Kagangana

Kagangana is an alternative way to write Indonesian, and other regional languages in Indonesia, using Japanese katakana invented by Erlangga Saputra. Its name derived from syllables ka, ga and nga which commonly appear as three first syllables of traditional scripts in Indonesia.

Erlangga Saputra is an Indonesian student who started to learn Japanese in 2017. He expects that this script could be a new style to write Indonesian as an unofficial writing system for Indonesian youngers who are interested in Japanese and especially for both of Indonesians and Japaneses to relate each other.

Notable features

• Type of writing system: syllabary
• Direction of writing: left to right in horizontal lines
• Used to write: Indonesian. Could also be used for Javanese, Sundanese and other languages of Indonesia.

Kagangana syllabary

Notes

• Every consonant in the final of syllable is represented as katakana small -u, -o, or -i form. The exception is available for final -h which is represented by katakana prolonged sound ー but it is pronounced [h]. The gray color on the charts mean there is not used.
• Katakana small ka ヵcan be used for final -k pronounced [ʔ] e.g. rakyat written ラヵヤㇳ or for replacing the former use of apostrof (') like in sa'at written サヵアㇳ.
• Following katakana he ヘ that has a similar form with hiragana he へ, some syllables don't take the katakana form in this adaptation but take the hiragana form instead; the katakana form could be used for another syllable or sound. In this adaptation, hiragana u う represents /u/ then katakana u ウ represent /wu/; hiragana i い represents /i/ then katakana i イ represents /yi/; and hiragana ku く is used for /qu/. Nevertheless, katakana small i and katakana small u are used instead of the hiragana.
• If there is unavailable, katakana wi ヰ and we ヱ may be replaced by wi ウィ and we ウェ respectively. It also may be implemented in katakana vi and katakana ve.
• Diphthongs
  For the diphthong au it can be written as -a kana + ゥ e.g. アゥヂオ (audio) and ハリマゥ (harimau).
  For the diphthong ai it can be written as -a kana + ィ e.g. パㇴタィ(pantai)
  For the diphthong ei it can be written as -e kana + ィ e.g. スㇽヴェィ (survei)
  For the diphthong oi it can be written as -o kana + ィ e.g. アㇺボィ (amboi)
• For /ə/ sound syllables, those are written as -e kana + ゥe.g. セゥナㇰ゚(senang).
• Katakana N ンis used for /n/, /ng/, /ny/, or /m/ sounds, depending on what sounds surround it, in various prefixes: meN- and peN- forms. In the other hand, the use is to emphasize the prefixes instead of using other kanas sound similar. For example, membaca is written メゥンバシ゚ァinstead of メゥㇺバシ゚ァ, pencarian is written ペゥンシ゚ァリアㇴintead of ペゥㇴシ゚ァリアㇴ, but penjara is correctly written ペゥㇴジァラsince the pen- is not a prefix.

More details of Kagangana (PDF)

Sample text

Transliteration

Semua orang dilahirkan merdeka dan mempunyai martabat dan hak-hak yang sama. Mereka dikaruniai akal dan hati nurani dan hendaknya bergaul satu sama lain dalam semangat persaudaraan.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

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