Pegon script

Pegon script اكسارا ڤَيڮون‎
Babad Diponegoro written in Pegon (manuscript at National Library of Indonesia)
Script type	Abjad
Time period	c. 1300 CE to the present
Direction	Right-to-left
Languages	Javanese Sundanese Madurese
Related scripts
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Nabataean Arabic Pegon script
Sister systems	Jawi script

Pegon (Javanese and Sundanese: اكسارا ڤَيڮون‎, Aksara Pégon; also known as ابجد ڤَيڮون‎, Abjad Pégon, Madurese: أبجاد ڤَيگو, Abjâd Pèghu) 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 and the Old Sundanese script. It was used in a variety of applications, from religion, to diplomacy, to poetry. But today particularly, it is used for religious (Islamic) writing and poetry, particularly in writing commentaries of the Qur'an. Pegon includes letters 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.

In the past few decades, the Indonesian language has grown in its prominence and role as the national language of Indonesia. Thus, publishing institutions associated with religious schools have further developed new teaching material, in order to expand the use of Pegon script to Indonesian language as well. Indonesian language, being a variety of Malay, has also been written by the sister script of Pegon, Jawi.

Etymology

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.

History

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 tree.

Letters

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 standardized 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).

Pegon alphabet

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

Diacritics

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.

• Fathah (◌َ) is sometimes used to represent ⟨a⟩, particularly in religious texts. It is added to the preceding letter to differentiate ⟨é⟩ (e taling) from ⟨i⟩, as is detailed below. It is used in a similar fashion to differentiate ⟨o⟩ from ⟨u⟩.
• Kasrah (◌ِ) is sometimes used to represent ⟨i⟩, particularly in religious texts.
• Dammah (◌ُ) is sometimes used to represent ⟨u⟩, particularly in religious texts.
• Maddah (◌ٓ) is used to represent ⟨ê⟩ (e pepet).
• Sukun (◌ْ) is sometimes used to represent a closed consonant with no vowel following, particularly in religious texts.
• Alif hamzah ( أ ) is used for vowel initial words, as is detailed below.

Vowel Formation

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

Comparison of Pegon and Jawi

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. 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.

Comparison of Pegon and Jawi

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

Transliteration

The United States Library of Congress published a romanization standard of Jawi and Pegon in 2012.

Text samples

The below Islamic quote, in several languages, written in their respective Latin scripts, as well as in Pegon script.

His Majesty the Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of God to all creatures, whatever is told by His Majesty the Prophet Muhammad is the real truth. Therefore all creatures have to corroborate and follow His Majesty the Prophet Muhammad.

