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Indonesian Language

Linguistics

To a certain degree, Indonesian can be regarded as an open language. Over the years, foreign languages such as Sanskrit, Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch and English have influenced and expanded the Indonesian language, mostly through trade contacts and international media.

Because of its semi-open status, there are those who regard Indonesian (as well as other forms of Malay) as lacking sufficient vocabulary and specialist terminologies. Yet some linguists consider this view to be a misconception, as a vast majority of foreign adopted words do have native equivalents. For example, the word asimilasi (from the Dutch word assimilatie) can also be expressed in Indonesian as penggabungan. Many words describing more modern inventions, objects or ideas are often Indonesianised adoptions of foreign words (e.g. computer becomes komputer), although many of these words also have Indonesian equivalents. For example, a “cell/mobile phone” can be referred to in Indonesian as either pon-sel/ telepon seluler (lit. cellular-telephone), HP (pronounced hah-ph – the acronymic form of hand phone) or telepon genggam (lit. “hold-in-the-hand telephone”). Other words such as “rice cooker” may be referred to simply as “rice cooker” or, again, in a more native Indonesian/ Malay form, i.e. penanak nasi (a word formed from the verb menanak, meaning ‘to cook rice by boiling’ + nasi, meaning ‘cooked rice’). Overall, the use of native and non-native words in Indonesian is equally common and reflects the country’s efforts towards modernization and globalization.

Many aspects of Indonesian grammar are relatively simple in the initial stages of study, making it one of the easiest languages to learn for adults. Indonesian does not require conjugation of verb tenses or participles, plural forms, articles and gender distinction for the third person pronouns. It is important to note that neither do many other languages traditionally regarded as ‘complex’, including Chinese (see Chinese grammar) and Thai for example. In spite of this, Indonesian and Malay are generally regarded as easy languages to learn, mostly because they are not tonal languages and they no longer use complex characters within their writing system, but rather utilize the Latin alphabet. Similar cases can also be seen in other Southeast Asian languages such as Vietnamese and Tagalog.

However, Indonesian does possess a complex system of affixations. The absence of tenses in the language is replaced by the use of aspect particles and (as with any language) Indonesian grammar often presents an array of exceptions. Also, the simplicity of Indonesian grammar at a beginners or basic level has the disadvantage of misleading many learners of the language into thinking that more advanced Indonesian grammar is just as simple.

History

Indonesian is a normative form of the Malay language, an Austronesian (or Malayo-Polynesian) language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries. It was elevated to the status of official language with the Indonesian declaration of independence in 1945, drawing inspiration from the Sumpah Pemuda (Youth’s Oath) event in 1928.

Because of its origins, Indonesian (in its most standard form) is mutually intelligible with the official Malaysian form of Malay. However, it does differ from Malaysian in some aspects, with differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. These differences are mainly due to the Dutch and Javanese influences on Indonesian. Indonesian was also influenced by the “bazaar Malay” that was the lingua franca of the archipelago in colonial times, and thus indirectly by the other spoken languages of the islands: Malaysian Malay claims to be closer to the literary Malay of earlier centuries.

Whilst Indonesian is spoken as a mother tongue (first language) by only a small proportion of Indonesia’s large population (i.e. mainly those who reside within the vicinity of Jakarta), over 200 million people regularly make use of the national language – some with varying degrees of proficiency. In a nation which boasts more than 300 native languages and a vast array of ethnic groups, the use of proper or ‘good and correct’ Indonesian (as opposed to Indonesian slang or regional dialects) is an essential means of communication across the archipelago. Use of the national language is abundant in the media, government bodies, schools, universities, workplaces, amongst members of the Indonesian upper-class or nobility and also in many other formal situations.

Most native speakers of Indonesian would agree that the standard, correct version of the Indonesian language is rarely used in daily communication. One can find standard and correct Indonesian in books and newspapers, or listen to it when watching the news or television/radio broadcasts, but few native Indonesian speakers use formally correct language in their daily conversations. While this is a phenomenon common to most languages in the world (for example, spoken English does not always correspond to written standards), the degree of “correctness” of spoken Indonesian (in terms of grammar and vocabulary) by comparison to its written form is noticeably low. This is mostly due to the fact that most Indonesians tend to combine certain aspects of their own local languages (eg. Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, and even Chinese dialects, particularly Hokkien) with Indonesian. The result is the creation of various types of ‘regional’ Indonesian, the very types that a foreigner is most likely to hear upon arriving in any Indonesian city or town. This phenomenon is exacerbated by the use of Indonesian slang, particularly in the cities. A classic example of a speaker of accented Indonesian is former president Soeharto, whose Javanese accent came through whenever he delivered a speech.

The Dutch colonisation left an imprint on the Indonesian language that can be seen in words such as polisi (police), kualitas/kwaliteit (quality), wortel (carrot), kamar (room, chamber), rokok (cigarette), korupsi (corruption), persneling (gear), kantor (office), and resleting (zipper). Alongside Malay, Portuguese was the lingua franca for trade throughout the archipelago from the sixteenth century through to the early nineteenth century. Indonesian words derived from Portuguese include sabun (soap), meja (table), boneka (doll), jendela (window), gereja (church), bola (ball), dua (two, feminine portuguese), bendera (flag), roda (wheel), sepatu (from sapato = shoes), kereta (from careto = wagon), bangku (from banco = chair), keju (from queijo = cheese), garpu (from garfo = fork), trigu (from trigo = flour), mentega (from manteiga = butter), Sabtu (from Sabado = Saturday) and Minggu (from domingo = Sunday). Some of the many words of Chinese origin (presented here with accompanying Hokkien/ Mandarin pronunciation derivatives as well as traditional and simplified characters) include pisau ( bshu – knife), loteng, (/ = lu/cng – [upper] floor/ level), mie ( > mi’n – noodles), lumpia ( (Hokkien = ln-pi) – springroll), cawan, ( chwn – teacup), teko ( > = chh [Mandarin], teh-ko [Hokkien] = teapot) and even the widely used slang terms gua and lu (from the Hokkien ‘goa’ and ‘lu/li’ – meaning ‘I/ me’ and ‘you’). From Sanskrit came words such as kaca (glass, mirror), raja (king), manusia (mankind) b(h)umi/ dunia (earth/ world) and agama (religion). Words of Arabic origin include k(h)abar (news), selamat/ salam (a greeting), senin (Monday), selasa (Tuesday), jumaat (Friday), ijazah (diploma), hadiah (gift/present), mungkin (from mumkin = perhaps), maklum (understood), kitab (book), tertib (orderly) and kamus (dictionary). There are also words derived from Javanese, e.g. aku (meaning I/ me (informal) and its derivative form, mengaku (to admit or confess).

Classification

The Indonesian language is part of the Western Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages. According to the Ethnologue, Indonesian is modelled after Riau Malay, a form of Old Malay originally spoken in Northeast Sumatra.

Geographic distribution

This is a map of where Indonesian is predominantly spoken. Dark green represents where Indonesian is spoken as a major language. Light green represents where it is a minority language.

The language is spoken throughout Indonesia (and East Timor), although it is used most extensively as a first language in urban areas and usually as a second or third language in more rural parts of Indonesia. It is also spoken by an additional 1.5+ million people worldwide, particularly in the Netherlands, the Philippines and Malaysia. Also spoken as daily language in some parts of Australia (mostly in Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands), Brunei, Singapore, some parts of Thailand ( Southern Thailand ), East Timor, Saudi Arabia, Suriname, New Caledonia, and the United States.

Official status

Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia.

Sounds

Phonology

The following are phonemes of modern Indonesian.

Vowels

Front

Central

Back

Close

i

u

Close-mid

e

o

Open-mid

()

()

Open

a

Indonesian also has the diphthongs /ai/, /au/, and /oi/. In closed syllables, such as air (water), however, the two vowels are not pronounced as a diphthong.

Consonants

Labial

Apical

Postalveolar

Palatal

Velar

Glottal

Nasal

m

n

 

Plosive

p b

t d

 

 

k g

Affricate

 

 

 

 

 

Fricative

(f)

s (z)

()

 

(x)

h

Liquid

 

l r

 

 

 

 

Approximant

w

 

 

j

 

 

Note: The vowels between parentheses are allophones while the consonants in parentheses are loan phonemes and as such only occur in loanwords.

Learning pronunciation

Here are a few useful tips for the English speaking learner:

/k/, /p/, and /t/ are unaspirated, i.e. they are not followed by a noticeable puff of air as they often are in English words.

/t/ and /d/ are dental, rather than alveolar as in English.

