Indonesian language

Indonesian language (Bahasa Indonesia) is the official language of Indonesia. It is a standardized form of the Malay language, which was officially defined with the declaration of Indonesia's independence in 1945, although in the 1928 Indonesian Youth Pledge have declared it as the official language.

History

The history of the Indonesian language is closely tied to the history of Indonesia itself. It was influenced by the country's interaction with other cultures, such as Indian, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, and English.

Classification

Indonesian is part of the Western Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages. The Austronesian languages are among the most widely spoken languages in the world, spanning the geography from Madagascar to the Pacific.

Characteristics

Indonesian language has a predominantly agglutinative nature, meaning that words are made by sticking various affixes onto a base root. It also uses Reduplication to express the concept of plurality or to emphasize a point.

Writing system

The Indonesian language uses the Latin script, but it has also been written in other scripts, such as the Arabic script known as Jawi and the Dutch-influenced Indonesian Spelling System.

Dialects

There are several dialects of Indonesian, including Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese. Each dialect has its own unique characteristics and influences from other languages.

Learning Indonesian

Learning Indonesian is considered relatively easy compared to other languages, due to its simple grammar structure and usage of the Latin script. There are many resources available for learning Indonesian, including language schools, online courses, and textbooks.

See also

• Indonesian literature
• Indonesian slang
• Indonesian phonology
• Indonesian orthography