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Indonesian slang language

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Indonesian slang language (bahasa gaul or bahasa prokem) is a non-formal language of Indonesia mainly spoken in urban areas.

Contents

History

Indonesian slang language is an informal variety of the Indonesian language.

Its native name, bahasa gaul, means 'language for socialization', as gaul means 'to be socialised'. This term was coined in the late 1990s.

The term bahasa prokem, which was coined in the early 1980s, means 'the language of gangsters or free-men'; prokem is a slang form of preman, derived from the Dutch word free-man, which means 'gangster'.

Indonesian slang language is mainly a spoken form, used in social milieus and in popular media (such as radio, TV, and movies), and to certain extent is used in publications such as teen magazines or pop culture magazines. One can deduce that Indonesian slang language is the primary language for oral communication spoken by everybody in daily life, except for formal speeches. It would be very unusual to communicate orally to people using the formal Indonesian language.

Indonesian slang language is an ever-evolving language, as many words quickly become outdated and obsolete because of trends.

Classification

There is no formal classification of Indonesian slang language, except perhaps that it is a subclass of the Indonesian language.

Geographic distribution

Indonesian slang language is mainly spoken in urban areas. There are different variations of slang language in different cities, mainly characterised by derivatives of different local ethnic languages. For example, in Bandung, West Java, the slang language contains vocabulary from the Sundanese language (See "Region Specific Slang" below).

Official status

Indonesian slang language is not an official language of Indonesia, although it is widely used for oral communication in daily life.

Sounds

Indonesian slang language is pronounced the same as formal Indonesian. Words borrowed from other language such as English or Dutch are transliterated in Indonesian orthography. For example, 'please' is written as plis, and 'married' as merit.

For more examples, see [SEASite guide to pronunciation of Indonesian].

Grammar

Indonesian slang language structure and grammar are not so much different from formal Indonesian language, albeit in many cases sentences are simplified or shortened when necessary. The differences between formal and colloquial Indonesian are mostly ones of vocabulary.

Vocabulary

Indonesian slang language structure is derived mainly from formal Indonesian. Its vocabulary is extended by a combination of derivatives or borrowings from foreign languages such as Hokkien, English, and Dutch, or local ethnic languages such as Betawi, Sundanese, and Javanese. In many cases however, new words are invented on the spot, and their origin is obscure.

According to [Nyoman Riasa], some of the slang language vocabulary was transformed from formal Indonesian language through several ways:

Some words are transliterations of English ones, for example: Many words also emerged without following the above rules at all. Sometime the words have their own unique history or origin.

General words and phrases

This entry will list words and phrases from Indonesian slang, which are not region-specific (see below), and which are never considered as outdated.

Particles

Sexual slang

Swear words

Vocabulary evolution

Before 1980s

List of words and phrases commonly used in the 1980s:

1980s

1980s is the era of bahasa prokem. In this era, slang language vocabulary was formed by inserting '-ok-' after the first consonant of a word, and deleting the last syllable, creating a totally new word.

For example, the word Bapak is broken into B-ok-apak and the last -ak is deleted, and the resulting word is Bokap which used as a slang for Father, even until now.

The word Sekolah (School) is transformed into Skokul, but this word is slowly become outdated and by 1990s the word is not used anymore. (currently transformed into simply: skul)

Notable words like memble, kece, the sentence attribute Nih ye, andh the exclamation Alamakjan! emerged in the same decade.

List of words and phrases commonly used in the 1980s:

Dokat - money Chimenk – pot

1990s

List of words and phrases commonly used in the 1990s:

2000s

A genre of slang language in the 2000 originated from the Indonesian gay community, and popularized by Debby Sahertian in her Kamus Bahasa Gaul or 'Slang Language Dictionary'. The method of transforming a word is to use a different word which has a similar sound. For example, the word mau (want), is replaced by the word mawar which originally means rose. Hence the sentence became quite complicated to understand:

Akika tinta mawar Macarena originated from Aku tidak mau makan which means I do not want to eat

List of words and phrases commonly used in the 2000s:

Region specific slangs

The region specific slangs are arranged in alphabetical order.

Bali slang

Bali language have 4 placement. 1. ASI 2. AMI 3. ASO 4. BK

Bali have special letter, 18 character. a, na, ca, ra, ka, da, ta, sa, wa, la, ma, ga, ba, nga, pa, ja, ya, nya.

Java letter have 20 character, Bali letter only have 18 character. it's lost 2 letter.

lanjutkan...

Bandung slang

Bandung, is the city in west java with predominantly Sundanese culture. Sundanese language has three levels: High (polite), Normal, and Low (rough and impolite). Bandung slang mostly uses derivative of Low Sundanese words such as Aing, Maneh, etc.

One distinct characteristic in Bandung slang grammar is generous insertion of the word Anjing in a sentence. The word Anjing means Dog or Bitch, but its usage in Bandung slang is merely for emphasis and not as swearword.

For example: Nasi goreng Jalan Madura ngeunah pisan, anjing! which means Fried rice in Madura Street is really delicious, gosh!

However, Anjing is also used as swearword if used independently in a sentence. For example: Anjing Siah! means You Bitch!

General Central Java slang

These slangs are shared across central Java (Semarang, Yogyakarta, Solo, and so forth)

Jakarta slang

Malang slang

Malangese slang typically done by swapping syllables.

Manado slang

Manado slang, also known as Logat Manado, is widely used throughout the North Sulawesi province. It is used casually in everyday life and sometimes used in formal occasions.

Many words are similar to the Indonesian language. See: Manado Malay.

Some of the simple words that visitors should know when they travel to Manado are:

Some words and phrases that are more temporary mostly used by young people: Some cuss words are:

Medan slang

Jambi & Palembang slang

Mostly Jambi & Palembang slang language just change the letter at the end of the word with letter 'o' (but not all of the word can changed with o, mostly word which ended with 'a' letter can changed with 'o' Example :

Pontianak slang

Pontianak slang is influenced by Malay, Teochew and Dayaknese. It is spoken in malay dialect.

Surabaya slang

Some of the well known Surabayan slangs: Another characteristics of Surabayan slang is to add "u" before a vowel and stressed the word in a unique way to indicate superlative forms: In the 1990s, there are a bunch of slangs that combines "lo" and the first syllable of a word, such as

Yogyakarta slang

Yogyakarta slang is also known as Basa Walikan, literally means 'Reverse Language' [link]. It is a transformation from Javanese, in which Javanese traditional character sequences are being switched with one another, using the formula below: Using the above manner, the exclamation word Matamu! (which means: 'Your Eyes!') is transformed into Dagadu!.

Bahasa Prokem (Thug Slang)

Bahasa prokem or thug slang was used by some thug long time ago. In the middle of 80s, it popularized again by some teenagers and widely spoken until the end of 80s. Mostly of Bahasa prokem is removing none, one, two or three letters at the end of the word, and inserting "ok" at the middle of the word.

etc

See also

External links

 

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