Balinese language
Balinese is an Austronesian language spoken primarily by the Balinese people on the Indonesian island of Bali, as well as Nusa Penida, Western Lombok, and Eastern Java, and also spread to Southern Sumatra, and Sulawesi due to the transmigration program. Most Balinese speakers also use Indonesian. The 2000 national census recorded 3.3 million people speakers of Balinese with only 1 million people still using the Balinese language in their daily lives according to the Bali Cultural Agency estimated in 2011.
The higher registers of the language borrow extensively from Javanese: an old form of classical Javanese, Kawi, is used in Bali as a religious and ceremonial language, while most of Balinese speakers use the low [|register] known as Kapara Balinese as their everyday language. Most speakers of Balinese also speak Indonesian for official and commercial purposes as well as a means to communicate with non-Balinese-speaking Indonesians.
The 2000 national census recorded 3.3 million people speakers of Balinese, however the Bali Cultural Agency estimated in 2011 that the number of people still using the Balinese language in their daily lives is under 1 million. The language has been classified as "not endangered" by Glottolog.
Classification
Balinese is an Austronesian language belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the family. Within Malayo-Polynesian, it is part of the Bali–Sasak–Sumbawa subgroup. Internally, Balinese has three distinct varieties; Highland Bali, Lowland Bali, and Nusa Penida Balinese.Demographics
According to the 2000 census, the Balinese language is spoken by 3.3 million people in Indonesia, mainly concentrated on the island of Bali and the surrounding areas.In 2011, the Bali Cultural Agency estimated that the number of people still using the Balinese language in their daily lives on Bali Island does not exceed 1 million, as in urban areas their parents only introduce the Indonesian language or even English as a foreign language, while daily conversations in the institutions and the mass media have disappeared. The written form of the Balinese language is increasingly unfamiliar and most Balinese people use the Balinese language only as a means of oral communication, often mixing it with Indonesian in their daily speech. However, in the transmigration areas outside Bali Island, the Balinese language is extensively used and believed to play an important role in the survival of the language.
Phonology
Vowels
The official spelling denotes both and final by. However, is usually pronounced when it ends a word, and occurs also in prefixes ma-, pa- and da-. In non-final positions, is denoted by ⟨e⟩.Consonants
Depending on dialect, the phoneme is realized as a voiceless alveolar or retroflex stop. This is in contrast with most other languages in western Indonesia, which have a dental patterning with an otherwise alveolar phoneme series.Stress
Stress falls on the last syllable.Vocabulary
Registers
Even though most basic vocabulary in Balinese and Indonesian originates from Austronesian and Sanskrit, many cognates sound quite different between languages. Balinese has four different registers: low, middle, and high, the uses of which depend on the relationship and status of those speaking and those being spoken about, and most of Balinese speakers use the low register also known as Kapara Balinese or Common Balinese language. High Balinese is not commonly used except to speak to pedandas, so few are fluent in it. The common mutations in inherited Balinese words are:- r > h / #_, r > h / V_V, and r > h / _#. That is, r mutates into h at the beginning of every word, the end of every word, and between any two vowels.
- h > ø / !_#. The phoneme h is lost everywhere except at the ends of words.
In the standard Balinese the final orthographic -a is a schwa .
| English | Low Balinese | High Balinese | Indonesian | Old Javanese | Javanese |
| this | ini | iki, punika | |||
| that | itu | iku, kuwi,, menika | |||
| here | di sini | kéné, mriki, ngriki | |||
| there | di sana, di situ | kana, mriku, ngriku, mrika, ngrika | |||
| what | apa | apa punapa, menapa | |||
| human | , | manusia | uwong, manungsa tiyang, jalma | ||
| hair | rambut | rambut | rambut, rikma | ||
| fire | api | geni | |||
| child | , | anak | anak putra, siwi | ||
| life | hidup | urip, gesang | |||
| to drink | minum | ngombé, ngunjuk | |||
| big | besar, gede | gĕḍe | gedhé, ageng | ||
| new | baru | añar | anyar, énggal | ||
| day | hari | dina '', dinten | |||
| sun | matahari | sréngéngé, surya | |||
| lake | danau | ranu | tlaga, ranu | ||
| egg | telur | ĕṇḍog | endhog, tigan | ||
| friend | teman | kañca, mitra, sakhā | kanca, kenalan, mitra | ||
| to sightsee | tamasya | ||||
| name | nama | aran, | aran, jeneng, wasta, asma | ||
| to be, to become | menjadi | dadi, dados | |||
| to stay | tinggal | manggon, manggén | |||
| from | dari | saka, saking | |||
| right | beneh | patut | benar | bener, leres | |
| where | kija | ring kija | kemana | menyang endi dhateng pundi | |
| home | umah, homah | jero, griya | rumah | omah griya, dalem | |
| done | suba | sampun | sudah | wis, sampun | |
| all | onya | sami, makasami | semua | kabéh, sedaya | |
| with | ajak | sareng | dengan | karo, kaliyan | |
| hat, cap | topong, capil | topong | topi | topi, caping | |
| island | pulo | nusa | pulau | pulo | |
| to invite | ngajak | ngiring | mengajak | ngajak'' |
Numerals
Balinese has a decimal numeral system, but this is complicated by numerous words for intermediate quantities such as 45, 175, and 1600.Basic numerals
The numerals 1–10 have basic, combining, and independent forms, many of which are formed through reduplication. The combining forms are used to form higher numbers. In some cases there is more than one word for a numeral, reflecting the Balinese register system; halus forms are listed in italics.In the standard Balinese the final orthographic -a is a schwa .