When /k/ is at the end of a syllable it becomes a glottal stop, which sounds like it is cut off sharply e.g. baik, bapak. This is similar to a number of English dialects where final /t/ is glottalized (”got”, “what”). Only a few Indonesian words have this sound in the middle, e.g. bakso (meatballs), and it may be represented by an apostrophe in Arabic derived words such as Al Qur’an.

The letter ‘c’ in a word is never pronounced as a ‘k’ or ’s’ e.g. kucing (meaning cat) is pronounced [kuti].

Stress is placed on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable of each base word. But if this syllable contains a schwa then the accent moves to the last syllable.

For more, and to listen to examples, see SEASite Guide to Pronunciation of Indonesian

Grammar

Word order

Adjectives, demonstrative pronouns and possessive pronouns follow the noun they modify.

The basic word order of Indonesian is Subject Verb Object (SVO). However many Indonesians will speak in a passive/objective voice, making use of the Object Verb Subject word order. This OVS word order in Indonesian will often permit the omission of the subject and/or object (i.e. ellipses of noun/pronoun) and can benefit the speaker/writer in two ways:

1) Adding a sense of politeness and respect to a statement or question

For example, a polite shop assistant in a store may avoid the use of pronouns altogether and ask:

Ellipses of pronoun (Subject & Object)

Literal English

Idiomatic English

Bisa dibantu?

Can + to be helped?

Can (I) help (you)?

2) Convenience when the subject is unknown, not important or implied by context

For example, a friend may enquire as to when you bought your property, to which you may respond:

Ellipses of pronoun (Implied Subject)

Literal English

Idiomatic English

Rumah ini dibeli lima tahun yang lalu

House this + to be purchased five year(s) ago

The house was purchased five years ago

Ultimately, the choice between active and passive voice (and therefore word order) is a choice between actor and patient and depends quite heavily on the language style and context.

Word Formation

Indonesian is an agglutinative language and new words are generally formed via three methods. New words can be created through affixation (the attaching of affixes onto root words), formation of a compound word (a composition of two or more separate words), or reduplication (repetition of words or portions of words).

Adjectives

Unlike in English, adjectives in the Indonesian language follow nouns:

Indonesian

Literal English word order

Normal English translation

Mobil merah

Car red

Red car

Dia orang yang terkenal sekali

He/she person which well-known very

He/she is a very famous/well-known person

(Sebuah) cerita panjang

(A) story long

A long story

Affixation

The Indonesian language utilises a complex system of affixes (i.e. prefix, infix, suffix and confix (circumfix)). Affixes are applied with certain rules which depend on the initial letter of a base word (BW = base word, eg. a habitual verb, adjective, etc in its simplest form), and/or the sound combination of the second syllable. For example:

The affix Ber + ajar (teach) = BeLajar (Note the deletion of ‘R’ and the addition of ‘L’)

= to study

The affixes Me + ajar + -kan = meNGajarkan (Note the addition of ‘NG’)

= to teach (transitive)

By comparison

The affix Ber + judi (gamble) = Berjudi (Note that Ber- remains unchanged)

= to gamble

The affixes Me + judi + -kan = meNjudikan (Note the addition of ‘N’)

= to gamble away (money, one’s life, etc)

Also, depending on the affix used, a word can have different grammatical meanings (e.g. me + makan (memakan) means to eat something (in the sense of digesting it), while di + makan (dimakan) means to be eaten (passive voice), ter + makan (termakan) means to be accidentally eaten. Often two different affixes are used to change the meaning of a word. For example, duduk means to sit down, whereas men + duduk + kan (mendudukkan) means to sit someone/ something down. Men + duduk + i (menduduki) means to sit on something, di + duduk + kan (didudukkan) means to be sat down, diduduki (diduduki) means to be sat on, etc).

As with any language, Indonesian grammar can often present an array of inconsistencies and exceptions. Some base words when combined with two affixes (eg. me + BW + kan) can produce an adjective rather than a verb, or even both. For example, bosan when combined with the affixes me- and -kan produces the word membosankan, meaning boring (adjective) or to bore (someone) (active verb). However, not all base words can be combined with affixes, nor are they always consistent in their subsequent usage and meaning. A prime example is the word tinggal which, when combined with affixes, can change quite dramatically in both meaning and grammatical use:

Tinggal (base word (BW) form) = to reside, live (in a place)

Meninggal (MeN+BW) = to die, pass away (short form of ‘Meningal dunia’ below)

Meninggal dunia (MeN+BW + world) = to pass away, to die (lit. pass on from the world)

Meninggalkan (MeN+BW+kan) = to leave (a place); to leave behind/abandon (someone/ something)

Ketinggalan (Ke+BW+an) = to miss (a bus, train, etc); to be left behind

Tertinggal (Ter+BW) = to be (accidentally) left behind

Ditinggalkan (Di+BW+kan) = to be left behind; to be abandoned

Selamat tinggal (word + BW) = goodbye (said to the person staying)

Noun affixes are affixes that form nouns upon addition to base words. The following are examples of noun affixes:

Type of noun affixes

Affix

Example of root word

Example of derived word

Prefix

pe(N)-

duduk (sit)

penduduk (resident)

ke-

hendak (want)

kehendak (desire)

juru-

acara (event)

juru-acara (event host)

Infix

-el-

tunjuk (point)

telunjuk (index finger, command)

-em-

kelut (dishevelled)

kemelut (chaos, crisis)

-er-

gigi (teeth)

gerigi (toothed blade, serration)

Suffix

-an

bangun (wake up, raise)

bangunan (building)

Confix

ke-…-an

raja (king)

kerajaan (kingdom)

pe-…-an

kerja (work)

pekerjaan (occupation)

(N) and (R) indicate that if a word begins with certain letters (most often vowels or consonants k, p, s, t), the letter will either be omitted or other letters will replace it, most commonly with the letters in the bracket or m, ng, ny and l.

Similarly, verb affixes are attached to root words to form verbs. In Indonesian, there are:

Type of verb affixes

Affix

Example of root word

Example of derived word

Prefix

be(L)-

ajar (teach)

belajar (to study) – Intransitive

me(N)-

tolong (help)

menolong (to help) – Active transitive

me(NG)-

gambar (picture)

menggambar (to draw) – Active transitive

di-

ambil (take)

diambil (is being taken) – Passive transitive

memper-

dalam (depth)

memperdalam (to deepen)

dipe(R)-

dalam (deep)

diperdalam (is being further deepen)

te(R)-

makan (eat)

termakan (to have accidentally eaten)

Suffix

-kan

letak (place, keep)

letakkan (keep) – Imperative transitive

-i

jauh (far)

jauhi (avoid) – Imperative transitive

Confix

be(R)-…-an

pasang (pair)

berpasangan (to be paired)

be(R)-…-kan

dasar (base)

berdasarkan (based upon)

me(M)-…-kan

pasti (certain)

memastikan (to ensure)

me(N)-…-i

teman (companion)

menemani (to accompany)

mempe(R)-…-kan

guna (use)

mempergunakan (to misuse, to utilise)

mempe(L)-…-i

ajar (teach)

mempelajari (to study)

ke-…-an

hilang (disappear)

kehilangan (to lose)

di-…-i

sakit (pain)

disakiti (is being hurt)

di-…-kan

benar (right)

dibenarkan (is allowed to)

dipe(R)-…-kan

kenal (know, recognise)

diperkenalkan (is being introduced)

Adjective affixes are attached to base words to form adjectives:

Type of adjective affixes

Affix

Example of root word

Example of derived word

Prefix

te(R)-

kenal (know)

terkenal (famous)

se-

rupa (appearance)

serupa (similar (to))

Infix

-em-

cerlang (radiant bright)

cemerlang (bright, excellent)

-er-

sabut (husk)

serabut (dishevelled)

Confix

ke-…-an

barat (west)

kebaratan (westernized)

In addition to these affixes, Indonesia language also has a lot of borrowed affixes from other languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic and English. For example maha-, pasca-, eka-, bi-, anti-, pro-, pra-, etc.

Compound words

In Indonesian, new words can be formed by conjoining two or more base words. Compound words, when they exist freely in a sentence, are often written separately. Compound words are only attached to each other when they are bound by a confix or when they are already considered as stable words.

For example, the word rumah which means house and makan which means eat, are compounded to form a new word rumah makan (restaurant). Similarly, ambil alih (take over) is formed using the root words ambil (take) and alih (shift), but will link together when a circumfix is attached to it, i.e. pengambilalihan (takeover). Certain stable words, such as kakitangan (personnel), and kerjasama (co-oporation; corporation), are spelled as one word even though the words they consist of can also exist freely in sentences.

Initial Consonant Morphing

Indonesian makes use of initial consonant morphing when using the prefixes me- and pe-. This means that according to the initial sound of the base word, the sounds used in the prefix will differ; this is based on the place of articulation.

