Southern Thailand - The Jawi Language
Bahasa Jawi – ภาษายาวี – بهاس جاوي
Chances are if you pick up a copy of today’s newspaper in Thailand, there will be something warranting a front page story coming from the south – and in particular the three provinces of Patani, Yala and Naratiwat. The history of these three provinces is fascinating and indeed varies depending on where you glean your history from. There are many documents out there to give us a broader perspective of what has occurred in that region over the years and give us an insight into the minds of the people that live there now. Much of this information is accessible to anyone that can read Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Indonesia. Many other documents that would normally be accessible to these people remain hidden as they are ‘encoded’ in the Jawi script. This article will hopefully provide some tools for people with any knowledge of Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Indonesia to develop skills in reading the Jawi script and hopefully open them up to a new world of information that has up until now been laying right beneath their nose.
So how do you pronounce it?
Depending on who says it, you will get a number of different responses. In Thai, the writing is ยาวี pronounced ‘yawee’. In Malay / Indonesian, it is written / pronounced ‘Jawi’. Other written forms include Chowie, Djaoi, Djau, Djaui, Djawi, Dyao, and Dyawi (see link).
What does Jawi mean?
Again, depending on who you ask, the responses will vary. If you ask a Thai, many of them will tell you that there is คนยาวี (khon yawi – ‘Yawi people’) and ภาษายาวี (Phasa yawi – Yawi Language). Nowadays, when people refer to ‘Jawi’, it is usually referring to the Arabic Script based system of writing the Malay language.
The following is an exerpt from Hamdan Abdul Rahman’s book “Panduan Menulis dan Mengeja Jawi” (publisher – Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka 1999). I have transliterated it into the Jawi Script as well as translated it into English. Once you have read through this entire article, you might want to come back to this section with your new reading skills and have a crack at decoding the Jawi script version back into Bahasa Melayu.
—– Book Excerpt —-
Bahasa Melayu – بهاس ملايو – Malay
“Sudah ditakdirkan Allah bahawa di kalangan bangsa Melayu ini, suku kaum yang lebih besar bilangannya adalah suku kaum Jawa. Jadi merekalah yang membentuk kumpulan Melayu terbesar di tanah Arab pada zaman dahulu. Akibatnya orang-orang Arab menganggap semua manusia berkulit sawa matang dari Alam Melayu ini sebagai orang Jawa.
Seterusnya segala yang bersangkutan dengan orang Melayu disifatkan sebagai Jawi. Orangnya dikenali sebagai orang Jawi, Tanahnya dikenali sebagai tanah Jawi dan bahasanya dinamakan bahasa Jawi dan tulisan yang digunakan dalam media persuratannya dinamakan tulisan Jawi.Kitab-kitab agama islam yang diterjemahkan ke Bahasa Melayu terutamanya dalam abad ke-17 Masihi, semuanya merakamkan bahawa penulisnya telah menerima titah raja, wasiat guru atau pesan ayah supaya dia menterjemahkan kitab tertentu ke dalam bahasa Jawi; bukan bahasa Melayu.Secara Berturutan perkataan Jawi ini mula-mulanya merupakan nama tanah, iaitu Alam Melayu, kemudian menjadi nama bahasa, dan sekarang menjadi nama tulisan pula”
Bahasa Jawi – بهاس جاوي – Jawi
سودهدتاقدركنالله بهاوا د كالڠن بڠساملايو اين، سوكو قوم يڠلبيه بسر بيلڠنڽ اداله سوكو قوم جاوا. جادي مريكله يڠ ممبنتوق كومڤولن ملايو تربسر د تانه عرب ڤد زمن دهولو. عقيبتڽ اورڠ-اورڠ عرب مڠڠڬڤ سموا مأنسي بركوليت ساوا ماتڠ دري عالم ملايو اين سباڬاي اورڠ جاوا.