| Numeral | Basic | Combining | Independent |
| 1 | besik | a-, sa-* | abesik, aukud |
| 1 | siki | a-, sa-* | abesik, aukud |
| 2 | dua | duang- | dadua |
| 2 | kalih | kalih- | kakalih |
| 3 | telu | telung- | tetelu |
| 3 | tiga | tigang- | tetiga |
| 4 | pat | petang- | papat |
| 5 | lima | limang- | lelima |
| 6 | nem | nem- | nenem |
| 7 | pitu | pitung- | pepitu |
| 8 | kutus | kutus-, ulung- | akutus |
| 9 | sia | sia-, sangang- | asia |
| 10 | dasa | dasa- | adasa |
Teens, tweens, and tens
Like English, Balinese has compound forms for the teens and tens; however, it also has a series of compound 'tweens', 21–29. The teens are based on a root *-welas, the tweens on -likur, and the tens are formed by the combining forms above. Hyphens are not used in the orthography, but have been added to the table below to clarify their derivation.| Unit | Teens | Tweens | Tens |
| 1 | solas 11 | se-likur 21 | |
| 2 | rolas 12 | dua-likur 22 | duang-dasa 20 |
| 2 | rolas 12 | kalih-likur | kalih-dasa |
| 3 | telu-las 13 | telu-likur 23 | telung-dasa 30 |
| 3 | telu-las 13 | tigang-likur | tigang-dasa |
| 4 | pat-belas 14 | pat-likur 24 | petang-dasa 40 |
| 5 | lim-olas 15 | salaé 25 | seket 50 |
| 6 | nem-belas 16 | nem-likur 26 | nem-dasa 60 |
| 7 | pitu-las 17 | pitu-likur 27 | pitung-dasa 70 |
| 8 | pelekutus 18 | ulu-likur 28 | kutus-dasa, ulung-dasa 80 |
| 9 | siang-olas 19 | sanga-likur 29 | sia-dasa, sangang-dasa 90 |
The high-register combining forms kalih- 2 and tigang- 3 are used with -likur, -dasa, and higher numerals, but not for the teens.
The teens are from Javanese, where the -olas forms are regular, apart from pele-kutus 18, which is suppletive. Sa-laé 25, and se-ket 50 are also suppletive, and cognate with Javanese səlawé 25 and səkət 50.
There are additional numerals pasasur ~ sasur 35 and se-timahan ~ se-timan 45, and a compound telung-benang for 75.
Higher numbers
The unit combining forms are combined with atus 100, atak 200, amas 400, tali 1000, laksa 10,000, keti 100,000, and yuta 1,000,000 as they do with dasa 10:| 100 | s-atus |
| 200 | s-atak |
| 300 | telung-atus ' |
| 400 | s-amas |
| 500 | limang-atus |
| 600 | telung-atak ' |
| 700 | pitung-atus |
| 800 | domas |
| 900 | sanga |
| 1000 | siu |
| 1200 | nem-bangsit |
| 2000 | duang-tali |
| 1,000,000 | a-yuta |
Atak is a 'bundle' and amas is 'gold'. In addition, there is karobelah 150, lebak 175, and sepa for 1600. At least karobelah has a cognate in Javanese, ro-bəlah, where ro- is the short form for two.
