maaf email atau password anda salah

December 27, 2016 edition

Word Watch

Jennifer Lindsay*

Sitting at the airport in Bali on my way home from the Ubud Readers and Writers Festival, I had a great conversation with the psychologist and writer Danny Yatim about Indonesian emphasis words. All those dong-deh-nih-sih type words I wrote about in the last column. I find people always love to talk about fine details of Indonesian like these once you start asking interesting questions. And there is always so much to learn.

Danny showed how the meaning of 'yes' changes when you combine it with one of the five main Jakarta particles or insert words. Of course, also you have to factor in intonation, which is an important aspect of using these words. Firstly, the most emphatically positive, 'ya, dong!' meaning, 'yes of course', 'sure!' Then there is 'ya dh', said in a low tone, which emphasizes agreement, also meaning 'of course', but has the nuance of 'well, yes, if you insist', or 'yes, okay then'. If you add 'sih' to make 'ya sih', it conveys 'yes, on second thoughts I agree' or 'yes, I suppose you are right'. You are agreeing with someone, but rather weakly. If you add 'ah' to make 'ya'ah', then the speaker's discomfort and hesitancy is clearer still. 'Ya'ah' is 'yes, alright (if you say so)'. So those four different emphasis words express different levels of comfort in affirmation. And then there is the particle 'kan' which is used to make 'ya, kan?' which means 'you see'? and when that 'kan' is drawn out with a rising tone, 'ya, kaaan?' it means 'I told you so!'

Read More

Other Editions Of The Magazine

  • December 23, 2024

  • December 16, 2024

  • December 9, 2024

  • December 2, 2024

  • November 25, 2024

  • November 18, 2024

Independent journalism needs public support. By subscribing to Tempo, you will contribute to our ongoing efforts to produce accurate, in-depth and reliable information. We believe that you and everyone else can make all the right decisions if you receive correct and complete information. For this reason, since its establishment on March 6, 1971, Tempo has been and will always be committed to hard-hitting investigative journalism. For the public and the Republic.

Login Subscribe