last syllable is closed, while a space is used if the last syllable is open. This punctuation system differs from the use of periods and commas in Latin script and is often not well understood by contemporary Javanese script users. Additionally, Javanese script lacks equivalents for question marks, exclamation marks, hyphens, mathematical symbols (including slashes), and
semicolons The semicolon (or semi-colon) is a symbol commonly used as orthographic punctuation. In the English language, a semicolon is most commonly used to link (in a single sentence) two independent clauses that are closely related in thought, such as ...
. Consequently, whether a sentence in Javanese script is interrogative (question) or imperative (command) can only be inferred from the context. The various forms of ''pada'' are as follows: In modern teaching, the most commonly used punctuation marks in Javanese script are ''pada adeg-adeg'', ''pada lingsa'', and ''pada lungsi'', which function similarly to a paragraph mark (like a
pilcrow In typography, the pilcrow (¶) is a glyph used to identify a paragraph. In editorial production the ''pilcrow'' typographic character is also known as the paragraph mark, the paragraph sign, the paragraph symbol, the paraph, and the blind ...
), a
comma The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight, but inclined from the vertical; others give it the appearance of a miniature fille ...
, and a
full stop The full stop ( Commonwealth English), period (North American English), or full point is a punctuation mark used for several purposes, most often to mark the end of a declarative sentence (as distinguished from a question or exclamation). A ...
, respectively. ''Pada adeg-adeg'' opens a paragraph, ''pada lingsa'' separates clauses or sentences and ''pada lungsi'' ends a sentence. Other punctuation marks include ''pada adeg'' and ''pada pisèlèh'', which are used to enclose inserts in the text, similar to
parentheses A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...
or
quotation marks Quotation marks are punctuation marks used in pairs in various writing systems to identify direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase. The pair consists of an opening quotation mark and a closing quotation mark, which may or may not be the sa ...
. ''Pada pangkat'' functions similarly to a colon. ''Pada rangkap'' is sometimes used as a repetition marker, similar to the use of the number "2" in informal Indonesian (e.g. kata-kata ꦏꦠꦏꦠ → ꦏꦠꧏ = kata2). Some punctuation marks, like ''rerenggan'', have no direct Latin script equivalents and are often purely decorative. They are frequently used to frame titles or sections of text, with considerable variation among writers. In correspondence, certain punctuation marks indicate the sender’s social status. ''Pada andhap'' denotes low status, ''pada madya'' denotes middle status, ''pada luhur'' denotes high status, and ''pada guru'' is neutral, without social connotations. ''Pada pancak'' is used to end a letter. However, these distinctions are generalized. The actual forms and functions of these punctuation marks are highly variable, with specific regional and personal styles. In traditional manuscripts, some royal scribes used specific correction marks instead of crossing out errors. ''Tirta tumétès'' is found in Yogyakarta manuscripts, while ''isèn-isèn'' is found in Surakarta manuscripts.


''Pepadan''

Aside from regular punctuation, one of the distinctive features in Javanese script writing is ''pepadan'' (ꦥꦼꦥꦢꦤ꧀), a series of highly ornate verse marks. Behrend (1996) categorizes ''pepadan'' into two general groups: small ''pada'', which are single punctuation marks, and large ''pada'', which are often composed of several marks arranged in a sequence. Small ''pada'' are used to indicate stanza breaks, typically appearing every 32 to 48 syllables depending on the meter used. Large ''pada'' mark a change in '' tembang'', or ''canto'', and usually appear every 5 to 10 pages, depending on the structure of the text. Javanese writing guides often identify three types of large pada ''purwa pada'' used at the beginning of the first ''tembang'', ''madya pada'' used at ''tembang'' transitions, and ''wasana pada'' used at the end of the text. However, these three marks are often merged and treated as one in many Javanese texts. ''Pepadan'' is a visually prominent element in Javanese manuscripts and may be rendered in color or even gilded. In some luxurious manuscripts, the form of pepadan can even serve as a clue to the song being used; for instance, pepadan featuring wings or crow-like birds (dhandhang in Javanese) refers to the ''dhandhanggula'' tembang, while those featuring goldfish allude to the ''maskumambang'' ("gold floating in water") tembang. One of the key centers for producing manuscripts with exceptional pepadan designs was the
scriptorium A scriptorium () was a writing room in medieval European monasteries for the copying and illuminating of manuscripts by scribes. The term has perhaps been over-used—only some monasteries had special rooms set aside for scribes. Often they ...
of
Pakualaman The Principality of Pakualaman (also written Paku Alaman; Dutch-spelling: Pakoe-alaman) is a minor Javanese princely state within the Sultanate of Yogyakarta. It was created in 1812 when Natakusuma (later Prince Paku Alam I) was rewarded for ...
in Yogyakarta.


