Alphabet Key To History Of Mankind

Author(s): David Diringer
Publisher: Hutchinsons Scientific and Technical Publications

Page 427

426
THE ALPHABET
All the dialects of Middle Javanese and New Javanese have been greatly influenced by the penetration of Islamic culture. With a few exceptions, no literary work of subsequent date can stand comparison with the works of the classical period of the Kavi or Indo-Javanese literature. Notwithstanding the sub-division into Old (or Kavi). Middle and New Javanese, there was no break of historical continuity in the development of the language. The same may be said regarding the history of the Javanese writing. Nowadays, the Roman character is largely employed for the necessities of modern life,
The Javanese script, however, is still used for the Javanese, Sundanese, Madurese and Balinese languages, and also to some extent in Borneo, Javanese is spoken by about thirty million people, mainly in central and eastern Java, but is known all over the island. Sundanese is perhaps the most ancient vernacular language of the country; it is spoken nowadays by about eight and a-half million people, mainly in the mountainous districts of western Java, but seems to have been formerly, down to the period preceding the Moslem conquest, the general language of western Java. Madurese is spoken by about four and a-half million people in Madura and north-eastern Java. Balinese is spoken by about 1,200,000 people on the island of Bali and on the south-eastern coast of lava
The Javanese character (Fig. 154, col. 3o, Fig. 193, Fig. 194. col. 1-6) consists of twenty consonants or aksara, including y and w, and five vowels. As in nearly all the Indian scripts and their offshoots, the vowel-sound is inherent in the consonant unless contradicted by a particular sign. Beside these basic letters, called Aksara Jawa(Fig. 193, 1, iu) or "Javanese letters," there are twenty auxiliary signs called Aksara Pasang'an or "corresponding, similar" letters (Fig. 193, iv), which have the same phonetic value, but are used only in connection with and immediately after the main consonantal signs, for the purpose of suppressing their inherent vowel-sounds. Three of the Pasang'an signs are always placed after the aksara, the others below them. The inherent vowel is generally a, but in some dialects it is o.
The vowels, termed Sandang'an or "clothing, dress" (Fig. 193, 1), are written in their full form when they are used alone, or in their abbreviated form when combined with consonants. In the latter instance, each of them has a particular name; in some instances they are placed above the consonant; in other cases, below it; or else the consonant is placed in the middle of the vowel-sign. The sign termed papet, which is considered as a vowel and is pronounced as le in French, is placed above the consonant with which it is connected.
There are two other signs which are also considered as vowels, that is ng'a lalet, pronounced like le, and pacherak, pronounced like re in Sanskrit. I may mention, finally, that there are many other peculiar signs, of which the most important is the pangkun, placed after a consonant. which serves as a mark of elision destroying the final vowel-sound.