Javanese script: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:44, 4 December 2008

Revision as of 06:30, 4 December 2008

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==Type of Writing System==

The Javanese Script, the ''carakan'', can be classified as an [[abugida]]. Each symbol essentially represents a syllable with a consonant and the inherent vowel /ɔ/(normally pronounced as [[open back rounded vowel]] when reciting the consonants). [[Diacritics]], which are special marks put around the character, may indicate a different vowel than ‘a’. Diacritics are also used for indicating consonant clusters and final consonants. <ref name=jour/><ref name=ws>Daniels, Peter T and William Bright. The World's Writing Systems. Ed. Peter T Daniels and William Bright. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.</ref> In addition there are variant great letters used for ceremony, and marks to indicate poetic structure.

==History==

Originally, the [[Old Javanese|Old Javanese script]] was based off the [[Devanagari script]].<ref name=jour>Soemarmo, Marmo. "Javanese Script." Ohio Working Papers in Linguistics and Language Teaching 14.Winter (1995): 69-103.</ref><ref name=lang>Campbell, George L. Compendium of the World's Languages. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge, 2000.</ref> The [[Kawi script]] was developed to write Old Javanese and eventually this gave away to the modernized Javanese script ''carakan'' and finally the [[Latin Alphabet]] in 1926. Old Javanese first appeared in a legal document that dates back to 804[[Common Era|CE]]. The writing system was then widely used in literature and translations from Sanskrit from about the tenth century and gradually died away after the thirteenth/fourteenth century when Old Javanese was no longer the spoken language of Java. By the seventeenth century, the ''carakan'' script was used exclusively to write Javanese until the creation of the standard Orthography in 1926.<ref name=lang/> A standard orthography with the Latin Alphabet was created in 1926, and later revised in 1972-1973.<ref name=lang/><ref name=jour/> ThisIn many cases, this replaced the Javanese script and as a result, there are currently no newspapers or magazines being printed in the Javanese script.<ref name=jour/>

==Script==

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<!--TODO: Make a diagram of the Javanese script with pronunciation guide -->

Each symbol consists of ‘n’ n-shapes and ‘u’ u-shapes. ‘n’ n-shapes come in two sizes: small and large (twice the size of a small). ‘u’ u-shapes come in three sizes: small, medium (1.5x) and large (2.5x). For example, the character 'h' consists of a small n-shape, followed by a large u-shape and two large n-shapes. This format is closely followed in hand-writing and is no longer followed in printed characters.<ref name=jour/>

Javanese characters are written ''slanted to the side'' and below the line, and there are no word boundaries.<ref name=jour/>

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===Capitalization===

Javanese script has seven [[''capital'' letters]] called the ''aksara murdha'' that are used for the names of highly respected persons and places. The first letter of the name is usually capitalized; however, all the letters could be capitalized if possible. Also, if an ''aksara murdha'' is not available for the first letter, the second letter is capitalized. If the second letter does not have an ''aksara murdha'' either, the third letter is capitalized, and so on. Note that the capital letters are '''not''' used to indicate the beginnings of sentences.<ref name=jour/>

==Alphabet as poem==