The sound following the me- or pe- suffix is usually a nasal(m, n, ny, ng) or liquid(l, r) sound. Which sound is used depends on the point of articulation. E.g. the initial sound of beli, /b/, is a bi-labial sound (pronounced using both the lips), so the nasal bi-labial sound, /m/ is placed before the base word, creating membeli.

The initial consonant is dropped if it is unvoiced(/p/, /t/, /s/, /k/), e.g. menulis/tulis, memilih/pilih.

Grammatical gender

Generally Indonesian does not make use of grammatical gender, and there are only select words that use natural gender. For instance, the same word is used for he and she (dia/ia) or for his and her (dia/ia/-nya). No real distinction is made between “girlfriend” and “boyfriend” (except in the more colloquial terms cewek (girl, girlfriend) and cowok (guy, boyfriend). A majority of Indonesian words that refer to people generally have a form that does not distinguish between the sexes. However, unlike English, distinction is made between older or younger (a characteristic quite common to many Asian languages). For example, adik refers to a younger sibling of either gender and kakak refers to an older sibling, again, either male or female. In order to specify the natural gender of a noun, an adjective must be added. Thus, adik laki-laki corresponds to “younger brother” but really means “younger male sibling”.

There are some words that are gendered, for instance putri means “daughter”, and putra means “son” and also pramugara means “air steward” (male flight attendant) and pramugari meaning “air stewardess” (female flight attendant). Another example would be olahragawan, which equates to “sportsman”, and olahragawati, meaning sportswoman. Often, words like these (or certain suffixes such as “-a” and “-i” or “-wan” and “wati”) are absorbed from other languages (in these cases, from Sanskrit through the Old Javanese language). In some regions of Indonesia such as Sumatera and Jakarta, abang (a gender-specific term meaning “older brother”) is commonly used as a form of address for older siblings/ males, whilst kakak (a non-gender specific term (meaning “older sibling”) is often used to mean “older sister”. Similarly, more direct influences from dialects such as Javanese and Chinese languages have also seen further use of other gendered words in Indonesian. For example: Mas (Jav. = older brother), M’bak (Jav. = older sister), Koko (older brother) and Cici (older sister).

Measure words

Another distinguishing feature of Indonesian language is its use of measure words. In this way, it is similar to many other languages of Asia, including Thai, Lao, Chinese, Vietnamese, Burmese, and Bengali.

Examples of these measure words are: ekor (used for animals), buah (generally used for non-living things), orang (used for people), lembar (used for paper), helai (used for long, thin and generally flat things), biji (used for tiny, round things), batang (used for long, stick-like objects), etc. However, these measure words may not always be used in informal conversation.

Indonesian

Literal English translation

Normal English translation

Tiga ekor sapi

Three tails (of) cow

Three cows

Sepuluh orang tentara

Ten people soldiers

Ten soldiers

Lima lembar/ helai/ carik kertas

Five sheets/pieces of paper

Five sheets/pieces of paper

Sebelas buah apel

Eleven fruits (of) apple

Eleven apples

Importantly, when a measure word is being used in conjunction with only one object, the numeral prefix se- is used in front of the measure word, not satu. Therefore a banana would be translated as (se + MW + object) = sebuah pisang.

Negation

There are three major forms of negation used in the Indonesian language, namely tidak, bukan and belum.

Tidak (sometimes shortened to tak) is used for the negation of a verb and adjective.

For example: “saya tidak tahu” = I do not know OR “Ibu saya tidak senang” = My mother is not happy

Bukan is used in the negation of a noun.

For example: “Itu bukan anjing saya” = That is not my dog

Belum is primarily used to negate a sentence or phrase with the sense that something has not yet been accomplished or experienced. In this sense, belum can also be used as a negative response to a question.

For example: “Anda sudah pernah ke Indonesia (belum)? “Belum, saya masih belum pernah pergi ke Indonesia” = Have you ever been to Indonesia before, (or not)? No, I have not yet been to Indonesia OR “Orang itu belum terbiasa tinggal di Indonesia” = That person is not (yet) used to living in Indonesia.

NB: Another kind of negation involves the word jangan, which equates to the English equivalent of “don’t” or “do not”. Jangan is used for negating imperatives or advising against certain actions. For example, “Jangan tinggalkan saya di sini!” = ‘Don’t leave me here!’

Pluralisation

Plurals are expressed by means of reduplication, but only when the plural is not implied in the context. Thus “person” is orang, and “people” is orang-orang, but “a thousand people” is seribu orang, as the use of a numeral (i.e. seribu) renders it unnecessary to mark the plural form.

For foreigners learning Indonesian, the concept of grammatical reduplication is not as easy to grasp as it may seem. Besides expressing plurals, reduplication can also be used to create new words that differ in meaning. For instance, hati means “heart” or “liver” (depending on context) whereas hati-hati means “to be careful” and is often used as a verb. As stated above, orang means “person” while orang-orang means “people”, but orang-orangan means “scarecrow”. Also, not all reduplicated words indicate plural forms of a word with many words naturally expressed in reduplicated form. Examples of these include, biri-biri (sheep), kupu-kupu (butterfly) which can imply both a singular or plural meaning, depending on the context or numeral used.

By contrast, there are also some types of plural words that are expressed by reduplication of a similar sounding (but essentially different) word. In these cases the general sound of a word/phrase is repeated, but the initial letter of the repeated word is changed. A common example of this is sayur-mayur (not sayur-sayur) meaning “vegetables” (plural). Another type of reduplication can be formed through the use of certain affixes (e.g. pe- + -an). For instance, pepohonan ([various kinds of] trees, from the word pohon [tree]), perumahan (houses/ housing, from the word rumah [house]) or pegunungan (mountains, mountain range, from the word gunung [mountain]), and so on.

Another useful word to remember when pluralizing in Indonesian is beberapa, which means “some.” For example one may use beberapa pegunungan to describe a series of mountain ranges, and beberapa kupu-kupu to describe (plural) butterflies.

Pronouns

There are two forms of “we”, kami or kita, depending on whether the speaker includes the person being talked to. Kami (exclusive) is used when the person or people being spoken to are not included, while kita (inclusive) includes the opposite party. Their usage is increasingly confused in colloquial Indonesian. There are two major forms of “I”, which are saya and aku. Despite having the same meaning, saya is definitely the more formal form, whereas Aku is used often used with family, friends and between lovers. There are three common forms of “you”, which are kamu, Anda and kalian. Anda is the more polite form of “you” and is used in conversations with someone you barely know, advertising, business situations or with someone whom you wish to respect. Kalian is the common plural form of “you” and is often said to be slightly informal.

NB: Because of the overall structure of Indonesian society and influences from regional dialects, many more different pronouns exist in Indonesian. Some of these ‘additional pronouns’ may show utmost politeness and respect (eg. saudara/saudari = you (male/female) or Anda sekalian = you (polite, plural form)), may be used only in the most informal of situations (eg. gua/ lu = me/ you – see Indonesian slang), or may even possess somewhat romantic or poetic nuances(eg. daku/dikau = me/you).

Common Indonesian Pronouns

Type

Indonesian

English

First Person

Saya (standard, polite), Aku (informal, familiar), Gua (informal, slang)

I, me

Kami (excl.), Kita (incl.)

We, us

Second Person

Anda (polite, formal), Saudara/Saudari (polite, formal)

You

Kamu (familiar, informal), (Eng)kau (familiar, informal), Lu (informal, slang)

You

Kalian (plural, informal), Anda sekalian (plural, formal), Saudara(i)-saudara(i) (polite)

You

Third Person

Ia, Dia

He, she, it

Beliau (high respect)

He, She

Mereka

They

Possessive pronouns

Type of possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns

Example of root word

Example of derived word(s)

First person

Saya, Aku (I)

-ku

meja (table)

mejaku (my table)

Kami (we, referring to 1st and 3rd person), kita (we, referring to 1st and 2nd person)

… (milik) kami/kita

kursi (chair)

kursi (milik) kami, kursi (milik) kita (our chair)

Second person

Kamu (you)

-mu

meja (table)

mejamu (your table)

Anda, Saudara (you(polite))

… (milik) Anda/Saudara

kursi (chair)

kursi (milik) Anda/Saudara (your chair)

Kalian (you(plural))

… (milik) kalian

kursi (chair)

kursi (milik) kalian (your chair)

Third person

Dia, Ia (he, she, it)

-nya

meja (table)

mejanya (his, her, its table)

Beliau (he, she, it (polite))

… (milik) Beliau

meja (table)

meja (milik) Beliau (his, her, its table)

Mereka (they)

… (milik) mereka

kursi (chair)

kursi (milik) mereka (their chair)

Demonstrative pronouns

There are two kinds of demonstrative pronouns in the Indonesian language. Ini (this, these) is used for a noun which is generally near to the speaker. Itu (that, those) is used for a noun which is generally far from the speaker. There is no difference between singular form and the plural form. However, plural can be indicated through duplication of a noun followed by a demonstrative pronoun. Also, the word yang is often placed before demonstrative pronouns to give emphasis and a sense of certainty, particularly when making references or enquiries about something/ someone.

