Pegon (Javanese and Sundanese: أكسارا ڤَيڮَون, Aksara Pégon; also known as أبجد ڤَيڮَون, Abjad Pégon)[1] is a modified Arabic script used to write the Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese languages, as an alternative to the Latin script or the Javanese script[2] and the old Sundanese script.[3] In particular, it was used for religious (Islamic) writing and poetry from the fifteenth century, particularly in writing commentaries of the Qur'an. Pegon includes symbols for sounds that are not present in Modern Standard Arabic. Pegon has been studied far less than its Jawi counterpart which is used for Malay, Acehnese and Minangkabau.[4]
Pegon script أكسارا ڤَيڮَون | |
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Script type | Abjad
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Time period | c. 1300 CE to the present |
Direction | Right-to-left |
Languages | |
Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Sister systems | Jawi script |
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. |
The word Pegon originated from the Javanese word pégo, which means "deviate", due to the practice of writing the Javanese language with Arabic script, which was considered unconventional by Javanese people.[1]
One of the earliest dated examples of the usage of Pegon may be Masa'il al-ta'lim, a work on Islamic law written in Arabic with interlinear translation and marginal commentary in Javanese. The manuscript is dated 1623 and written on dluwang, a paper made from the bark of the mulberry-simillar tree.[5]
Pegon uses the original letters of the Arabic script plus an additional seven letters to represent native Javanese sounds not present in Arabic: ca (⟨چ⟩ /t͡ʃ/), dha (⟨ڎ⟩ /ɖ/), tha (⟨ڟ⟩ /ʈ/), nga (⟨ڠ⟩ /ŋ/), pa (⟨ڤ⟩ /p/), ga (⟨ڮ⟩ /g/), and nya (⟨ۑ⟩ /ɲ/). One additional letter is used in foreign loanwords: va (⟨ۏ⟩ /v/). These new letters are formed by the addition of dots to base letter forms. Pegon is not standardised and variation can be seen in how these additional letters are represented, most commonly in the position of the dots (above or below) and the number of dots (one or three).[6]
Name | Forms | Sound represented | Latin equivalent | Hanacaraka Equivalent | Notes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial | |||||
alif الف |
ا | ـا | /a, ɔ/ and /ə/ | a (å), ê (e pepet) | ꦄ / ꦲ / ꦄꦼ a / (h)a / ê |
|||
ba باء |
ب | ـب | ـبـ | بـ | /b/ | b | ꦧ ba |
|
ta تاء |
ت | ـت | ـتـ | تـ | /t/ | t | ꦠ ta |
|
sa ثاء |
ث | ـث | ـثـ | ثـ | /s/ | s | ꦱ꦳ tsa |
Mainly used in Arabic loanwords |
jim جيم |
ج | ـج | ـجـ | جـ | /d͡ʒ/ | j | ꦗ ja |
|
ca چا |
چ | ـچ | ـچـ | چـ | /t͡ʃ/ | c | ꦕ ca |
Additional letter not present in Arabic |
ha حاء |
ح | ـح | ـحـ | حـ | /h/ | h | ꦲ꦳ ha |
Mainly used in Arabic loanwords |
kha خاء |
خ | ـخ | ـخـ | خـ | /x/ | kh | ꦏ꦳ kha |
Mainly used in Arabic loanwords |
dal دال |
د | ـد | /d/ | d | ꦢ da |
|||
zal ذال |
ذ | ـذ | /z/ | z | ꦢ꦳ dza |
Mainly used in Arabic loanwords | ||