Indonesian (bahasa Indonesia)
Latin Script	Pegon Script
Baginda Nabi Muhammad adalah utusan Allah kepada semua makhluk, Apa saja yang diceritakan oleh Baginda Nabi Muhammad adalah kebenaran yang nyata. Maka semua makhluk wajib membenarkan dan mengikuti Baginda Nabi Muhammad.	بڮيندا نبي محمد اداله اوتوسن الله كڤد سموا مخلوق، اڤ ساج يڠ دچريتاكن بڮيندا نبي محمد اداله كبنرن يڠ ۑات. مک سموا مخلوق واجب ممبنركن دان مڠيكوتي بڮيندا نبي محمد.‎
Javanese
Latin Script	Pegon Script
Kanjêng Nabi Muhammad puniku utusanipun Gusti Allah dhatêng sêdåyå makluk, déné punåpå mawon ingkang dipun-criyosakên déning Kanjêng Nabi Muhammad puniku nyåtå-nyåtå lêrês. Pramila sêdåyå makhluk wajib anglêrêsakên lan handhèrèk maring Kanjêng Nabi Muhammad.	كانجڠ نبي محمد ڤونيكو اوتوسانيڤون ؼوستي الله ڎاتڠ سدايا مخلوق، دينَي ڤوناڤا ماوون إڠكڠ ديڤون چريوساكن دَينيڠ كانجڠ نبي محمد ڤونيكو ۑاتا٢ لٓرس. ڤراميلا سدايا مخلوق واجب اڠلٓرساكن لن هانڎيرَيك مريڠ كانجڠ نبي محمد.‎
Madurese language
Latin Script	Pegon Script
Kanjeng Nabi Muhammad panéka otosanépon Ghusté Allah dâ' ka sadhâjâ makhlok, pan-ponapan sé écarétaaghi sareng Kanjeng Nabi Muhammad panéka nyata bhendârâ. Mangka sadhâjâ makhlok wâjib mabhendâr tor nuro' ngèrèng Kanjeng Nabi Muhammad.	كانجڠ نبي محمد ڤانَيكا أوتوسانَيڤَون گوستَي اللّٰه داء كا ساڊاجا مخلَوق، ڤان-ڤوناڤان سَي أيچارَيتأگي سارڠ كانجڠ نبي محمد ڤانَيكا ۑاتا ٻندۤرا. ماڠكا ساڊاجا مخلَوق واجب ماٻندر تَور نورَوء ڠيرَيڠ كانجڠ نبي محمد.‎
Sundanese
Latin Script	Pegon Script
Kanjeng Nabi Muhammad mangrupikeun utusan Gusti Allah ka sadaya makhluk, naon waé anu dicarioskeun ku Kanjeng Nabi Muhammad nyaéta kanyataan anu leres. Janten sadaya makhluk wajib menerkeun sareng nuturkeun Kanjeng Nabi Muhammad.	كانجڠ نبي محمد ماڠروڤيكن اوتوسان ؼوستي الله كا سادايا مخلوق، ناءون واَي انو ديچارييوسكن كو كانجڠ نبي محمد ۑايتا كاۑاتأن انو لۤرس. جانتن سادايا مخلوق واجب منركن سارڠ نوتوركن كانجڠ نبي محمد.‎

Note that in the above examples, there are 5 Arabic Loanwords, which must be written as they would in Arabic. Namely:

• The word Nabi in Latin Script shall be written as نبي in Pegon. It would be incorrect to write نابي.
• The word Muhammad in Latin Script shall be written as محمد in Pegon. It would be incorrect to write موهمماد.
• The word Allah in Latin Script shall be written as الله in Pegon. It would be incorrect to write أللاه.
• The word Makhluk in Latin Script shall be written as مخلوق in Pegon. It would be incorrect to write ماخلوك.
• The word Wajib in Latin Script shall be written as واجب in Pegon. It would be incorrect to write واجيب.

See also

• Jawi alphabet
• Abjad Pegon (in Indonesian)
• Abjad Jawi (in Indonesian)

References

• On Pegon Script for Javanese language: Jamalin, F., & Rahman, A. A. (2021). Arabic-Java Writing System: How Javanese Language Adopts Arabic Script. Izdihar : Journal of Arabic Language Teaching, Linguistics, and Literature, 4(1), 43–58. https://doi.org/10.22219/jiz.v4i1.11337 (PDF) (Archive)
• On Pegon Script for Sundanese language: Apriyanto, Agung, Ruhaliah Nunuy Nurjanah, and Ruhaliah. (2021) "Structure of the Sundanese Language in the Pegon Script". Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (ICOLLITE 2021). https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.211119.006. PDF (Archive)
• Religious book featuring Arabic, with word-by-word Madurese language translation: Syeikh Khalil bin Abdul Latif al-Bankalani al-Maduri (Bangkalan, Madura). (1988) "Al-Matn al-Shareef". https://archive.org/details/SyaikhonaKholil/mode/2up
• Gallop, A. T. (2015). A Jawi sourcebook for the study of Malay palaeography and orthography. Indonesia and the Malay World, 43(125), 13–171.
• Jacquerye, Denis Moyogo (2019). Proposal to encode Javanese and Sundanese Arabic characters (PDF). Unicode.
• Rikza, F. Sh. (2022). Proposal to encode four Pegon characters (PDF). Unicode.
• Poerwadarminta, W.J.S (1939). Bausastra Jawa [Javanese Dictionary] (in Javanese). Batavia: J.B. Wolters. ISBN 0834803496.