Pronouns
Kinship terms can be used as pronouns. If these pronouns are used as agents, they refer to either the speaker or the listener, depending on context. Though first and second person pronouns need no antecedent to be understood, third person pronouns do.Time
Instead of grammatical tense, Balinese uses temporal adverbs to talk about time.| Adverb | Translation |
| mare | just, a few minutes ago |
| tuni | a few hours ago |
| ibi | yesterday, a day ago |
| puan | two days ago |
| telun | three days ago |
For present tense, the adverb jani can be either definite or indefinite depending on context. Its more emphatic form, jani san, is definite. The indefinite word ajanian refers to any time before or during the utterance.
| Adverb | Translation |
| nyanan | later |
| mani | tomorrow |
| buin/bin puan | two days from now |
| buin/bin telun | three days from now |
The word buin/bin is obligatory for puan and telun to clarify that they are not being used for their past tense meanings. Mani, ''manian, and puan can all be prefixed with mani'' to refer to the future.
Grammar
Balinese is agglutinative. Verb and noun inflectional morphology is similarly minimal to Indonesian, but derivational morphology is extensive.Affixes
Of the two dative suffixes, -ang and -in, the latter should be used if the object is animate. The suffix -né / -é marks nouns for both definiteness and possession.Nouns & modifiers
Nouns come before their modifiers, and are often marked with a deictic word, ento 'that' or ené 'this,'" to show that any modifiers act as modifiers instead of as verbs. The definite marker can also be attached to modifiers, especially any which conveys "an inherent property of its referent." Adjectives following possessive nouns function as predicative, while adjectives following unmarked nouns function as attributive.Verbs
Two types of serial verb constructions occur in Balinese. Both verbs are always fully inflected, but in the first type, the verbs have the same agent, whereas in the second, the object of the first verb is the subject of the second.Word order & voices
The word order is similar to that of Indonesian, and verb and noun inflectional morphology is similarly minimal. However, derivational morphology is extensive, and suffixes are applied to indicate definite or indefinite articles, and optionally to indicate possession.The default, unmarked word order of Balinese is Patient Verb Agent. If the agent is a third person pronoun, it is attached to the verb as the clitic suffix -a.
This default word order can be reversed with a nasal prefix on the verb. The nasal-marked word order cannot be an active construction, because it is marked, nor can it be antipassive, because the patient can't be omitted. It is considered a second type of transitive voice.
There is a true passive voice borrowed from Javanese and marked by the verbal prefix ka-. It is used mostly in high registers. If the agent of this passive construction is third-person, it must be preceded by a preposition. If it is not third-person, it cannot be preceded by a preposition.
The second true passive voice, marked by the verbal prefix ma-, always omits the agent. It connotes a complete event and is only available to some verbs.
Dialects
Balinese has 2 main dialects, the Highland dialect and the Lowland dialect. The difference between the two dialects lies in the variety of vocabulary, phonology, and usage of register. Highland dialect, also referred as Bali Aga dialect, has fewer high register variations, while the lowland dialect recognises both high register and low register.Highland dialect
The highland dialect, also known as Bali Aga is a dialect of the Balinese language spoken by the Bali Aga people in mountainous areas and northern part of Bali, especially in the mountain range of Kintamani, and regencies nearby such as Bangli, Buleleng, and Karangasem, as well in Nusa Penida. According to Bawa, the highland dialect is grouped into three main usage areas, namely the eastern, northern, and western regions which are detailed as follows:- The eastern region of Bali Island which includes Karangasem Regency, Kintamani District, Klungkung Regency, parts of East Buleleng, and Nusa Penida;
- Northern Badung mountainous region;
- The western region of Bali Island, which includes Pupuan district, Penebel district, and parts of West Buleleng and North Tabanan.
- presences of in the middle of word, such as in ;
- presences of and affix or in the final-word position as allophony of ;
- the intonation of speakers' speech tends to have a fast tempo and louder stress
Nusa Penida dialect
Currently, the Nusa Penida dialect is widely used only in Nusa Penida in Klungkung Regency. However, it is important to note that not all communities in Nusa Penida use the Nusa Penida dialect. There are several groups of people who communicate using different dialects. On the islands of Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan, which are located next to Nusa Penida, as well as in a small part of Nusa Penida close to these islands, there is a distinct dialect that is quite different from the Nusa Penida dialect. One of the most striking differences is in words like éda and kola in the Nusa Penida dialect. Speakers of the Nusa Lembongan dialect use words like cai or ci and cang. Another example is əndək and tusing or sing', géléng-cenik, hangkén-kénkén, and so on. Only 13 out of 16 villages in Nusa Penida use the Nusa Penida dialect. The remaining villages either speak the Nusa Lembongan dialect or a dialect resembling mainland Klungkung Balinese.The Nusa Penida dialect is also used outside Nusa Penida, mainly due to the migration of its speakers following the eruption of Mount Agung in 1963. Significant speakers relocated to southern Sumatra, particularly to Bandar Lampung, Palembang, Mesuji, and South Lampung.
