Sundanese, a vanishing language

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Three-and-a-half-year-old Rinda Nurliyanti, the only daughter of a native Sundanese couple living in Sindangjaya subdistrict, Arcamanik, Bandung, speaks fluent Sundanese, but this has not exactly endeared her to her neighbors.

"Kumaha aing siah. Anjing teh, goblok," (a curse in Sundanese that means "I do as I wish, you stupid dog"), has often come out of little Rinda's mouth whenever her parents or neighbors remind her not to spend too much money on jajan (sweets or snacks low in nutritional content).

A neighbor, Mamah Dodong, 50, can only shake her head in disbelief on hearing such a small girl speaking as rudely as the teenagers who hang out at the end of the lane where Rinda often plays. "Nyarios teh sing sae atuh, geulis (speak nicely, sweet girl)," replied Mamah Dodong.

Mamah disclosed that when she was young living in a village situated about eight kilometers from Bandung city center, none of the children would ever dare to use such profane language like Rinda.

"Children were afraid of being sinful if they spoke impolitely. Parents taught their children to speak good and proper Sundanese from a very young age," she said.

As a native Sundanese, she said that she worried about the use of coarse Sundanese among the young generation that tended to belittle the identity of Sundanese people who are known for their politeness. Most young Sundanese parents are now reluctant to use the language at home.

"For instance, when addressing parents, we call our parents emak (mother) and bapak (father), but most younger parents have taken on misplaced pride using addresses such as mama-papa, mami- papi like the Dutch, or bunda-ayah," said Mamah.

Head of the Sunda Study Center in Bandung, Professor Edi S. Ekadjati, disclosed that the use of Sundanese among the younger generation was declining in terms of quantity and quality. He estimated that only around 50 percent of children and youth of major cities in West Java were still using Sundanese as an everyday language.

"Unfortunately, the quality of language that they use is very poor, and they are definitely not aware of grammar or the formality of the various levels of speech to elders, friends of the same age or to younger children," Edi said.

Edi said that scholars and Sundanese cultural observers were concerned over bad and improper usage of Sundanese because a language reflects the identity of its users, says Edi. If it is used improperly, then the identity of the user is bought into question.

"Sundanese, like any other ethnic language in Indonesia, contains the philosophy and cultural identity of an ethnic group. If the language is used inappropriately, the identity of the user will also be so, and the person will not be strong in facing the multi-ethnic culture developing in the cities," said Edi.

Concern over declining use of the language among youngsters has actually been expressed over quite a long time.

Reports at the West Java chapter of the National Development Planning Board (Bappeda) indicate that the problem has been going on since the 1950s, with the language progressively being mixed up with Indonesian language, especially by Sundanese living in major cities, like Jakarta, or even Bandung.

Many Sundanese living in cities have given up using their language in their everyday lives.

Edi viewed this as evidence of the lackadaisical attitude of the Sundanese themselves in not exercising the hierarchical language. Sundanese words for things change in accordance to an age group, making in particularly difficult to learn in an age when most people demand practicality.

For example, the word eat: in Sundanese tuang is used when speaking to an elder person, dahar to a younger person and neda to those who are of a similar age.

The relaxed attitude of most Sundanese in using their mother tongue has been severely criticized by an internationally- acclaimed Sundanese cultural observer, Ajip Rosidi.

He noted that the Sundanese was in the lineup of languages about to vanish from the earth, because the Sundanese people were reluctant to speak their own language.

"According to linguists, there are about 6,000 languages in the world right now. By the end of the century, only about half will remain.

"So, about 3,000 languages will become extinct by the end of the 21st century, which means that (on average) 30 languages will vanish every year, two-and-a-half every month, or approximately one language every ten days, and the Sundanese language is (going to be) among them," wrote Ajip in the June edition of Cupumanik magazine.