Banjar language
Encyclopedia
Banjar language is the native language used by the Banjarese
people of South Kalimantan
, Indonesia
. As many Banjarese are travelling merchants, they brought their language wherever they went all over Indonesia, even all over the world.
Especially in the island of Kalimantan
, Banjarese can be considered as a lingua franca
, as it is used widely in three of the four province
s of Kalimantan: South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan
, and Central Kalimantan
, with the exception of West Kalimantan
where Malay
is more popular.
Although Banjarese, with six million speakers, is commonly considered "local Malay", a 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database was not able to verify that it is even Malayic. The study was only able to determine with 80% confidence that Banjar is closer to Malayan and Ibanic than it is to other Malayo-Sumbawan languages. It does appear that it is the most divergent Malayic language included in the study.
The language contains a lot of Malay and some Javanese
cognate
s, but they usually have their own distinctively Banjarese counterparts.
Banjar language is divided into two major dialects; the upper river dialect (Banjar Hulu) and down river dialect (Banjar Kuala). Main differences of the two dialects can be found in phonology
and lexicon
s, although slight difference in syntactic structure can also be noticed. Banjar Hulu has only three vowels, namely /i/ with its long variant /i:/, high back rounded vowel
/u:/, and low back vowel /a/. When a word contains vowels other than these three, the foreign vowel will be replaced with one of them based on the closeness of height and other quality of the vowels. For example, Banjarese speaker trying to pronounce English word 'logo' will sound like pronouncing the Indonesian
word for innocent, 'lugu'. The Indonesian word 'orang' for delicious will be pronounced /urang/. The word 'kemana' (where) will be pronounced even many times spelled 'kamana'. Other distinctive characteristic of Banjar Hulu dialect is that words beginning with a vowel are most likely to be pronounced with an /h/ sound in front of the words. The addition of /h/ sound even can also be noticed in the spelling.
Banjar Kuala has five vowels, /a, i, u, e, o/.
Banjarese architecture
Banjar people
The Banjar are a coastal, native ethnic group that settled in Tanah Laut and Banjarmasin in the south and in Hulu Sungai in the north of South Kalimantan, Indonesia, the second largest city on the island of Borneo. Several centuries ago, some of them had travelled to many places in the Malay...
people of South Kalimantan
South Kalimantan
South Kalimantan/South Borneo is one of the thirty-three Provinces of Indonesia and one of four Indonesian provinces in the Indonesian part of Borneo. The provincial capital is Banjarmasin...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. As many Banjarese are travelling merchants, they brought their language wherever they went all over Indonesia, even all over the world.
Especially in the island of Kalimantan
Kalimantan
In English, the term Kalimantan refers to the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, while in Indonesian, the term "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo....
, Banjarese can be considered as a lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
, as it is used widely in three of the four province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
s of Kalimantan: South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan
East Kalimantan
East Kalimantan is the second largest Indonesian province, located on the Kalimantan region on the east of Borneo island. The resource-rich province has two major cities, Samarinda and Balikpapan...
, and Central Kalimantan
Central Kalimantan
Central Kalimantan is a province of Indonesia, one of four in Kalimantan - the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its provincial capital is Palangka Raya.The province has a population of just over 2.2 million at the 2010 Census...
, with the exception of West Kalimantan
West Kalimantan
West Kalimantan is a province of Indonesia. It is one of four Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city Pontianak is located right on the Equator....
where Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
is more popular.
Although Banjarese, with six million speakers, is commonly considered "local Malay", a 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database was not able to verify that it is even Malayic. The study was only able to determine with 80% confidence that Banjar is closer to Malayan and Ibanic than it is to other Malayo-Sumbawan languages. It does appear that it is the most divergent Malayic language included in the study.
The language contains a lot of Malay and some Javanese
Javanese language
Javanese language is the language of the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java...
cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
s, but they usually have their own distinctively Banjarese counterparts.
Banjar language is divided into two major dialects; the upper river dialect (Banjar Hulu) and down river dialect (Banjar Kuala). Main differences of the two dialects can be found in phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
and lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
s, although slight difference in syntactic structure can also be noticed. Banjar Hulu has only three vowels, namely /i/ with its long variant /i:/, high back rounded vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
/u:/, and low back vowel /a/. When a word contains vowels other than these three, the foreign vowel will be replaced with one of them based on the closeness of height and other quality of the vowels. For example, Banjarese speaker trying to pronounce English word 'logo' will sound like pronouncing the Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
word for innocent, 'lugu'. The Indonesian word 'orang' for delicious will be pronounced /urang/. The word 'kemana' (where) will be pronounced even many times spelled 'kamana'. Other distinctive characteristic of Banjar Hulu dialect is that words beginning with a vowel are most likely to be pronounced with an /h/ sound in front of the words. The addition of /h/ sound even can also be noticed in the spelling.
Banjar Kuala has five vowels, /a, i, u, e, o/.
See also
- Banjar peopleBanjar peopleThe Banjar are a coastal, native ethnic group that settled in Tanah Laut and Banjarmasin in the south and in Hulu Sungai in the north of South Kalimantan, Indonesia, the second largest city on the island of Borneo. Several centuries ago, some of them had travelled to many places in the Malay...
Banjarese architecture
- BanjarmasinBanjarmasinBanjarmasin is the capital of South Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is located on a delta island near the junction of the Barito and Martapura rivers. As a result, Banjarmasin is sometimes called the "River City"...
- Kalimantan Selatan