Sundanese (Basa Sunda, literally "language of Sunda") is the language of about 27,000,000 people from the western third of Java or about 15% of Indonesian population.

It is classified in Austronesian - Malayo-Polynesian - Western Malayo-Polynesian - Sundic language family and has several dialects based on the locations of the people:

• Banten,
• Bogor,
• Priangan, and
• Cirebon.

Priangan, which cover the most area of Sunda, is the main dialect of Sundanese language taught in elementary till junior-high schools (equivalent to ninth-year school grade).

Phonology

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Currently, Sundanese is written in the Latin script and its orthography is highly phonetic. There are five pure vowel sounds: a (similar to the sound in bus), é (as in get), i (shorter than in eat), o (shorter than in dawn), u (as in put), and two neutral vowels like the second vowel of water which is spelled e, and eu (as 'eau' in plateau); and no diphthongs. The consonantal phonemes are rendered by the letters p, b, t, d, k, g, c (pronounced like the ch in cheese), j, h, ng (which also occurs initially), ny (as in canyon), m, n, s (voiceless, as in sun or cats), w, l, r (trilled or flapped) and y. Other consonants that originally appear in Indonesian loanwords mostly transferred into main consonants: f -> p, v -> p, sy -> s, sh -> s, z -> j, and kh (as in loch) -> h.

Definition of Sundanese Phonology, according to Yayat Sudaryat (1985:26)says: "Fonologi nyaeta bagean tina elmu basa anu maluruh jeung medar sora-sora basa, prosesna, selang surupna, jeung parobahanana".

Phonologically, Sundanese have a similar number of consonants to English. There are 16 consonants in Sundanese phonology, according to Yayat Sudaryat (1991,35): "fonem konsonan (contoid) nya eta sora omongan (fonem) anu kawangun ku hawa anu kaluar tina bayah sarta waktu liwat tikoro aya nu ngahalangan. konsonan nu aya dina basa sunda, nyaeta: /b/, /ts/, /d/, /g/, /h/, /d3/, /k/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /p/, /r/, /s/, /n/, /t/, /n'/, kuayana pangaruh basa kosta sok kapanggih konsonan /f, v, z/ mangrupa fomem nu asalna pangaruh basa kosta, saperti dina kecap: fonem, qur'an, xerox, zakat".'''

Based on the statement above, it is clear that the Sundanese language has only 16 consonants, there are three consonants /f, v, z/ which exist in Sundanese as a result of borrowing words, but naturally they are not Sundanese consonants.

Furthermore, Sudaryat does not mention the phonemes /w, j/ as semi vowels, although as vowels, /w, j/ function as a glide sound between two different vowels, as in the words: Kueh - /ku w eh/ Muih - /mu w ih/ Bear - /be A ar/ Miang - Mi j an/

Phonemes /w/ ad /j/ function as glide sounds between two different vowels as i the words: wa - rung wa - yang ba - wang ha - yang ku - ya

Basic grammar

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Root word

(to be written).

Active form

(to be written).

Negation

(to be written).

Question

(to be written). Dupi -(question) example: Polite- Dupi Bapa aya di bumi? (is your father at home?) Dupi bumi di palih mana? (where do you live?)

Passive form

(to be written).

Adjectives

(to be written).

Prepositions

Place

English	Sundanese (normal)	Sundanese (polite)
above ..	diluhureun ..	diluhureun ..
behind ..	ditukangeun ..	dipengkereun ..
under ..	dihandapeun ..	dihandapeun ..
inside ..	di jero ..	di lebet ..
outside ..	di luar ..	di luar ..
between .. and ..	di antara .. jeung ..	di antawis .. sareng ..
front ..	hareup ..	payun ..
back ..	tukang ..	pengker ..

Time

English	Sundanese (normal)	Sundanese (polite)
before	saacan	sateuacan
after	sanggeus	saparantos
during	basa	nalika
past	baheula	kapungkur

Miscellaneous

English	Sundanese (normal)	Sundanese (polite)
from	tina	tina
for	jang	kanggo

Conjuctives

(to be written).

See also

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• Kidung Sunda

External links

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• ethnologue report on Sundanese

Languages of Indonesia | Malayo-Polynesian languages | Austronesian languages

Sundanesische Sprache | Idioma sundanés | Bahasa Sunda | Basa Sundha | სუნდური ენა | 순다어 | Bahasa Sunda | Soendanees | スンダ語 | Basa Sunda | Sundan kieli