Various Uses

Demonst. Pronoun

Simple Use

English Meaning

Ini

Buku ini

This book

Itu

Kucing itu

That cat

Demonst. Pronoun

Plural Form (via Noun duplication)

English Meaning

Ini

Buku-buku ini

These books

Itu

Kucing-kucing itu

Those cats

Demonst. Pronoun + yang

Example Sentence

English Meaning

Yang ini

Q: Anda mau membeli buku yang mana?

A: Saya mau beli yang ini

Q: Which book do you wish to purchase?

A: I would like this one (this book)

Yang itu

Q: Kucing mana yang makan tikusmu?

A: Yang itu!

Q: Which cat ate your mouse?

A: That one (that cat)!

Verbs

Verbs are not inflected for person or number, and they are not marked for tense; tense is instead denoted by time adverbs (such as “yesterday”) or by other tense indicators (sometimes referred to as aspect particles), such as belum (not yet) or sudah (already). On the other hand, there is a complex system of verb affixes to render nuances of meaning and denote active-passive voices. Such affixes include prefixes, infixes, suffixes, and their combinations; all of which are often ignored in informal conversations.

Emphasis

Although the basic word order of Indonesian is Subject Verb Object (SVO), as mentioned above, it is possible to make frequent use of passive voice or to scramble word order, thus adding emphasis on a certain sentence particle. The particle being emphasised is usually placed at the beginning of the sentence. In spoken Indonesian, the aspect of the sentence being emphasised is usually followed by a short pause before continuing on with the remainder of the sentence.

Some examples include:

Saya pergi ke pasar kemarin “I went to the market yesterday” neutral, or with emphasis on the subject.

Kemarin saya pergi ke pasar “Yesterday I went to the market” emphasis on yesterday.

Ke pasar saya pergi, kemarin “To the market I went yesterday” emphasis on where I went yesterday.

Pergi ke pasar, saya, kemarin “To the market went I yesterday” emphasis on the process of going to the market.

NB: Some of the above examples (namely the latter two) are more likely to be encountered in spoken Indonesian rather than written forms of the language.

Vocabulary

Indonesian as a modern dialect of Malay has borrowed heavily from many languages, including: Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese and many other languages, including other Austronesian languages. It is estimated that there are some 750 Sanskrit loanwords in modern Indonesian, 1,000 Arabic loans, some of Persian and Hebrew origin, some 125 words of Portuguese (also Spanish and Italian) origin and a staggering number of some 10,000 loanwords from Dutch. The latter also comprises many words from other European languages, which came via Dutch, the so-called “International Vocabulary”. The vast majority of Indonesian words, however, come from the root lexical stock of its Austronesian (incl. Old Malay) heritage.

Although Hinduism and Buddhism are no longer the major religions of Indonesia, Sanskrit which was the language vehicle for these religions, is still held in high esteem and is comparable with the status of Latin in English and other Western European languages. Residents of Bali and Java tend to be particularly proud of the Hindu-Buddhist heritage. Sanskrit is also the main source for neologisms. These are usually formed from Sanskrit roots. The loanwords from Sanskrit cover many aspects of religion, art and everyday life. The Sanskrit influence came from contacts with India long ago before the time of Christ. The words are either directly borrowed from India or with the intermediary of the Old Javanese language. In the classical language of Java, Old Javanese, the number of Sanskrit loanwords is far greater. The Old Javanese English dictionary by prof. P.J. Zoetmulder, S.J. (1982) contains no fewer than 25,500 entries. Almost half are Sanskrit loanwords. Sanskrit loanwords, unlike those from other languages, have entered the basic vocabulary of Indonesian to such an extent that, for many, they are no longer perceived to be foreign.

The loanwords from Arabic are mainly concerned with religion, in particular with Islam, as can be expected. Allah is the word for God even in Christian Bible translations. Many early Bible translators, when they came across some unusual Hebrew words or proper names, used the Arabic cognates. In the newer translations this practice is discontinued. They now turn to Greek names or use the original Hebrew Word. For example, the name Jesus was initially translated as ‘Isa, but is now spelt as Yesus. Psalms used to be translated as Zabur, the Arabic name, but now it is called Mazmur which corresponds more with Hebrew.

Loanwords from Portuguese are common words, which were mainly connected with articles the early European traders and explorers brought to Southeast Asia. The Portuguese were among the first westerners to sail east to the “Spice Islands”.

The Chinese loanwords are usually concerned with cuisine, trade or often just exclusively things Chinese. There is a considerable Chinese presence in the whole of Southeast Asia. According to the 2000 census, the relative number of people of Chinese descent in Indonesia is almost 1%, although this may likely be an underestimate.

The former colonial power, the Netherlands, left an impressive vocabulary. These Dutch loanwords, and also from other non Italo-Iberian, European languages loanwords which came via Dutch, cover all aspects of life. Some Dutch loanwords, having clusters of several consonants, pose difficulties to speakers of Indonesian. This problem is usually solved by insertion of the schwa. For example Dutch schroef ['sxruf] sekrup [s'krup].

As modern Indonesian draws many of its words from foreign sources, there are many synonyms. For example, Indonesian has three words for “book”, i.e. pustaka (from Sanskrit), kitab (from Arabic) and buku (from Dutch). These words have, unsurprisingly, slightly different meanings. A pustaka is often connected with ancient wisdom or sometimes with esoteric knowledge. A derived form, perpustakaan means a library. A kitab is usually a religious scripture or a book containing moral guidances. The Indonesian words for the Bible are Alkitab and Injil, both directly derived from Arabic. The book containing the penal code is also called the kitab. Buku is the most common word for books.

In addition to those above (and the borrowed words listed under the sub-heading History towards the top of this article), there are also direct borrowings from various other languages of the world, such as “karaoke” from Japanese, and “modem” from English.

See also: List of borrowed words in Indonesian

Spoken & informal Indonesian

Further information: Indonesian slang language

In very informal spoken Indonesian, various words are replaced with those of a less formal nature (e.g. tidak (no) is often replaced with the Javanese nggak whilst seperti (like, similar to) is often replaced with kayak (pronounced kai-yah)). As for pronunciation, the diphthongs ai and au on the end of base words are typically pronounced as /e/ and /o/. In informal writing the spelling of words is modified to reflect the actual pronunciation in a way that can be produced with less effort. E.g.: capai becomes cape or capek, pakai become pake, kalau becomes kalo.

In verbs, the prefix me- is often dropped, although an initial nasal consonant is usually retained. E.g.: mengangkat becomes ngangkat (the basic word is angkat). The suffixes -kan and -i are often replaced by -in. E.g.: mencarikan becomes nyariin, menuruti becomes nurutin. The latter grammatical aspect is one often closely related to Indonesian found in Jakarta and surrounding areas.

Writing system

Indonesian is written using the Latin alphabet. It is more phonetically consistent than many languageshe correspondence between sounds and their written forms is generally regular.

Consonants are represented in a way similar to Italian, although is always /t/ (like English ch), is always // (”hard”) and represents /d/ as it does in English. In addition, y represents the palatal nasal //, g is used for the velar nasal // (which can occur word-initially), y for // (English h) and h for the voiceless velar fricative /x/. Both /e/ and // are represented with an .

One common source of confusion for foreign readers, particularly when reading place names, is the spelling changes in the language that have occurred since Indonesian independence. Commonly-used changes include:

Old

spelling

New

spelling

oe

u

tj

c

dj

j

j

y

nj

ny

sj

sy

ch

kh

The first of these changes (e to ) occurred around the time of independence in 1947; all of the others were a part of an officially-mandated spelling reform in 1972. Some of the old spellings (which were derived from Dutch orthography) do survive in proper names; for example, the name of a former president of the Indonesia is still sometimes written Soeharto, and the central Java city of Yogyakarta is sometimes written Jogjakarta.

Idioms and Proverbs

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Indonesian proverbs

Ada gula, Ada semut.

Lit. “Where there’s sugar, there are ants”. Equivalent to the modern English idiom “Where there’s a will there’s a relative”. Where there is a good thing (sugar) there will be people taking advantage of it (ants). Indonesian idioms can be quite cynical.

