by Made Soma
The island of New Guinea, including both the country Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua, has 15% of all the world's known languages. Papua is home to 307 local languages, but almost everybody speaks Indonesian. For many people, Indonesian is a second language, but in some areas, like Raja Ampat, children learn Indonesian first.
Colloquial Indonesian in Papua is a little different from standard Indonesian. Many Papuans can and do speak standard Indonesian in some circumstances. The paragraphs below describe some of the colloquial differences.
Papuans tend to shorten the standard Indonesian words. For example, punya (have) becomes pu, saya (I/me) becomes sa, kamu (you) becomes ko, sudah (already) becomes su, and tidak (not) becomes tra.
Papuan pronunciation is distinctive. In standard Indonesian, the letter e has two pronunciations: most commonly, the letter e is very short sound as in terima, selamat, and sekolah; less commonly, the e has a stronger sound (written below with a upper case letter) as in sorE, Ejaan, dEsa, and bEcak. In Papua, the e always has the strong pronunciation, so they say tErima, sElamat, sEkolah. Also Papuan pronounces ng as n. So the word "bintang" sounds like "bintan".
Pronouns in the Papuan colloquial are non-standard, as shown in the table below.
| Pronoun | Papuan Colloquial | Standard Indonesian | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | sa | aku, saya | I |
| 2nd person singular | ko | kamu, anda | you |
| 3rd person singular | de/dong | dia, ia | she, he |
| 1st person plural | kitong/kitorang | kami, kita | we |
| 2nd person plural | kamorang | kalian | you |
| 3rd person plural | dorang | mereka | they |
Papuans not only shorten the pronouns, but they also have a different way to express possession. In standard Indonesian, we use suffixes like -nya, -ku, -mu. In Papua, they use the pronoun and pu (for punya). For example for Ibunya sudah pergi (Her mother has already gone), Papuans say De pu mama so pergi. Here are some more examples.
| Standard Indonesian | Papuan Colloquial | English |
|---|---|---|
| bapakku, bapak saya | sa pu bapak | my father |
| bapakmu, bapak anda | ko pu bapak | your father |
| bapaknya | de pu bapak | her father, his father |
| bapak kami, bapak kita | kitorang pu bapak | our father |
| bapak kalian | kamorang pu bapak | your father |
| bapak mereka | dorang pu bapak | their father |
Papuans barely use prefix "me-". Instead they replace it with kasi. For example:
| Standard Indonesian | Papuan Colloquial | English |
|---|---|---|
| mengahabiskan | kasi habis | to finish |
| menutup | kasi tutup | to close |
| membiarkan | kasi biar | to let it be |
| memperpanjang | kasi panjang | to lengthen |
| mengurangi | kasi kurang | to reduce |
There are some words that are only used in Papua. For example:
| Standard Indonesian | Papuan Colloquial | English |
|---|---|---|
| bapak | pace | father/mr/sir |
| ibu | mace | mother/madam/ma'am |
| kakak | kaka | older brother |
| mau | mo | want |
| kakek | tete | grandfather |
| cabai | rica | chili |
| singkong | kasbi | cassava |
Most Papuans understand standard Indonesian perfectly well, but in order to understand Papuan's speech, other Indonesians and foreigners need to know these differences.
Hear some Papuan Colloquial Indonesian:
Made Soma is founder of Jembatan Bahasa, a professional Indonesian language school based in Bali, Indonesia. He has worked as an Indonesian curriculum developer and teacher for many years.
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