ستروسڽ سڬالا يڠ برسڠكوتن دڠناورڠ ملايو دصيفتكن سباڬايجاوي. اورڠڽدكنلي سباڬاياورڠ جاوي،تانهڽ دكنليسباڬاي تانهجاوي دان بهاسڽ ديناماكن بهاس جاوي دان توليسن يڠ دڬوناكندالم ميدياڤرسورتنڽ ديناماكن توليسن جاوي.كتاب-كتاب اڬام اسلام يڠ دترجمهكن ك بهاس ملايو تراوتماڽ دالم ابد ك-١٧ مسيحي، سمواڽ مراكامكن بهاوا ڤنوليسڽ تله منريما تيته راج، وصية ڬورو اتاو ڤسان ايه سوڤاي دي منترجمهكن كتاب ترتنتو ك دالم بهاس جاوي; بوكن بهاس ملايو.سچارا برتوروتن ڤركاتان جاوي اين مولا-مولاڽ مروڤاكن نام تانه، ايايت عالم ملايو، كمودين منجادي نام بهاس، دان سكاراڠ منجادي نام توليسن ڤولا
Bahasa Inggris – بهاس ايڠريس – English
It has been deemed by Allah that the largest ethnic group inhabiting the land known as Melayu be the Javanese. It is these same Javanese that in times gone by formed the largest Malay group in the Arab lands. The result is that Arabs will call all those of tanned skin from the Malay world ‘Javanese’.
Moreover, all that is associated with those from Malay is regarded as ‘Jawi’. The people are known as ‘Jawi’, the land is known as the land of ‘Jawi’ and their language is named ‘Jawi’ – and the writing system that is used in literature is the ‘Jawi’ script. Islamic works that are translated into the Malay language, especially since the 17th century, have recorded that the author had received a decree from the king, scholars or elders, that the writings be translated into Jawi; not Bahasa Melayu. From such instructions, ‘Jawi’ started to be used as the name of the entire land that is ‘Malay’, then the name of the language, and now also the name of the writing”
— End of Book Excerpt —
So there you have it! The word used to describe the land, people, language and writing system known to Thais as ‘Yawi’ – ยาวี stems from a misunderstanding of the Arabs in the 17th century that all who came from the Malay region of the world are Javanese. The word ‘Java’ in Sanskrit actually means speed – but I don’t know if all my Javanese friends who seem to live by the motto of ‘jam karet’ – ‘time is rubber’ (you can stretch it!) are aware of this J.
Learning the Script
There are some great websites out there that can help
you on your journey of learning the Jawi script.
http://www.ejawi.net is a site entirely dedicated to using / teaching and promoting the Jawi script. There are some great tools there including Jawi fonts and keyboard add-ins for your computer and even a ‘Jawi’ converter ( http://www.ejawi.net/converter.php ). Just type in your Malay into the top text box, click ‘Terjemah Sekarang’ (translate now) and PRESTO – you have the Javi version below in Unicode text. You can cut and paste this text into any document.
Just make sure you are using a Unicode font rather than just plain Arabic fonts, as there are a number of modified letters in Jawi that don’t appear in the normal Arabic letter table. That goes for this webpage as well. If your browser is not showing some empty boxes for some of the letters, you may have to go and adjust your default font to ‘Arial Unicode MS’, or some other Unicode font.
Here’s the alphabet:
Letters
Character | Isolated | Initial | Medial | Final | Name |
ا | ﺍ | ﺎ | alif | ||
ب | ﺏ | ﺑ | ﺒ | ﺐ | ba |
ت | ﺕ | ﺗ | ﺘ | ﺖ | ta |
ث | ﺙ | ﺛ | ﺜ | ﺚ | tsa |
ج | ﺝ | ﺟ | ﺠ | ﺞ | jim |
ح | ﺡ | ﺣ | ﺤ | ﺢ | hha |
چ | ﭺ | ﭼ | ﭽ | ﭻ | ca |
خ | ﺥ | ﺧ | ﺨ | ﺦ | kha |
د | ﺩ | ﺪ | dal | ||
ذ | ﺫ | ﺬ | dzal | ||
ر | ﺭ | ﺮ | ra | ||
ز | ﺯ | ﺰ | zai | ||
س | ﺱ | ﺳ | ﺴ | ﺲ | sin |
ش | ﺵ | ﺷ | ﺸ | ﺶ | syin |
ص | ﺹ | ﺻ | ﺼ | ﺺ | shad |
ض | ﺽ | ﺿ | ﻀ | ﺾ | dhad |
ط | ﻁ | ﻃ | ﻄ | ﻂ | tho |
ظ | ﻅ | ﻇ | ﻈ | ﻆ | zho |
ع | ﻉ | ﻋ | ﻌ | ﻊ | ain |
غ | ﻍ | ﻏ | ﻐ | ﻎ | ghain |
ڠ | nga | ||||
ف | ﻑ | ﻓ | ﻔ | ﻒ | fa |
ڤ | ﭪ | ﭬ | ﭭ | ﭫ | pa |
ق | ﻕ | ﻗ | ﻘ | ﻖ | qaf |
ك | ﻙ | ﻛ | ﻜ | ﻚ | kaf |
ڬ | gaf | ||||
ل | ﻝ | ﻟ | ﻠ | ﻞ | lam |
م | ﻡ | ﻣ | ﻤ | ﻢ | mim |
ن | ﻥ | ﻧ | ﻨ | ﻦ | nun |
و | ﻭ | ﻮ | wau | ||
ۏ | va | ||||
ه | ﻩ | ﻫ | ﻬ | ﻪ | ha |
ي | ﻱ | ﻳ | ﻴ | ﻲ | ya |
ڽ | nya |
For those Arabic speakers, the first thing that you notice is that the normal ‘balance’ of Arabic words of cons + vowel + cons etc. is thrown out the window. There are also some special letters like ڽ (nya), ڬ ‘g’, ڤ ‘p’ and چ ‘ch’ that appear often in Jawi writing.
For those who aren’t familiar with the Arabic script, I would suggest that you go out and buy some children’s books that teach the Arabic script so that you can practice tracing the letters in all their forms. It shouldn’t take more than an hour or so to learn the letters.
You’ll notice that vowels are often left out. Other times, vowels like ‘e’ and ‘i’ are all written as ي. ‘u’ and ‘o’ tend to become و.
Speeding your Reading Up
Prefixes and Suffixes
Anyone familiar with Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Indonesia, would be well aware that prefixes and suffixes are in abundance to change, stretch, add or expound on the meanings of the root words. If you can start to subconsciously see some of these affix and ‘common word’ frames, you will find that your reading speed will take a turn for the better.
Here are some common affixes and words that might help:
Affixes
Melayu Affix | Jawi | Meaning (rough – not exhaustive) | Sample | Jawi | Meaning |
me- | ﻣ | Active verb | menemui | منموءي | Meet with |
me – kan | ﻣ ﻨ | Transitive verb | menemukan | منموكن | Cause to meet |
ber – | بر | ‘have’ verb | bertemu | برتمو | To meet |
ter – (i) | تر | ‘unitentionally acted upon’ verb | tertemui | ترتموي | Happened to have been encountered by |
– an | ان | Noun from root – Something that is ‘___’ | temuan | تموان | A meeting of |
ke – an | ﻛ ان | Noun of ‘’, or suffering the effect of ‘’ | ketemuan | كتموان | A meeting of |
– kan | كن | Make ‘_’ happen – imperative verb | temukan | تموكن | Cause to meet |
di – (i) | د | Is ‘_’ by (passive voice) | ditemui | دتموي | Is met by |
per – | ڤر | Actor in ‘ber’ verb | pertemu | ڤرتمو | Person / agent in a meeting encounter |
pe – | ڤ | Actor of a ‘me’ verb | pendengar | ڤندڠر | Listener (based on dengar – listen) |
per – an | ڤر ان | Noun based on the ‘ber’ verb | pertemuan | ڤرتموان | A meeting |
memper – | ممڤر | To make even more ‘_’ so | mempebesar | ممڤبسر | Enlarge (based on besar – big) |
memper – kan | ممڤر | ||||
كن | Transitive verb of ‘memper’ | memperbesarkan | ممڤربسركن | Transitive form of Enlarge |
Words
Melayu Word | Jawi | English Translation |
Dan | دان | And |
atau | اتاو | Or |
oleh | اوليه | By |
ini | اين | This |
itu | ايت | That |
begini | بڬيني | Like this |
begitu | بڬيتو | Like that |
disini | دسيني | Here |
disitu | دسيتو | There |
orang | اورڠ | Person |
Tai | تاي | Thai |
Melayu | ملايو | Malay |
Indonesia | إندونيسيا | Indonesia |
Jawi | جاوي | Jawi |
Bahasa | بهاس | Language |
Saya | ساي | I |
Kamu | كامو | You |
yang | يڠ | ‘which’ or ‘that is’ |
Patani | ڤتنا | Patani |
Yala | يلا | Yala |
Naratiwat | ناراتيوة | Narathiwat |
I hope that his guide has been helpful to getting better acquainted with the world of “Jawi”. For the Thais that are reading this, maybe taking some time out to learn the script and even some of the language can be your first step in bridging the gap between our brothers and sisters down south.