See also

Indonesia portal

Languages of Indonesia

Language families and languages

Demographics of Indonesia

Indonesian slang language

Indonesian abbreviated words

Differences between Malay and Indonesian

List of English words of Indonesian origin

References

^ a b James Neil Sneddon. The Indonesian Language: Its History and Role in Modern Society. UNSW Press, 2004. Page 14.”

^ a b James Neil Sneddon. The Indonesian Language: Its History and Role in Modern Society. UNSW Press, 2004. Page 16.”

^ Barry Farber. How to Learn Any Language. New York: Citadel Press, 1991. Page 167-168, in “Farber’s Language Reviews.”

^ “Bahasa Indonesia: The Indonesian Language,” George Quinn, Australian National University

^ Ricklefs, M.C. (1991). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. London: MacMillan. pp. 26. ISBN 0-333-57689-6. 

^ “Ethologue report for language code:ind”. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ind. Retrieved 2007-04-17. 

^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ind

^ This is a research led by Prof. Dr. J.W. de Vries of the University of Leiden in the Netherlands

External links

Indonesian language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of

Indonesian

Phrasebook for the Indonesian language from Wikitravel

Indonesia History

Learning Indonesian

kamus lengkap berbagai bahasa

Learning Indonesian on the Internet

Indonesia WWW Virtual Library

Bahasa Indonesia Dictionary

Learning Indonesian in 7 Days (SEAsite)

Ethnologue report for Indonesian

Indonesian-English Dictionary from kamus.net

Indonesian bilingual dictionaries

Toggletext Translation between English and Indonesian, using the Kataku system

Multilanguage Online Dictionary

Kenalkan- Let me introduce. Nama Saya- My name is. Ini- This is . Siapa nama Anda? What is your name? Siapa Itu? Who is that? Pak- Mr or Sir. Bu- Mrs or Madam.

Categories: Malayic languages | Languages of Indonesia | Indonesian language

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Chinese surname

Chinese origin of surnames

Prior to the Warring States Period (fifth century BC), only the royal family and the aristocratic elite could generally take surnames. Historically there was also difference between xing () and shi (). Xing were surnames held by the immediate royal family. They generally are composed of a n (, meaning “female”) radical which suggests that they originated from matriarchal societies based on maternal lineages. Another hypothesis has been proposed by sinologist Lon Vandermeersch upon observation of the evolution of characters in oracular scripture from the Shang dynasty through the Zhou. The “female” radical seems to appear at the Zhou period next to Shang sinograms indicating an ethnic group or a tribe. This combination seems to designate specifically a female and could mean “lady of such or such clan”. The structure of the xing sinogram could reflect the fact that in the royal court of Zhou, at least in the beginning, only females (wives married into the Zhou family from other clans) were called by their birth clan name, while the men were usually designated by their title or fief.

Prior to the Qin Dynasty (third century BC) China was largely a feudal society. As fiefdoms were divided and subdivided among descendants, so additional sub-surnames known as shi were created to distinguish between different seniority of lineages among the nobles though in theory they shared the same ancestor. In this way, a nobleman would hold a shi and a xing. After the states of China were unified by Qin Shi Huang in 221 BC, surnames gradually devolved to the lower classes and the difference between xing and shi blurred.

Shi surnames, many of which survive to the present day, usually from a/an:

Xing: These were usually reserved for the central lineage of the royal family, with collateral lineages taking their own shi. Of the six or so common xing, only Jiang () and Yao () have survived as frequently occurring surnames.

Royal decree by the Emperor, such as Kuang ().

State name: Many commoners took the name of their state, either to show their continuing allegiance or as a matter of national and ethnic identity. Common examples include Song (), Wu (/), Chen (/), Tan (/). Not surprisingly, due to the population size of the peasantry, these are some of the most common Chinese surnames.

Name of a fief or place of origin. Fiefdoms were often granted to collateral branches of the aristocracy and it was natural as part of the process of sub-surnaming for their names to be used. An example is Di, Marquis of Ouyangting, whose descendants took the surname Ouyang. There are some two hundred examples of this identified, often of two-character surnames, but few have survived to the present.

Names of an ancestor: Like the previous example, this was also a common origin with close to 500 or 600 examples, 200 of which are two-character surnames. Often an ancestor’s style name would be used. For example, Yuan Taotu took the second character of his grandfather’s style name Boyuan () as his surname. Sometimes titles granted to ancestors could also be taken as surnames.

Seniority within the family: In ancient usage, the characters of meng (), zhong (), shu () and ji () were used to denote the first, second, third and fourth eldest sons in a family. These were sometimes adopted as surnames. Of these, Meng is the best known, being the surname of the philosopher Mencius.

Occupation: These could arise from both official positions, as in the case of Sima (/), originally akin to “Minister of War”. They could also arise from more lowly occupations, as with Tao (), meaning “potter” or Wu (), meaning “shaman”.

Ethnic groups: Non-Han Chinese peoples in China sometimes took the name of their ethnic group as surname.

Distribution of surnames

Province

Surnames

Guangdong

Liang (), Luo (/), Kwong ()

Guangxi

Liang (), Lu (/)

Fujian

Zheng (/), Lin (),Hsia ()

Anhui

Wang ()

Jiangsu

Xu (), Zhu ()

Zhejiang

Mao (),Shen ()

Jiangxi

Hu (), Liao ();

Hubei

Hu ()

Hunan

Tan (/);

Sichuan

He (), Deng (/)

Guizhou

Wu (/)

Yunnan

Yang (/)

Henan

Cheng ()

Gansu

Gao ()

Ningxia

Wan (/)

Shaanxi

Xue ()

Qinghai

Bao (/)

Xinjiang

Ma (/)

Shandong

Kong ()

Shanxi

Dong () and Guo ()

Inner Mongolia

Pan ()

Northeast China

Yu ()

Surnames are not evenly distributed throughout China’s geography. In northern China, Wang () is the most common surname, being shared by 9.9% of the population. Next are Li (), Zhang (/) and Liu (/). In the south, Chen (/) is the most common, being shared by 10.6% of the population. Next are Li (), Huang (), Lin () and Zhang (/). Around the major crossing points of the Yangtze River, the most common surname is Li (), taking up 7.7%, followed by Wang (), Zhang (/), Chen (/) and Liu (/).

A 1987 study showed over 450 family names in common use in Beijing, but there were fewer than 300 family names in Fujian.

A study by geneticist Yuan Yida has found that of all the people with a particular surname, there tends to be a population concentration in a certain province, as tabled to the right. It does not show, however, the most common surnames in any one province.

The 55th most common family name “Xiao” () appears to be very rare in Hong Kong. This is explained by the fact Hong Kong uses traditional Chinese characters not simplified Chinese characters. Originally, the surname (Xiao) was rather common while the surname (Xiao) was extremely rare, if not non-existent (it is mentioned only sporadically in historical texts). The first round of simplification in 1956 simplified into , keeping / and distinct. However the second-round in 1977, which has long been abolished, merged and into . Despite the retraction of the second round, some people have kept as their surname, so that there are now two separate surnames, and .

Chn (trad , simp ) is perhaps the most common surname in Hong Kong and Macau (romanized as Chan) and is also common in Taiwan (romanized as Chen). Fang (), which is only the 47th most common overall, is much more common in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the United States (more often romanized as Fong based on the Cantonese dialect). As with the concentration of family names, this can also be explained statistically, as a person with an uncommon name moving to an unsettled area and leaving his family name to large number of people.

After the Song Dynasty, surname distributions in China largely settled down. The Kwong family for example, migrated from the capital in the north and settled in Guangdong after the revolts of the Song Dynasty. Villages were often made up of a single patrilineage, being individuals with the same surname, often with a common male ancestor. They usually intermarried with others from nearby villages, creating genetic clusters.

Surnames at present

Of the thousands of surnames which have been identified from historical texts prior to the Han Dynasty, most have either been lost (via the Galtonatson process of extinction of family names) or simplified. In recent centuries some two-character surnames have often dropped a character. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, moreover, some surnames have been graphically simplified.

Although there are thousands of Chinese family names, the 100 most common surnames, which together make up less than 5% of those in existence, are shared by 85% of the population. The three most common surnames in Mainland China are Li, Wang and Zhang, which make up 7.9%, 7.4% and 7.1% respectively. Together they number close to 300 million and are easily the most common surnames in the world. In Chinese, the phrase “some Zhang, some Li” (Chinese: ; pinyin: zhng sn l s) is used to say “just anybody”.

In a 1990 study, the top 200 family names accounted for over 96% of a random sample of 174,900 persons, with over 500 other names accounting for the remaining 4%. In a different study (1987), which combined data from Taiwan and mainland China (sample size of 570,000 persons), the top 19 names covered 55.6% , and the top 100 names covered 87% of the sample. Other data suggest that the top 50 names comprise 70% of the population.