Sample text

Excerpt from the ''Treatise on Cats'' (), printed in 1871 with modern Javanese language and spelling.


Madurese

In the Madurese, the Javanese script is referred to as ''carakan Madhurâ'' or c''arakan Jhâbân'' (script from Javanese). While in Javanese, each consonant includes an inherent /a/ or /ɔ/, in Madurese, the inherent vowel is /a/ or /ɤ/. Another difference is the use of the ''wignyan'', which adds aspiration to a syllable in Javanese but indicates a glottal stop in Madurese. Only five ''aksara rèka'an'' (additional letters) are taught in Madurese schools.


Sample text

Below is the use of ''carakan'' in ''Bab oreng megha djhoeko e'tana Djhaba sareng Madhoera'' (Chapter on people catching fish in the land of Java and Madura), accompanied by the modern Madurese spelling.


Sundanese

In Sundanese, the Javanese script is referred to as ''aksara Sunda cacarakan'', ''aksara Sunda Basisir Kalér'', ''aksara Sunda Jawa'', or simply ''cacarakan''. ''Cacarakan'' is nearly identical to Javanese ''hanacaraka'', consisting of consonants (), (''murda'', honorific letters), and (vowels, swara), (diacritics) and (punctuation). There are minor differences between the Javanese and Sundanese alphabets. The Sundanese language does not have dental da and retroflex ta, so the ''dha'' letter is used to replace the ''da'' letter. The shape of the ''nya'' letter is derived from the ''na'' letter, with the ''nya'' pair positioned as a subscript.


Sample text


Comparison with Balinese

The closest relative of the Javanese script is the
Balinese script The Balinese script, natively known as and , (Balinese language, Balinese: ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬩᬮᬶ) is an abugida used in the island of Bali, Indonesia, commonly for writing the Austronesian language, Austronesian Balinese language, Kawi la ...
. As a direct descendant of the
Kawi script The Kawi script or the Old Javanese script (, ) is a Brahmic script found primarily in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia between the 8th century and the 16th century.Aditya Bayu Perdana and Ilham Nurwansah 2020Proposal to en ...
, Javanese and Balinese scripts still share many similarities in the basic structure of each letter. One striking difference between Javanese and Balinese scripts is the writing system; the Balinese writing system tends to be more conservative and retains many aspects of Kawi orthography that are no longer used in Javanese script. For example, the word "''desa''" in Javanese script is now written as ꦢꦺꦱ.


Unicode

Javanese script was added to the
Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...
Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2. The Unicode block for Javanese is U+A980–U+A9DF. There are 91 code points for Javanese script: 53 letters, 19 punctuation marks, 10 numbers, and 9 vowels:


