Indonesian orthography refers to the official spelling system used in the Indonesian language. The current system uses the Latin alphabet and is called Ejaan yang Disempurnakan (EYD), commonly translated as Enhanced Spelling, Perfected Spelling or Improved Spelling. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The Perfected Spelling system is a system of orthography released in 1972 to replace the preexisting Republican Spelling System (RSS, also called the Soewandi Spelling System, SSS). A joint initiative of Indonesia and neighboring country Malaysia (which also introduced the similar Joint Rumi Spelling system), the aim of the change in 1972 was to introduce greater harmonization of the Indonesian and Malay-language orthographies. The new EYD system, adopted on the 27th anniversary of Indonesia's independence on 17 August 1972, was decreed by President Suharto on the previous day. [5] Government departments were instructed to begin using the EYD system on 1 January 1973. On 27 August 1975, the Minister of Education and Culture issued a decree which provided a detailed explanation of the changes in the new system and marked the official use of the EYD system. [6] It was formerly known as the Indonesian Spelling System (Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia, EBI), often referred to as the Indonesian Spelling System General Guidelines (Pedoman Umum Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia, PUEBI), between 2015 and 2022. [3]
| Changes | Republican | EYD | English meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| /tʃ/: tj becomes c | tjuma, katjang | cuma, kacang | only, nut |
| /dʒ/: dj becomes j | djual, edjaan | jual, ejaan | sell, spelling |
| /j/: j becomes y | ajam, pajung | ayam, payung | chicken, umbrella |
| /ɲ/: nj becomes ny | njonja, banjak | nyonya, banyak | madam, many |
| /ʃ/: sj becomes sy | sjair, masjarakat | syair, masyarakat | poem, people |
| /x/: ch becomes kh | tarich, achir | tarikh, akhir | era, end |
Letters that had previously been included in the Republican Spelling as foreign loan letters are officially used in the EYD Spelling. [7]
| Letters | Example | English meaning |
|---|---|---|
| f | maaf, fakir | (I am) sorry, poor |
| v | vakum, universitas | vacuum/hiatus, university |
| z | zaman, lezat | age/era, delicious |
The letters Q and X are used in scientific subjects, [7] for example sinar-X (X-ray).
The letter Q is also used as needed for Islamic subjects. [8] [9] Examples include Quran, Al-Furqan, and Al-Baqarah. This letter is also used in some placenames in Indonesia (often derived from the local languages), e.g. the Siluq Ngurai and Sekolaq Darat districts in West Kutai Regency, and Baqa, the capital of Samarinda Seberang, Samarinda (all of these examples are located in East Kalimantan).
The writing of di- and ke- (prefixes) can be distinguished from di and ke (prepositions), where di- and ke- are written together with the words that follow them, for example diambil, kehendak ('taken', 'desire'), while di and ke are written separately from the words that follow them, for example di rumah, ke pasar ('at home', 'to the market'). This is different from the former Republican Spelling, where both di- and di are written together with the words following them. [7] However, many native speakers often do not follow this orthographic rule, and confuse both morphemes (di ambil, dirumah).
Dutch linguist K. Alexander Adelaar viewed that the prefix di- derives instead from the preposition di, and rejected other etymological theories, such as it coming from the Old Malay prefix ni-. [10]
Reduplication, mostly used in the plural form of words, has to be fully written with letters, so the use of a superscripted number 2 as in the Republican Spelling is no longer valid. [7] The practice remains common in informal usage such as in text messaging.
| Republican | EYD | English meaning |
|---|---|---|
| anak2 | anak-anak | children |
| ber-main2 | bermain-main | playing around |
| ke-barat2-an | kebarat-baratan | westernish |
Exceptions mostly come from proper nouns. Many personal names, particularly of younger people, do not follow the orthographic rules (see Indonesian names). Common spelling variations include doubled letters, a silent h following consonants, the use of Dutch digraphs (which stems from Van Ophuijsen spelling), [11] and other eccentric letters. [12] However, a few variations come from other parts of speech, such as mag ('gastritis') which is actually pronounced as [max] or even [mah] , deriving from Dutch maag; and bus, pronounced as [bəs] or [bɪs] , also from Dutch bus.
Various minor changes were announced after 1975: