Middle Javanese Language Revisited

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  • Meninjau Ulang Bahasa Jawa Pertengahan

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Abstract

Linguistic evidence found in several texts produced during the Middle Javanese era has revealed that the language used in these texts was grammatically different from Old Javanese (OJ) but already showed grammatical characteristics of Modern Javanese (MJ). By revisiting these grammatical characteristics and confirming their appearance in Rajamudra inscriptions and Bismaprawa and Pramanaparwa—two texts from Merapi-Merbabu collection—this study aims to prove the existence of a new typology somewhere between OJ and MJ, which many have presumed to be Middle Javanese (MidJ). Bismaprawa, Pramanaparwa, and Rājamūdra inscriptions are purposely selected as the sources of data to offer a novelty in this research, considering that similar studies have never been conducted on these texts and inscriptions. The analysis shows that there is still no strong evidence to support the claim about a new typology of Middle Javanese. In Rājamūdra, only two grammatical characteristics of MidJ, as mentioned by Zoetmulder (1983) and Ogloblin (2008), are identified, which merely are formal variations. Any variation shown in MidJ basically just either proves or disproves the appearance of characteristics of OJ or MJ. This leads to a conclusion that MidJ is actually a variation of either OJ or MJ. The deviations of grammatical characteristics in these texts from those of OJ proves that there were linguistic variations of Old Javanese, that is, the language used by the scholars inside the palace and the daily language spoken by the commoners. This variation of OJ used outside the palace is what has been presumed to be MidJ. This study also shows a similarity in the sentential structure used in the three texts that were written in different places and periods. This similarity supports Ogloblin’s claim about the significance of considering register in determining variations of Javanese, instead of just relying on similarities or discrepancies based on periods of time.

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