Javanese Script

The Javanese script natively known as Carakan (Tjarakan) is the script originally used to write Javanese. It is an abugida script consisting of 20 main consonants with an inherent vowel "a" (normally pronounced as open back rounded vowel when reciting the consonants). In addition there are vowel markings, contraction of consonants, variant great letters used for ceremony, and marks to indicate poetic structure.

The twenty consonants are:

ha, na, ca, ra, ka
da, ta, sa, wa, la
pa, dha, ja, ya, nya
ma, ga, ba, tha, nga


The alphabet itself forms a poem, of which the line-by-line translation is as follows:

There (were/was) warriors
(They) had animosity (among each other)
(They were) equally powerful (in fight)
Both (were) dead.

in detail:

hana/ana = there were/was
caraka = warrior (actually, 'one who is loyal to and trusted by someone')
data = have/has
sawala = difference (regarding a matter)
padha = same, equal
jayanya = 'their power', 'jaya' could mean 'glory' as well
maga = 'both'
bathanga = 'be a dead body' = 'die', since 'bathang' = corpse

Further reading

There are very few items available in English about Javanese script; however, the following give some introduction:

• Gallop, Annabel Teh. Golden letters: writing traditions of Indonesia = Surat emas: budaya tulis di Indonesia (with Bernard Arps). London: British Library; Jakarta: Yayasan Lontar, c1991. ISBN 9798083067
• Pigeaud, Theodore G. Th. Javanese and Balinese manuscripts and some codices written in related idioms spoken in Java and Bali: descriptive catalogue, with examples of Javanese script, introductory chapters, a general index of names and subjects Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1975. ISBN 3515019642

See also

• Folk etymology relevant to Javanese etymology
• Balinese script, a very similar script used in the neighbouring island of Bali

External links

• Hanacaraka Font & Resources (in Indonesian)
• Entry on Javanese at Omniglot.com -- A guide to writing systems

abugida is a term coined by Peter T. Daniels in order to describe a writing system in which consonant signs (graphemes) are inherently associated with a following vowel. Thus, the absence of such a vowel, or other following vowels, are usually indicated explicitly.
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The Javanese language is the spoken language of the people in the central and eastern part of the island of Java, in Indonesia. It is the native language of more than 75,500,000 people.