Gallery

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Steen met tekst Grissee TMnr 60046661.jpg, A stone inscription from around 18th century in the Kyai Tumenggung Pusponegoro grave complex,
Gresik Gresik Regency ( older spelling: Grissee, ) is a regency within East Java Province of Indonesia. As well as a large part of the northern and western suburbs of the city of Surabaya, it includes the offshore Bawean Island, some 125 km to the ...
File:Serat jayalengkara wulang 02v-03r.jpg, A page from ''Serat Jaya Lengkara Wulang'' copied in 1803, British Library collection File:Mss jav 28 f013v.png, A page from ''Serat Damar Wulan'' copied in 1804, British Library collection File:IND-(NethEastInd)-Government recepis-5 Gulden (1846) unsigned remainder.jpg, Five Gulden/Rupiah
scrip A scrip (or ''wikt:chit#Etymology 3, chit'' in India) is any substitute for legal tender. It is often a form of credit (finance), credit. Scrips have been created and used for a variety of reasons, including exploitative payment of employees un ...
issued by
Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...
in 1846, value spelled in Latin, Pégon, and Javanese script File:Bromartani.jpg, Bromartani newspaper, the first newspaper printed in Javanese language and script, circulating between 1855 and 1856 File:Book title commemorating Wilhelmina's ascension-Semarang 1898.jpg, Title page of a book commemorating the ascension of Queen Wilhelmina, printed in
Semarang Semarang (Javanese script, Javanese: , ''Kutha Semarang'') is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Netherlands, Dutch Dutch East Indies, colonial era, and is still an important regio ...
in 1898 File:Serat bratayudha.jpg, A page from ''Serat Bratayudha'' (an episode of
Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...
) copied in 1902, Widya Budaya collection File:Serat damar wulan f.2r.jpg, Opening pages of ''Serat Damar Wulan'' copied around the 18th century, British Library collection File:Javanese advertisement - droste's cacao.jpg, An advertisement for Droste's Cacao File:Javanese advertisement - lampoe osram.jpg, An advertisement for
Osram OSRAM Licht AG is a German company that makes electric lights, headquartered in Munich and Premstätten (Austria). OSRAM positions itself as a high-tech photonics company that is increasingly focusing on sensor technology, visualization and trea ...
light bulb File:IND-78b-De Javasche Bank-5 Gulden (1937).jpg, 5 Gulden paper currency issued by the Bank of Java in 1937, with multilingual forgery warnings, including one in Javanese language and script File:Prasasti Pakubuwana X.jpg, Pakubuwana X inscription commemorating the construction of several gateways in
Surakarta Surakarta (Javanese script, Javanese: , Pegon script, Pegon: ), known colloquially as Solo (Javanese script, Javanese: ; ), is a major List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in Central Java, Indonesia. The city adjoins Karanganyar Reg ...
in 1938 File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Demonstratieauto van de Dienst der Volksgezondheid ca. 1925 TMnr 60012956.jpg, A patrol car used by the Public Health Service (''Dienst der Volksgezondheid'') File:Netherlands Indies-94-De Javasche Bank-100 Gulden (1946).jpg, 100 Gulden paper currency issued by the Bank of Java in 1946, the last Gulden series that contains Javanese script. Later reprinted in 1950 File:Jalan Slamet Riyadi (Road sign in Surakarta).jpg, A street sign in Surakarta. The word ''jendral'' in the sign has been misspelled and should have used ''taling'' in accordance to how it is pronounced in Javanese, ''jèndral'' File:Javanese script in modern use.jpg, Contemporary merchandise with design elements containing Javanese script File:Yogyakarta Sultanate Hamengkubhuwono X Emblem.svg, The
Yogyakarta Sultanate The Sultanate of Yogyakarta, officially the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat ( ; ), is a Javanese monarchy in Yogyakarta Special Region, in the Republic of Indonesia. The current head of the sultanate is Hamengkubuwono X. Yogyakart ...
coat of arms with the Hamengkubuwana royal monogram in Javanese script


See also

*
Javanese language Javanese ( , , ; , Aksara Jawa, Javanese script: , Pegon script, Pegon: , IPA: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language spoken primarily by the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, Indones ...
*
Javanese literature Javanese literature is, generally speaking, literature from Java and, more specifically, from areas where Javanese language, Javanese is spoken. However, similar with other literary traditions, Javanese language works were and not necessarily prod ...
* Tuladha Jejeg


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *


Orthographical guides

* Also known as ''Wewaton Sriwedari'' and ''Paugeran Sriwedari''. * Sanskrit and Kawi * * * Sundanese *


External links


Digital collection


British Library manuscript collection

National Library of Indonesia manuscript collection

Yayasan Sastra Lestari manuscript collection

Widyapustaka references collection


Digitized manuscripts


A debt written on a piece of lontar
(1708) British Library collection no. Sloane MS 1403E
''Babad Mataram'' and ''Babad ing Sangkala''
(1738) koleksi British Library no. MSS Jav 36
A Malay-Javanese-Maduran language word list
from early 19th century, British Library collection no. MSS Malay A 3
An assortment of documents from the Kraton of Yogyakarta
(1786–1812) British Library collection no. Add Ms 12341
''Papakem Pawukon''
from Bupati Sepuh Demak of Bogor (1814) British Library collection no. Or 15932
''Wejangan Hamengkubuwana I''
(1812) British Library collection no. Add MS 12337
''Raffles Paper'' - vol III
(1816) a collection of Letters received by Raffles from the rules of the Malay archipelago, British Library collection no. Add MS 45273
''Serat Jaya Lengkara Wulang''
(1803) British Library collection no. MSS Jav 24
''Serat Selarasa''
(1804) British Library collection no. MSS Jav 28
''Usana Bali''
(1870) a Javanese copy of a Balinese lontar of the same title, National Library of Indonesia collection no. CS 152
Dongèng-dongèng Pieuntengen
(1867) a collection of Sundanese tales written in Javanese script compiled by Muhammad Musa


Others


Unicode proposal for Javanese script

Unicode documentation for the behavior of KERET diacritic

Unicode documentation for the behavior of CAKRA diacritic

Unicode documentation for the behavior of PENGKAL diacritic

Unicode documentation for the behavior of TOLONG diacritic

British Library Asian-African Studies blog, Javanese topic

Javanese script transliterator by Benny LinHana - Javanese Script Transliterator by Dan
* Download Javanese fonts i
Tuladha Jejeg

Aksara di Nusantara
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Google Noto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Javanese script Brahmic scripts Javanese language Indonesian scripts Scripts with ISO 15924 four-letter codes Writing systems without word boundaries