User:Germartin1/Indonesian Honorifics
Indonesian honorifics are honorific titles or prefixes used in Indonesia covering formal and informal social, commercial relationships. Family pronouns addressing siblings are used also in informal settings and are usually gender-neutral. Pronouns vary by region/ethnic area and depend on the ethnic group of the person spoken to.[1] In addition to being gender- and ethnic-based, pronouns are often seniority-based and even profession-based.[1][2]
Properly addressing people in Indonesian is important and learnt from an early age. It is common and excepted to call people using a pronoun and their first name.
Usage
[edit]| level | age | male | female | Comment/Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| informal | friends | Kamu, (colloquial gue) | you | |
| formal | any | Anda | ||
| formal | 30+/married | Bapak/Pak | Ibu/Bu | You, Mister, Ma'am |
| formal | uncommon | Saudara | Saudari | (lit. brother/sister) |
| casual | a bit older | Kak/Kakak | Older sibling | |
| casual | a bit younger | Adik/Dek/Ade | Younger sibling | |
| casual | older | Om | Tante | Uncle/Aunt (Dutch orig) |
| casual | older | Kakek | Nenek | Grandfather/mother |
| informal | middle age | (A)bang, Bung | brother, (workers) | |
Adult men are addressed by Bapak (short Pak) and adult women by Ibu (short Bu). This can be translated to Mr. and Mrs. but can also mean Father/Mother. It can be used in conjunction with their first name or full name. Important to note, Indonesian pronouns can all be used as in second and third-person singular and even in first-person[citation needed].
An informal way to address a significantly older person is to use Om, Paman, Bibi or Tante, which mean "uncle" and "aunt". The terms are Dutch-influenced and quite commonly used in the big cities.
Indonesian pronouns may also be used for oneself. Kakak mau makan can mean "I (the older sibling) want to eat" (lit. older sibling wants to eat).
Reflective Pronoun
[edit]Indonesian speakers use enclitic pronouns -ku (1 SG), -mu (2 SG), and -nya (3 SG).[3] The latter may also be used as a polite form for the second person singular. "Siapa namanya?" (What is your name, lit. what is his/her name).
By local language
[edit]Javanese
[edit]In Javanese and broadly speaking in Java, Mbak is used for "older sister" and Mas is used for "older brother". Mbak and Mas are used for example to address junior staff in cafes and restaurants in Java.
Balinese
[edit]In Balinese, older (relative to the speaker) people are addressed as Bli (m.) and Mbok (f.)
Papuan
[edit]In Papua, men are addressed by Pace, women by Mace (older woman) or Usi (older sister). Uncles and aunts are addressed relative to the parents age, Bapak muda, Bapak tua, Mama muda, Mama tua (younger uncle, older uncle, younger aunt, older aunt respectively).[citation needed]
Hokkien
[edit]Cici is used call women for older sister, Koko is used for older brother.
References
[edit]
Category:Honorifics by country
Category:Honorifics by language
- ^ a b H, Erina (2020-10-03). "The Curious Case of Indonesian Honorifics". Medium. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
- ^ Street-vendors might be called "bang" but government-workers "bapak/ibu"
- ^ ThomasJ, C.; ONNERS. "Reference tracking and non-canonical referring expressions in Indonesian". www.semanticscholar.org. Retrieved 2020-10-06.