Most commonly occurring Chinese family names have only one character; however, about twenty double-character family names have survived into modern times. These include Sima (, simp. ), Zhuge (, simp. ), Ouyang (, simp. ), occasionally romanized as O’Young, suggesting an Irish origin to English-speakers), and Situ (or Sito ). There are family names with three or more characters, but those are not ethnically Han Chinese. For example, Aixinjueluo (, also romanized from the Manchu language as Aisin Gioro), was the family name of the Manchu royal family of the Qing dynasty.

Transliteration of Chinese family names (see List of common Chinese surnames) into foreign languages poses a number of problems. Chinese surnames are shared by people speaking a number of dialects and languages which often have different pronunciations of their surnames. The Chinese diaspora into all parts of the world resulted in the Romanization of the surnames based on different languages. As a result, it is common for the same surname to be transliterated differently. In certain dialects, different surnames could be homonyms so it is common for family names to appear ambiguous when transliterated. Example: / (pinyin:Zheng) can be romanised into Chang, Cheng, Chung, Teh, Tay, Tee, Tsang, Zeng or Zheng, (in pinyin, Chang, Cheng, Zheng and Zeng are all different names). Translating Chinese surnames from foreign transliteration often presents ambiguity. For example, the surname “Li” are all mandarin-based pinyin tranliteration for the surnames (L); , and (L); /, , /, and (L) depending on the tone which are often omitted in foreign transliterations.

Examples of variations in romanisation

Due to the different pronunciation and romanisations, it is generally easy to tell whether a Chinese person has origins in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Southeast Asia including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. In general people from China will have both their surnames and names in pinyin. Those from Taiwan use Wade-Giles romanisation. People from Southeast Asia (mainly Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines) and Hong Kong usually base their romanisation of surnames and names on Min, Hakka and Cantonese dialects. The younger generation from Singapore predominantly have their surname in dialect and given name in English.

There are also people who use non-standard romanisations, eg the Hong Kong media mogul Run Run Shaw’s surname is spelt as Shaw, pinyin: Shao. The use of different systems of romanisation based on different Chinese language variants during the 1900~1970 also contributed to the variations.

Eg.

Written form

Pinyin

Wade-Giles

Min Nan (Hokkien)/ Teochew (Malaysia/Singapore)

Cantonese (Hong Kong)

English meaning

/

Chen

Ch’en

Tan

Chan

arrange; exhibit; narrate; tell; old; stale; to state; to display; to explain

/

Guan

Kuan

Kwang/Kuang

Kwan

gate, gateway, mountain pass; to close; to shut; to turn off; to concern; to involve

He

Ho

Ho/Hoe

Ho

carry; what; how; why; which

Huang

Huang

Uy/Ooi/Oei/Wee/Ng

Wong

sulfur; yellow

/

Jian

Chien

Kan/Kean

Kan/Gan

simple

Jin

Chin

Kim

Kam

gold

Lin

Lin

Lim

Lam

woods; forest

Wang

Wang

Ong

Wong

king

/

Wu

Wu

Goh

Ng

Wu

/

Xu

Hs

Koh

Hui/Hua

to allow; to permit; to praise

/

Zhang

Chang

Teo/Chong

Cheung

a measure word for flat objects like paper or tables; open up

/

Zhao

Chao

Chew

Chiu

Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia/Philippines: various spellings are used depending on name origin. Please refer to the List of common Chinese surnames for the different spellings and more examples.

The sociological use of surnames

Throughout most of Chinese history, surnames have served sociological functions. Because of their association with the aristocratic elite in their early developments, surnames were often used as symbols of nobility. Thus nobles would use their surnames to be able to trace their ancestry and compete for seniority in terms of hereditary rank. Examples of early genealogies among the royalty can be found in Sima Qian’s Historical Records, which contain tables recording the descent lines of noble houses called shibiao (Chinese: ; pinyin: shbio).

Later, during the Han Dynasty, these tables were used by prominent families to glorify themselves and sometimes even to legitimise their political power. For example, Cao Pi, who forced the abdication of the last Han emperor in his favour, claimed descent from the Yellow Emperor. Chinese emperors sometimes passed their own surnames to subjects as honours. Unlike European practice in which some surnames are obviously noble, Chinese emperors and members of the royal family had regular surnames except in cases where they came from non-Han ethnic groups. This was a result of Chinese imperial theory in which a commoner could receive the Mandate of Heaven and become emperor. Upon becoming emperor, the emperor would retain his original surname. Also as a consequence, many people also had the same surname as the emperor, but had no direct relation to the royal family.

The Tang Dynasty was the last period when the great aristocratic families, mostly descended from the nobility of pre-Qin states, held significant centralised and regional power. The surname was used as a source of prestige and common allegiance. During the period a large number of genealogical records called pudie (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: pdi) were compiled to trace the complex descent lines of clans and their marriage ties to other clans. A large number of these were collected by Ouyang Xiu in his New History of Tang.

During the Song Dynasty, ordinary clans began to organise themselves into corporate units and produce genealogies. This trend was led by the poet Su Shi and his father. As competition for resources and positions in the bureaucracy intensified, individuals used their common ancestry and surname to promote solidarity. They established schools to educate their sons and held common lands to aid disadvantaged families. Ancestral temples were also erected to promote surname identity. Clan cohesion was usually encouraged by successive imperial governments since it aided in social stability. During the Qing Dynasty surname associations often undertook extrajudicial roles, providing primitive legal and social security functions. They played important roles in the Chinese diaspora to South-East Asia and elsewhere, providing the infrastructure for the establishment of trading networks. In southern China, however, clans sometimes engaged in armed conflict in competition for land. Of course, clans continued the tradition of tracing their ancestry to the distant past as a matter of prestige. Most of these origin myths, though well established, are spurious.

As a result of the importance of surnames, rules and traditions regarding family and marriage grew increasingly complex. For example, in Taiwan, there is a clan with the so-called “double Liao” surname. The story is that “Chang Yuan-zih of Liao in Siluo married the only daughter of Liao San-Jiou-Lang who had no son, and he took the oath that he should be in the name of Liao when alive and should be in the name of Chang after death.” In some places, there are additional taboos against marriage between people of the same surname, considered to be closely related. Conversely, in some areas, there are different clans with the same surname which are not considered to be related, but even in these cases surname exogamy is generally practiced.

Surname identity and solidarity has declined markedly since the 1930s with the decline of Confucianism and later, the rise of Communism in Mainland China. During the Cultural Revolution, surname culture was actively persecuted by the government with the destruction of ancestral temples and genealogies. Moreover, the influx of Western culture and forces of globalisation have also contributed to erode the previous sociological uses of the Chinese surnames.

Common Chinese surnames

Main article: List of common Chinese surnames

According to a study by Li Dongming (), a Chinese historian, as published in the article “Surname” () in Dongfang Magazine () (1977), the common Chinese surnames are:

Top 10 surnames, which together account for about 40% of Chinese people in the world. Many surnames have various ways of romanization, the following listed spellings include Hanyu Pinyin (first listed), which is the standard in the PRC, and other commonly used spellings.

Li/Lee , Wang/Wong , Zhang/Chang/Cheung /, Zhao/Chao/Chiu /, Chen/Chan /, Yang/Young/Yeung /, Wu/Woo/Ng /, Liu/Lau /, Huang/Wong /, Zhou/Chou/Chow

The 11th to 20th common surnames, which together account for more than 10% of Chinese people in the world:

Xu/Hsu/Tsui , Zhu/Chu , Lin/Lam , Sun/Suen /, Ma /, Gao/Kao/Ko , Hu/Wu , Zheng/Cheng /, Guo/Kuo/Kwok , Xiao/Siu/Hsiao/Siew //

The 21st to 30th common surnames, which together account for about 10% of Chinese people in the world:

Xie/Hsieh/Cheu/Hsia/Tse /, He/Ho , Xu/Hsu/Hui /, Song/Soong/Sung , Shen/Shum , Luo/Lo/Law /, Han/Hon /, Deng/Teng/Tang /, Liang/Leung , Ye/Yeh/Yip/Ip /

The next 15 common surnames, which together account for about 10% of Chinese people in the world:

Fang/Fong , Cui/Tsui/Chui , Cheng an/Poon , Cao/Cho , Feng/Fung /, Wang/Wong , Cai/Choi , Yuan/Yuen , Lu/Lo /, Tang/Tong , Qian/Chien/Chin /, Du/To , Peng/Pang , Lu/Luk /

References

^

^

^ http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:Fqx-8XgyNLsJ:entour.yunlin.gov.tw/tour_en/09recommend/09recommend_03.asp

See also

Chinese clan

Chinese compound surname

Chinese given name

Chinese style name

Generation name

Hundred Family Surnames

Japanese name

Korean name

List of common Chinese surnames

Naming laws in the People’s Republic of China

Vietnamese name

External links

Top 100 Chinese surnames

Top 19 surnames, and estimated population, with chart

Chinese Surnames (Simplified), with sound

Chinese-sounding surnames in the 1990 US census

Chinese family name information from the US National Archives

Meaning Behind 19 Most Common Chinese Surnames

The Ten-Thousand Families of Surnames from Netor (NETOR:) (in simplified Chinese only)

Categories: Chinese-language surnames | Names by cultureHidden categories: Articles containing Chinese language text | Articles containing simplified Chinese language text | Articles containing traditional Chinese language text
About the Author

I am an expert from Cheap On Sales, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as tile table saw , inverter heat pump.

