Select languages...
How Javanese packages meaning
Javanese grammar at a glance
Select a language above to see its architecture overview.
Common questions about Javanese
What are Javanese speech levels?
Javanese has three main speech levels — ngoko (informal), madya (semi-formal), krama (formal) — each with its own vocabulary. The same content takes different words at each level. 'Eat' is mangan (ngoko) / nedha (madya) / dahar (krama). 'I' is aku / kula / dalem. Using ngoko with an elder is rude, using krama with close friends is cold or sarcastic. The system encodes hierarchy.
What is krama inggil?
Krama inggil is a fourth, even higher register — used when speaking ABOUT (not just to) a respected person. It substitutes specific vocabulary for body parts, actions, and possessions of the respected referent. So you might use krama with someone, but krama inggil to refer to their head, hands, or actions. Krama inggil was historically the courtly language of the Javanese sultanates and remains in use for kings, religious figures, and elders.
Is Javanese the same as Indonesian?
No — Javanese (Bahasa Jawa) and Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) are different Austronesian languages. Indonesian is based on Malay and is the national language of Indonesia. Javanese is the regional language of central and east Java with about 80 million speakers — actually more than Indonesian as a first language. Javanese has speech levels Indonesian doesn't, and a different vocabulary core. Most Javanese speakers are bilingual in Indonesian.
Does Javanese have grammatical gender?
No. Javanese nouns and pronouns don't mark gender. The 3rd-person pronoun dheweke (ngoko) / piyambakipun (krama) means 'he' or 'she'. Adjectives don't change for gender. The lack of grammatical gender is consistent across most Austronesian languages — Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog, and Javanese all share this trait.
How can a language have hundreds of words for the same thing?
Javanese vocabulary triplicates for many basic concepts. The system covers verbs (mangan/nedha/dahar 'eat'), pronouns (aku/kula/dalem 'I'), nouns (omah/griya/dalem 'house'), and many adjectives. Speakers learn each level as a parallel vocabulary, drawing on the appropriate set by social context. Native speakers rarely have full active command of all levels — krama is often taught in schools as a separate skill.
Sources for Javanese
The grammatical descriptions on this page are informed by the following published reference and descriptive grammars. Grammatical facts themselves are not subject to copyright; the scholars who documented them deserve attribution.
- Ogloblin, Alexander K. 2005. "Javanese." In The Austronesian Languages of Asia and Madagascar, ed. K.A. Adelaar and N.P. Himmelmann. London: Routledge.
- Horne, Elinor C. 1961. Beginning Javanese. New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Wedhawati et al. 2006. Tata Bahasa Jawa Mutakhir (Modern Javanese Grammar). Yogyakarta: Kanisius.
- Robson, Stuart and Singgih Wibisono. 2002. Javanese English Dictionary. Hong Kong: Periplus Editions.
- Suhandano. 1994. A Grammar of Javanese. PhD dissertation, University of New Mexico.