Writing system
Balinese has been written in two different writing systems: the Balinese script, and in modern times the Latin script.Balinese script
The Balinese script, which is arranged as, is an abugida, ultimately derived from the Brāhmī script of India. The earliest known inscriptions date from the 9th century AD.Few people today are familiar with the Balinese script. The Balinese script is almost the same as the Javanese script.
Latin alphabet
Schools in Bali today teach a Latin alphabet known as.The standard alphabet is as follow:
| Letter | Name | IPA | Diacritics |
| A, a | a | /a/ | – |
| B, b | bé | /b/ | – |
| C, c | cé | /t͡ʃ/ | – |
| D, d | dé | /d/ | – |
| E, e | é | /e/ or /ə/ | é |
| F, f | éf | /f/ | – |
| G, g | gé | /g/ | – |
| H, h | ha | /h/ | – |
| I, i | i | /i/ | – |
| J, j | jé | /d͡ʒ/ | – |
| K, k | ka | /k/ | – |
| L, l | él | /l/ | – |
| M, m | ém | /m/ | – |
| N, n | én | /n/ | – |
| O, o | o | /o/ | – |
| P, p | pé | /p/ | – |
| Q, q | ki | /k/ | – |
| R, r | ér | /r/ | – |
| S, s | és | /s/ | – |
| T, t | té | /t/ | – |
| U, u | u | /u/ | – |
| V, v | fé | /f/ | – |
| W, w | wé | /w/ | – |
| X, x | éks | /ks/ | – |
| Y, y | yé | /j/ | – |
| Z, z | zét | /z/ | – |
The Balinese spelling system using Latin letters was implemented in 1974. This spelling system was implemented after the government established the Improved Spelling System for Indonesian in 1972. The purpose of implementing the EyD Bali Latin was to standardize the Balinese language without eliminating its unique characteristics. The EyD Bali Latin is based on the 26-letter Latin alphabet with 1 diacritic namely é. Several consonants such as /f/, /kh/, /q/, /sy/, /v/, /z/, /x/ are used to write foreign loanwords.
Sample text
Article 1 of the ''[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]''
;Balinese scriptᬲᬫᬶᬫᬦᬸᬲᬦᬾᬲᬦᬾᬜ᭄ᬭᬸᬯᬤᬶᬯᬦ᭄ᬢᬄᬫᬭ᭄ᬤᬾᬓᬢᬸᬃᬫᬤᬸᬯᬾᬓᬳᬸᬢ᭄ᬢᬫᬳᬦ᭄ᬮᬦ᭄ᬳᬓ᭄ᬳᬓ᭄ᬲᬦᬾᬧᬢᭂᬄ᭟ᬲᬫᬶᬓᬮᬸᬕ᭄ᬭᬵᬳᬶᬦ᭄ᬧᬧᬶᬦᭂᬄᬮᬦ᭄ᬳᬶᬤᭂᬧ᭄ᬢᬸᬃᬫᬗ᭄ᬤᬦᬾᬧᬟᬫᬲᬯᬶᬢ᭄ᬭᬫᭂᬮᬭᬧᬦ᭄ᬲᭂᬫᬗᬢ᭄ᬧᬓᬸᬮᬯᬭ᭄ᬕᬳᬦ᭄᭞
;Romanised
Sami manusané sané nyruwadi wantah mardéka tur maduwé kautamaan lan hak-hak sané pateh. Sami kalugrähin papineh lan idep tur mangdané paḍa masawitra melarapan semangat pakulawargaan.
;IPA
/ˈsami manʊˈsane ˈsane ɲruˈwadi ˈwantaʰ mərˈdɛka tur maˈduwe kawtaˈmaan lan hakˈhak ˈsane ˈpatəh/
/ˈsami kaluˈgrahin paˈpineh lan iˈdəp tur maŋˈdane ˈpadə masaˈwitrə məlaˈrapan səmaˈŋat pakulawraˈgaan/
;Sound sample
;English
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.