Second set of 8 Low Consonants – Thai Alphabet

Ectaco PB-TH B-3 English-Thai Audio Phrasebook $99.95 Our newest release, the ECTACO Audio PhraseBook PB-TH B-3 English-Thai, is an inexhaustible talking travel companion. It instantly translates 14,000 travel-oriented phrases divided by activity and speaks the translation aloud. Featuring natural pronunciation as recorded by native speakers it is easily understood by your listeners. And its powerful search functions allow you to quickly find what yo…

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Thai-English English-Thai Dictionary for Non-Thai Speakers, Revised Edition (Dictionary) $9.22 This practical dictionary is designed to help English speakers communicate in Thai. It is equally useful for those who can read the Thai alphabet and those who can’t. Most Thai-English dictionaries either use Thai script exclusively for the Thai entries (making them difficult for westerners to use) or use only phonetic transliteration (making it impossible to look up a word in Thai script). This d…

Improving Your Thai Pronunciation (Book & CD) $8.00 This booklet and CD is designed to help foreigners maximize their potential in pronouncing Thai words and enhance their Thai listening and speaking skills. Students will find that they have more confidence in speaking the language and can make themselves understood better. The book and the CD are made to be used in combination. The course is straight forward, easy to follow and compact….

Thai-English/English-Thai Dictionary and Phrasebook (Dictionary and Phrasebooks) $5.00 This book provides basic grammar and the vocabulary and phrases essential to any traveller. All Thai words are spelled in the English alphabet, thus making it an easy reference for people unfamiliar with Thai script….

Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone

The Voyager
is an unlocked mobile phone packed with an abundant array of functions and features such as Wifi, Google Maps, TV, eBuddy, MSN, Bluetooth, two SIM card slots, and the capability to travel around the world with its native quad band GSM connectivity. Designed with a futuristic like metal look and interactive software,
The Voyager
truly caters to what everyone needs and wants in a modern cell phone.

The
Voyager
is a quad-band mobile phone that supports the four global standard GSM frequencies (850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 1900MHz) so you can be confident that it will work anywhere around the world. Coming with two SIM card slots with dual-standby function, you can be assured of never missing a business or personal call with two active phone numbers stored inside one individual mobile phone. This model cellphone comes fully unlocked, meaning you can you use it with the network of your choice. The
Voyager
comes with a 2GB micro SD card ready for you to store all your favorite music, photos and videos files.

With the ability to fully integrate with POP3 email, you can set-up your POP3 email account such as Gmail and quickly be able to send and receive mail whilst connected to either a WiFi or WAP (if supported by your service provider) connection with the CVDQ-M50 (a.k.a. the
Voyager
). This is a smart and intelligent phone that allows for effortless user touch screen input to control its vast array of features. And to top it all off, it also comes with an outstanding accelerometer feature, allowing the change of radio and TV channels with a wrist shake as well as music tracks.

With a slide motion sensor and plenty of color icons, the front screen menu system is designed for simple accessibility of the cell phones functions to make things easy for the end user. The motion sensor can be used to navigate within the main window with a simple slide of the finger or use with a stylus. The
Voyager
is a full-featured interactive cellphone featuring the best of entertainment and communication functions in one unlocked factory-direct cellular phone. The CVDQ-M50 comes enabled with a multitude of software PDA daily-use tools, making the
Voyager
ideal for phone calls, entertainment, and productivity uses.

The
Voyager
is in stock now for single piece or large bulk purchases. This hot new item makes a wonderful present for friends, family or that special someone. This new world introduction of the
Voyager
is proudly brought to you from the leader in factory direct wholesale electronics, Chinavasion.

At a Glance…

• WiFi
• Unlocked
• PDA Tools
• Quad Band
• Accelerometer
• Front/Back Camera
• 2.8 Inch Touch Screen
• Multimedia Applications
• Dual SIM Phone with Dual Standby
• Google Maps / Opera Mini / eBuddy

NOTE: This product is compatible with GSM at the four frequencies of 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 1900MHz. This can be used throughout the world.

GSM Frequency Information

This Cell Phone works with the following GSM Frequencies:
850 + 900 + 1800 + 1900 MHz
Please check that the local cell network matches the phone’s GSM standard.

Click here to view frequencies for all major worldwide cell phone networks.

Manufacturer Specifications

• Primary Function: 2.8 inch touchscreen multimedia unlocked cellphone
• Color: Black with Metallic Grey
• GSM Compatibility (Quad Band): Frequencies 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 1900MHz
• Screen: 2.8 Inch LCD Touch Screen
• SIM Card Slot: YES – 2
• SIM Card Modes: Dual SIM open, Only SIM1 Open, Only SIM2 Open
• Memory:
  - Onboard Chipset: 70MB
  - Via Micro SD 2GB (Included) – supports up to 8GB
• Messaging Types: SMS Text Messaging, MMS Picture Messaging, Chat, Voice Mail Server, Broadcast Messages
• Accelerometer Setting: Wallpaper Switch, Song Switch, FM Channel, TV Channel, TV Rotate, Video Rotate, Image Rotate, Call Silent, Motion Game
• Mobile Internet: Yes – WI-FI / WAP / CNET
• On Board Buttons/Slots: Call, Drop Call, Power, Camera Shutter Button, Power Input, Earphones input, TV/Radio retractable Antenna (Stylus)
• Menu Icons: Text, Calendar, Photos, Camera, Player, Notes, Mail, New SMS, Calculator, eBuddy Chat, Google Maps, Setting, Call Log, Wallpaper, WLAN, Java, MMS, Chat, Game, Motion Game, Search, Call Center, File, Profile, World Time, Network, Unit, Currency Converter, Voice Mail, FM Record, Broadcast Message, Video Record, Answer, Voice Recorder, Slide, e-Books, Bluetooth, TV, Contacts, Safari, Stopwatch, Radio, Clock, Phone, Contacts, Opera, Music Player
• Phone Setup: Time & Date, Schedule Power ON/OFF, language, Pref. Input Method, Display, Greeting Text, Encoding, Handwriting, UART Setup, LCD Backlight
• Phone Book: Quick Search, Search Contact, Add New Contact, Copy All, Delete, Caller Groups, Extra Numbers, Caller ring tone
• Security Settings: SIM 1 SIM 2 Setup, Phone Lock, Auto Keypad, Change Password, Track, In call Firewall, MSG Firewall, Remote Control
• Bluetooth:
  - Features: Visibility, Change Device Name, Authentication, Audio Path, Block List, Storage, FTP Settings, BIP Settings – Type: MTK BT DEVICE
  - Options: Power, Inquiry Audio Device, Remote Control, My Device, Active Devices, Settings
• Email: Send/Receive, Write Email, In box, Outbox, Sent, Drafts, Clear Mailbox, Delete Marked Emails, Email Accounts, Templates
• Wireless LAN: Enable/Disable, WLAN Settings, Access Point Setting, Search Networks
• Network: Interactive, WAP, Data Account, Conn. Management
• Data Account: GSM Data, GPRS, Wireless LAN
• Image Viewer: View, Slide Show, Edit, Print (Via Pic Bridge or Bluetooth, Browse Style, Use As, Send (as Multimedia message, as email, via Bluetooth), Rename, Delete, Delete All Files, Sort By, Storage
• Video Player: Play, Send (as Multimedia message, as email, via Bluetooth), Rename, Delete, Delete All Files, Sort By, Streaming URL, Network Profiles, Storage
• On Board Applications: eBuddy, MSN, Google Maps, Opera, Currency Converter, Unit Converter, Safari
• Profiles: General, Meeting, Outdoor, Indoor, Headset, Bluetooth
• Languages (8): English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Vietnamese, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Persian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
• Playing Time (music) approx: 6-8 hours
• Playing Time (video) approx: 3-4 hours
• Standby Time approx: 48-72 hours (depending on use)
• Battery Charge Time approx: 3 hours
• Battery Type: Rechargeable Li-ion
• Dimensions: L:105 x W:56 x D:12 (mm)
• File Formats:
  - Music: MP3, MIDI, WAV
  - Image: JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG
  - Video: 3GP, AVI, FLV,
  - eBook: TXT
• Digital Picture Camera:
  - Photo Format: JPG
  - Resolution: 640×480, 240×320, 160×120, 320×240, 80×60
  - Image Quality: High, Normal, Low
  - Snapshot Options: Digital Zoom, Timer, Continuous Shot, Scene Modes, Color Effects, White Balance
  - EV: -2 to +2
  - Flash: Yes
• Digital Video Camera:
  - Video Record Format: 3GP
  - Video Quality: Normal, Low, High, Fine
  - Video Settings: Digital Zoom, Night Mode, Effects, White Balance
  - EV: -2 to +2
  - Record Time limit, File Size Limit, Record Audio
  - Banding: 50Hz, 60Hz
• TV:
  - Type: Analog
  - My Channel, Channel Search, Area Setting, Add to My Channel
  - Record Function: YES
  - TV Record Format: 3GP
• Video Settings:
  - Video Quality Normal, Low, High, Fine
  - File size Limit: No Limit, 95k, 195k, 295k
  - File Record Limit: No Limit, 15sec, 30sec, 60sec,
  - Record Audio: ON/OFF
  - Preset TV Region Profiles (43): China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, UAE, Turkey, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Western Europe, Afghanistan, USA, UK, Canada, Korea, Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, Philippines, Brazil, Japan, Argentina, India, Bolivia, Paraguay, Australia, Ecuador, Caracas, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Poland, Germany, Egypt, Libya, South Africa
• Audio Player:
  - Formats: MP3, WAV
  - Options: Play, Details, Add Ring tones
  - Settings: Storage, Repeat, EQ, Bluetooth, Lyrics,
• Video Player:
  - Formats: 3GP, AVI (MPEG)
  - Functions: Play, Rename, Delete, Delete All File, Sort By, Storage
• Sound Recorder:
  - Type: Analog
  - Record Format: AMR, AWB, WAV
  - Audio Playback: AMR, AWB, WAV
  - Quality: Low, High
• FM Radio:
  - Frequency: 87.5MHz to 108MHz (worldwide)
  - Background Play: ON / OFF
  - Loudspeaker: ON / OFF
  - Channel List, Manual Input, Preset Auto Search, Settings
  - Record Function: YES
  - Record Audio Quality: Low, High
• Manufacturer Ref: PDQPXZ732TQU