dha ڎا |
ڎ | ـڎ | /ɖ/ | dh | ꦝ dha |
Additional letter not present in Arabic May also be represented by ڊ or ࢮ | ||
ra راء |
ر | ـر | /r/ | r | ꦫ ra |
|||
zai زاي |
ز | ـز | /z/ | z | ꦗ꦳ za |
Mainly used in Arabic and other foreign loanwords | ||
sin سين |
س | ـس | ـسـ | سـ | /s/ | s | ꦱ sa |
|
syin شين |
ش | ـش | ـشـ | شـ | /ʃ/ | sy | ꦯ꦳ / ꦱ꦳ sya |
Mainly used in Arabic and other foreign loanwords |
sad صاد |
ص | ـص | ـصـ | صـ | /s/ | s | ꦰ꦳ sha |
Mainly used in Arabic loanwords |
dad ضاد |
ض | ـض | ـضـ | ضـ | /d/ | d | ꦝ꦳ dla |
Mainly used in Arabic loanwords |
ta طاء |
ط | ـط | ـطـ | طـ | /t/ | t | ꦛ꦳ tha |
Mainly used in Arabic loanwords |
tha ڟا |
ڟ | ـڟ | ـڟـ | ڟـ | /ʈ/ | th | ꦛ tha |
Additional letter not present in Arabic May also be represented by ࢋ and ࢌ |
za ظاء |
ظ | ـظ | ـظـ | ظـ | /z/ | z | ꦘ꦳ zha |
Mainly used in Arabic loanwords |
ain عين |
ع | ـع | ـعـ | عـ | /ʔ/ | a, i, u and -k | ꦔ꦳ 'a |
Mainly used in Arabic loanwords |
ghain غين |
غ | ـغ | ـغـ | غـ | /ɣ/ | gh | ꦒ꦳ gha |
Mainly used in Arabic loanwords |
nga ڠا |
ڠ | ـڠ | ـڠـ | ڠـ | /ŋ/ | ng | ꦔ nga |
Additional letter not present in Arabic |
fa فاء |
ف | ـف | ـفـ | فـ | /f/ | f | ꦥ꦳ fa |
Mainly used in Arabic and other foreign loanwords |
pa ڤا |
ڤ | ـڤ | ـڤـ | ڤـ | /p/ | p | ꦥ pa |
Additional letter not present in Arabic |
qaf قاف |
ق | ـق | ـقـ | قـ | /q/ | q | ꦐ qa |
Mainly used in Arabic loanwords |
kaf كاف |
ك | ـك | ـكـ | كـ | /k/ and /ʔ/ | k | ꦏ ka |
|
ga ڮا |
ڮ | ـڮ | ـڮـ | ڮـ | /ɡ/ | g | ꦒ ga |
Additional letter not present in Arabic May also be represented by ࢴ |
lam لام |
ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ | /l/ | l | ꦭ la |
|
mim ميم |
م | ـم | ـمـ | مـ | /m/ | m | ꦩ ma |
|
nun نون |
ن | ـن | ـنـ | نـ | /n/ | n | ꦤ na |
|
nya ۑا |
ۑ | ـۑ | ـۑـ | ۑـ | /ɲ/ | ny | ꦚ nya |
Additional letter not present in Arabic |
wau واو |
و | ـو | /w/ and /u, o, ɔ/ | w and u, o | ꦮ / ꦈ / ꦎ wa / u / o |
|||
va ۏا |
ۏ | ـۏ | /v/ | v | ꦮ꦳ va |
Additional letter not present in Arabic Mainly used in foreign loanwords | ||
ha هاء |
ه | ـه | ـهـ | هـ | /h/ | h | ꦲ ha |
|
hamzah همزة |
ء | /ʔ/ | ∅ | ∅ | ||||
ya ياء |
ي | ـي | ـيـ | يـ | /j/ and /i, e, ɛ/ | y and i, é (e taling) | ꦪ / ꦆ / ꦌ ya / i / é |
Diacritic marks (harakat) are used in Pegon to represent vowel sounds or in some cases a lack thereof. Their prevalence in Pegon text varies from marking every letter, to being present only to differentiate particular vowel sounds. Full marking of letters is common in Islamic religious texts as it is reminiscent of the use of tashkil for guiding pronunciation when reading the Qur'an. Pegon text with minimal marking is increasingly common as the base letters often indicate the underlying vowel which renders the diacritics unnecessary, in this case only fathah and maddah are used to differentiate distinct vowel sounds. A version of the script which uses no diacritics at all, similar to Jawi, is known as Gundhul (ڮونڎول; ꦒꦸꦤ꧀ꦝꦸꦭ꧀) meaning "bare/bald" in Javanese.
