The Writing and Numeral System of the Sundanese Language: A Comprehensive Analysis

Introduction

The Sundanese language, spoken primarily in the western part of the Indonesian island of Java, is a significant language both in terms of its number of speakers and its cultural impact. The language employs two scripts: the Latin alphabet, which is also used for Indonesian, and a unique script known as Sundanese script. This article aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the writing and numeral system in the Sundanese language.

Sundanese Script

Components

The Sundanese script, like many other scripts in the Southeast Asian region, is an abugida. This means each consonant character inherently carries a vowel sound, often the vowel ‘a’, and other vowels are denoted by diacritical marks or separate vowel characters.

• Consonants: There are about 18 to 22 basic consonants in the Sundanese script, depending on the variety.

• Vowels: There are seven independent vowels in Sundanese, and they are used at the beginning of a syllable.

Diacritical Marks

The Sundanese script uses diacritical marks to denote vowels other than the inherent ‘a’. There are diacritics for ‘i’, ‘u’, ‘é’, ‘o’, and ‘e’.

Punctuation and Special Characters

Punctuation in Sundanese script includes native marks for comma, full stop, and others. The script also includes special characters for foreign sounds, much like how English uses ‘ch’ or ‘th’ to denote specific sounds.

Latin Script in Sundanese

Orthography

With the widespread use of the Indonesian language in education and formal settings, the Latin script has become common for writing Sundanese. The spelling is generally phonetic, and the rules for writing Sundanese in Latin script are largely similar to those for Indonesian.

Special Notations

While the Latin script used for Sundanese largely conforms to the international norms, certain sounds unique to Sundanese may be denoted using diacritical marks, especially in academic settings or dictionaries for disambiguation.

Numeral System

Traditional Sundanese Numbers

The Sundanese language has its own set of native numbers, but they are increasingly replaced by either Indonesian or Western Arabic numerals in everyday use. Traditional Sundanese numbers are often seen in cultural settings or literature.

Arabic Numerals

Like many languages around the world, Sundanese has adapted the use of Arabic numerals (0-9) for most numerical representations. These numerals are used in a decimal-based system and are identical to the numerals used in Western languages.

Number Names

The number names in Sundanese are unique and do not follow the Latin or Arabic numbering system. However, due to the widespread use of Indonesian, many Sundanese speakers are more familiar with the Indonesian names for numbers.

Usage in Modern Day

The Sundanese script is taught in some schools and is used in cultural events and traditional literature. However, Latin script remains the most commonly used script for Sundanese, especially in urban areas and formal settings. Arabic numerals are universally used for numbers.

Conclusion

The Sundanese language employs a unique writing system that includes both a traditional script and the Latin alphabet. While the Sundanese script is rich in history and culture, Latin script has been widely adopted due to the influence of Indonesian and other global languages. Arabic numerals, which have become the global standard, are also predominantly used in Sundanese for numerical representation. As globalization continues, the Latin script and Arabic numerals are likely to become even more entrenched, but efforts are being made to preserve the traditional Sundanese script and numeral system as a part of the region’s rich cultural heritage.