Product Notes

• Dual camera switch, front and back
• Simple and effective one touch menu navigation
• Loaded with multimedia features and comes with 2 GB micro SD card
• Fully unlocked phone; Can be used with any carrier, network and SIM card(s)
• Pre-loaded PDA software tools; Calendar, To-Do List, Alarm, Calculator, Unit and Currency Converter

Package Contents

• Model CVDQ-M50 Unlocked Dual SIM PDA Cell Phone
• Earphones
• Power Adapter (110-240V)
• USB Cable
• 2x Li-ion 1800mAh Rechargeable Battery
• User Manual – English

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

• Does the phone come with a prepaid SIM card or contract?
  The phone does not come with a prepaid card. The phone is contract-free, it is fully unlocked so it can work with any GSM service provider you choose.
• Does the M50 come with a digital TV tuner as well?
  No, this model only comes with an analog TV tuner.

• Login For Wholesale Discount Price
• Written By: A.D.
• Photos By: L.H.

Visit the website:
http://www.electronicschinawholesale.com

You will find much more.
Current Reviews:    51 This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 30 July, 2009.

Reviews for: (Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone)

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone

it’s very good for me

it’s very good for me by nickson fu – on 10/15/2009   Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone awsome, all features as iphone.except betterby Sholom Dzhurayev – on 10/15/2009

unbelivably great. its a shame that the tv dosent work in usa because of the anolog to digital transition.Other than that the phone is marvelous and shipping is great.

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone Great Phoneby Mick Pearson – on 10/15/2009

Great Phone….. Looks Cool and feels great in your hand…… coming back for some more goodies… well done chinavasion

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone 5 stars all the way!by Clyde Joe Cassar – on 10/12/2009

A very remarkable mobile. All the features of a 600 euro phone plus more. The mobile is definitely a must for enthusiasts!

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone Very good, Exelente telefonoby javier hernandez – on 10/05/2009

Muy buen telefono lo compre por el wifi y es estupendo, su velocidad es bastante rapida, y las paginas se ven exelentes en la pantalla. the internet wifi work very good and fast, very good phone

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone Good deal, great shippingby Chad M – on 10/03/2009

Very happy with the purchase, ordered Monday AM, paid a little extra to ship by Fedex, got here (Orlando) Wednesday AM. plugged in t-mobile sims, worked right out of the box. The signal reception is not the greatest, but it is acceptable. Video player – used MPEG4, no problem. MP3 player works, nothing fancy. Took it to work, one of the guys recognized that the power input looked like his old samsung phone. Got his old cables, wall power charger and car charger worked fine, but samsung data cable did not work. Good to know for buying backup cables. Have not configured for GSM/GPRS, but wifi is working great, no intent on paying for an overpriced data plan. All in all, great phone for the price, especially for a t-mobile customer, when the closest comparable phone to this is the dash (which I actually replaced with this) and that goes for 150+, and the screen on this is much better. Very impressed with Chinavasion. Only reason no 5 star, originally ordered Odyessy, and then told it was out of stock so had to switch to Voyager. Other than that hiccup, no problems. I advise Fedex for the shipping.

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone parahsby mixalis parahs – on 10/02/2009

you ar the best site in the china

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone Perfect high-quality & low-price cellphoneby Luca Cangelli – on 10/02/2009

From China to Italy in 3 days with FedEx.
Inside an elegant black box, there is this wonderful cellphone. With very well-refined details, very high-quality materials, and an extremely well-refined internal Operative System, which has nothing less than the famous (and expensive) iPhone.

I’m pleasantfully surprised of this quality… I really recommend ChinaVasion to everybody.

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone Fantásticoby marcelo moreira – on 09/30/2009

Excelente aparelho!! Possui todas as funções com preço acessível. Chinavasion está de parabéns, pois cumpriu todos os prazos e a entrega foi realizada em menos de 07 dias, além de dar dicas para o despacho.
Recomendo a compra neste site.

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone Una salvedadby ENRIQUE J. CORDOBES FAURA – on 09/29/2009

Este modelo de teléfono está muy bien en su conjunto y a buen precio. El único problema es que no permite asociar imágenes a contactos (tan sólo agrupos de contactos). Salu2.

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone Bon matos….by Haitan for ever – on 09/28/2009

très bon téléphone, je kif grave

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone serio e veloce professionaleby villiam bononi – on 09/28/2009

grazie per la professionalità,oggetto elegante e funzionale wi-fi

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone fantastiqueby willy bruck – on 09/27/2009

absolument génial pour un prix hors concurence il vaut pas loin d’un iphone

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone Excellent Phone, Better than an I-Phoneby Darren Lucas – on 09/23/2009

All aspects of the phone were good, very easy menus to go through. Had to get use to touch screen…lol. Very impressive phone. Will be recommending to any one that thought they wanted an i-phone.

Thank you China Vasion. Excellent service. I will be back

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone Excellentby Juvenal Martins – on 09/22/2009

this phone is excellent i,m very satisfied .
All produtcts i had bouth from Chinavasion are very good and the support too .
Many thks all friends from Chinavasion.

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone China Vasion it fast and realiableby Samm Kargbo – on 09/15/2009

Guys out there, this phone is very good. i bought two the first time , when my friend saw it they alll need it. i have to buy one more making three. Also thy are very fast in shipping item to you. keep it up chaina vasion you are the best. will be buying more stuff later. i am very happy to get to know shopping center like this. ooooooooooo happy man.

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone mobileby mixalis parahs – on 09/15/2009

this is the best mobile thanks a lot i by again

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone perfectby michail pantelakis – on 09/14/2009

This phone is just perfect

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone Fantasticby Luis Angel Cisilino – on 09/12/2009

This is an amazing phone and the shipping to Argentina is very fast too. Thank you.

  Voyager – Quad Band Touchscreen Dual-SIM WiFi Media Cellphone Excelent phone for your moneyby Thomas Johansson – on 09/12/2009

Hi
All i can say is that i had my suspision when ordering phones from china, But i was all wrong i orderd my this tuesday and got it today (friday). And WOW this phone gives you GREAT value for you money. Chinavision have goten them self another satisfied costumer from sweden.

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