Vowel | Name | Isolated | Examples | Sound represented | Latin equivalent | Hanacaraka Equivalent | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vowel initial | Dependant vowel | Consonant cluster | |||||||
a | alif / fathah الف / فتحة |
ـا / ◌َ | أ a / å |
كا ka / kå |
كرا kra / krå |
/a/ or /ɔ/ | a / (å) | ꦄ / (ꦏ) a / (h)a |
In the prestige dialect of Surakarta, ⟨a⟩ is pronounced [ɔ] in word-final open syllables, and in any open penultimate syllable before such an [ɔ]. This may be represented by ⟨å⟩. e.g. Surabaya سورابايا Central Javanese: Suråbåyå /surɔbɔjɔ/ Indonesian: Surabaya /surabaja/ |
كلا kla / klå | |||||||||
i | ya / kasrah ياء / كسرة |
ـي / ◌ِ | إ i |
كي ki |
كري kri |
/i/ | i | ꦆ / (ꦶ) i / (wulu) |
|
كلي kli | |||||||||
u | wau / dammah واو / ضمة |
ـو / ◌ُ | أو u |
كو ku |
كرو kru |
/u/ | u | ꦈ / (ꦸ) u / (suku) |
|
كلو klu | |||||||||
é | fathah + ya فتحة + ياء |
◌َـي | إي é |
كَي ké |
كرَي kré |
/e/ or /ɛ/ | é (e taling) | ꦌ / (ꦺ) é / (taling) |
|
كلَي klé | |||||||||
o | fathah + wau فتحة + واو |
◌َـو | او o |
كَو ko |
كرَو kro |
/o/ or /ɔ/ | o | ꦎ / (ꦺꦴ) o / (taling-tarung) |
|
كلَو klo | |||||||||
ê | maddah مدة |
◌ٓ | آ ê |
كٓ kê |
كرٓ krê |
/ə/ | ê (e pepet) | ꦄꦼ / (ꦼ) ê / (pepet) |
|
كلٓ klê |
The main difference between Jawi and Pegon is that the latter is almost always written with vowel diacritics. Javanese written without any vowel diacritics, similar to Jawi is called Gundhul (ڮونڎول; ꦒꦸꦤ꧀ꦝꦸꦭ꧀), meaning "bare/bald" in Javanese.[citation needed] The orthographic rules of Jawi and Pegon differ, with Jawi spelling being much more standardised than Pegon. Pegon tends to write all vowel sounds of native words explicitly, either with full letters or diacritics, whereas Jawi orthography sometimes omits alif in certain positions where an /a/ would be pronounced, similarly other vowel sounds may not be written explicitly.
For those additional letters representing sounds not present in Arabic, some letters have the same appearance in both Jawi and Pegon, while others differ. Pegon also features two additional letters for sounds native to Javanese which are not present in Malay. Also the form of kaf used differs between the two varieties with Pegon using the Arabic form, while Jawi uses the Persian form.
Name | Pegon | Jawi | Sound represented | Latin/Rumi Equivalent |
---|---|---|---|---|
cha | چ | /t͡ʃ/ | c | |
چـ ـچـ ـچ | ||||
dha | ڎ | ∅ | /ɖ/ | dh |
ـڎ | ||||
tha | ڟ | ∅ | /ʈ/ | th |
ڟـ ـڟـ ـڟ | ||||
nga | ڠ | /ŋ/ | ng | |
ڠـ ـڠـ ـڠ | ||||
pa | ڤ | /p/ | p | |
ڤـ ـڤـ ـڤ | ||||
kaf | ك | ک | /k/ | k |
كـ ـكـ ـك | کـ ـکـ ـک | |||
ga | ڮ | ݢ | /g/ | g |
ڮـ ـڮـ ـڮ | ݢـ ـݢـ ـݢ | |||
nya | ۑ | ڽ | /ɲ/ | ny |
ۑـ ـۑـ ـۑ | ڽـ ـڽـ ـڽ | |||
va | ۏ | /v/ | v | |
ـۏ | ||||
The United States Library of Congress published a romanization standard of Jawi and Pegon in 2012.[7]
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