Language change in Indonesian

Language is a systematic tool for every sophisticated living being to consciously communicate with their interlocutors. Language, not only comprised in written or spoken forms, but can also be recognized in muscle movements, facial expressions, or even silence. During the progression of mankind, language undergoes ages of adaptations, alterations, modernizations, and so forth, creating an unending series of changes.

Indonesian Language Changes

Indonesia is one of the most diverse countries in terms of language. Consisting of 279.390.258 inhabitants by survey in 2024, with 715 different traditional languages. Many Indonesian words were adapted from both foreign and traditional words. It occurs also due to differences in Indonesia's regional dialects, along the fact, that colonialism had brought significant influence in the language, resulting in numerous types of changes. Deriving from Malay language as lingua franca, Indonesian language started its first development in the 28 October 1928. Since then, Intergenerational communication has created continuing development in many aspects of the language.

Examples

Spelling Change

There are numerous variety of Indonesian language spelling guidelines that set the standard for correct spelling. The most popular that are still in use today would be "PUEBI" (Pedoman Umum Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia). PUEBI was made official in 2015, replacing the former "EYD" (Ejaan yang Disempurnakan) that was made official in 1972-2015. The list goes on until the first spelling guideline from prof. Charles van Ophuijsen in 1901.

Ali (1998), shows us list of spelling change sample:

Ophuysen 1901	Soewandi 1947
Pende'	Pendek
Tida'	Tidak
Boekoe	Buku
'Adil	Adil

Other Instances are:

Ophuysen 1901	LBK
sj	sy
j	y
tj	c
e, é	e
dj	j

Semantic Change

Throughout Generations, the Indonesian language undergoes processes of cultural assimilation. This resulted changes in word meaning from both formal and informal form of speeches and written texts. Chaer (2003) asserted, that changes of meaning may also happen due to the development of science and technology, social interactions, differences of fields and perspectives, grammatical factors, and so forth. Examples of meaning changes will be shown in this following tables:

Word	Old Meaning (KUBI 1984)	New Meaning (KBBI 2008)
Nona	a term for a young girl or an unmarried woman (usually for foreigners)	a term for married woman ; a wife
Putri	the daughter of a king or the wife of a king	a biological daughter
Pembantu	a helper - a person who helped the writing of a newspaper	a housemaid (female)
Kacung	a little boy - a newspaper boy	a servant - an errand boy
Pembela	a person who defends	law expert appointed in defense of the defendant in a court hearing - a lawyer

Examples of meaning change in the informal form:

Word	Original Meaning	New Meaning
Garing	Something that are crispy, which usually found in foods	Certain acts or jokes that are not funny
Pecah	Objects that scattered beyond repair	Expression which happens when a party and/or event goes fun and wild
Cabai/cabe	A Chili	Young girls with an unusually open lifestyle
Receh	Small valued money, usually refers to coins or pennies	A Person, who easily laugh at cheap kind of jokes
Setan	Unholy spirits, sometimes also referred to ghosts	Name calling as a result of expression of hate towards someone

Slang

Some may encounter alterations, such as normal words and abbreviations that became slang.