Singularity on the Plane

In spoken Indonesian, the vocal ‘a’ on the last syllable of many words change into ‘e’. When this colloquial corruption exists, using the correct version sounds very very stiff and formal. Here are some examples:

teman -> temen (friend)
Temenmu tadi juga kuliah di UGM? - Does your friend (which we met earlier) also study in UGM?

But not preman -> premen (even though it has the same last syllable as the previous example)

dalam -> dalem (inside)
Bukunya ada di dalem tas yang kecil itu. - The book is inside that small bag.

malam -> malem (night)
Gimana kalo ngerjainnya nanti malem aja? - How about doing it later tonight?

But not salam -> salem

tanam -> tanem (to plant), also its derived word tanaman -> taneman (plant)
Tadi aku ngeliat taneman aneh lo di kuburan! - I found a weird plant on the cemetery, you know!

enam -> enem (six)
Aku udah nyoba enem kali tapi masih belum bisa menang juga. - I’ve tried six times but still couldn’t win.

But not senam -> senem

senang -> seneng (to like)
Aku nggak gitu seneng lagu ini. - I don’t really like this song.

But not renang -> reneng

simpan - simpen (to keep something in a place)
Simpen di tempat yang aman lo! - Make sure you keep it in a safe place!

But not depan -> depen

malas -> males (lazy)
Kalau kamu males-malesan, mana bisa lulus? - If you act lazy, how can you pass?

But not kelas -> keles

Most of the words that I could think of ends with -n, -m, or -ng (which in Japanese is all represented by ん). Can you find other examples?

It is OK to use the corrupted vocabulary presented here when talking to someone higher (e.g., teacher). However, it is not used in formal writing or speech.

Tags: Indonesian, Japanese, Spoken Language

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 23rd, 2007 at 10:58 am by Agro Rachmatullah and is filed under Bahasa Indonesia, Lesson, Works, Writings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.