When learning some of the Austronesian languages, I cannot help but to notice the different patterns of speech that are used when talking to friends and family compared to the speech that is used when talking to people of greater seniority or higher social hierarchy. My observation first started with Bahasa Melayu, taking notice to not only the different personal pronouns used to address ‘you’ and ‘I’, for instance, but also the different honorific titles given to some people, like Tuan and Datuk.

Upon further reading, it appears that the Austronesian languages of the Malayan Peninsula, the Indonesian Archipelago, and some regions of the South Pacific have some form of distinction between formal and informal speech, which will affect sounds and words used to refer to certain things, or when addressing someone. And so today, I want to talk about some of the notable examples of such speech registers in the Austronesian languages, particularly in the languages which I have been learning over the years. These sections have mainly incorporated notes I have personally made on the respective languages during my learning journeys, but I will also link so additional resources in Further Reading.

Bahasa Melayu / Bahasa Indonesia

Malay and Indonesian are notable for having a wide array of personal pronouns. In Malay, you might be familiar with pronouns like anda, engkau, kau, and kamu, used to refer to ‘you’. Similarly, you would also be familiar with the pronouns for ‘I’, saya and aku. These different pronouns are used in different registers of speech, with aku, kamu, and (eng)kau generally used in more informal contexts, and saya and anda being used in formal ones.

But the pronoun system extends far beyond this. Hokkien influence has also introduced a couple of pronouns to Malay and Indonesian, and in some Malaysian states, regional variants of pronouns may exist as well. This creates a rich inventory of pronouns that speakers of Malay and Indonesian use, distinguishing them by how formal the situation is, or who the speaker is addressing. Interestingly, the formal ‘I’, saya, is derived from the Sanskrit sahaya, which means ‘servant’ or ‘slave’. It seems that earlier on in the history of the Malay language, subjects used to refer to themselves as sahaya when talking to a member of royalty or high social status, like the king. This later contracted to saya, although sahaya still exists as a more archaic form of a pronoun.

From my experience in learning and using the Malay language, this is what the order of the pronouns for ‘you’ is in Malay, from most formal (tuanku, lit. my lord, for royalty), to least formal:

Tuanku / Tuan aku > saudara / saudari > encik/cik > pakcik / makcik > anda > awak > kamu > engkau / kau / hang > lu

And here is the order of pronouns for ‘I’ in Malay:

saya > aku > gua

There are also different pronouns used to refer to the third person as well. While most of us use dia and ia to refer to the third person, the formal term beliau is used to refer to people of higher social status, and the regal term, baginda, is used to refer to royalty and religious prophets. Similarly, there are two registers used to refer to the plural third person, ‘they’. These are dia orang / diorang in informal contexts, and mereka in more formal ones. You might also see mereka /orang itu in writing as well, which tend to use formal Malay.

In addition to the wide array of pronouns that distinguish between registers and referred or addressed people, Malay also has a wide variety of titles and honorifics given to certain distinguished people, from members of royalty, and more recently, recipients of prestigious awards or accreditations. Royal terms like Raja, Tunku, Permata, and Pengiran may still be used in Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam to this day, and even the term Wan may be given to child of a mother from a royal family who married a commoner in certain parts of Malaysia.

But perhaps the more iconic titles we see in news are federal titles like Tun, Tan Sri, Datuk, and Dato. While some of these used to be given to certain members of nobility, today, these titles are granted by the King of Malaysia, or Yang di-Pertuan Agong to award nominees nominated by the Malaysian government. Unlike the titles mentioned previously, these ones are not hereditary. Some of the notable examples include the former professional badminton player Yang Berbahagia Datuk Lee Chong Wei.

Javanese (Basa Jawa)

To get a grasp of how extensive a speech register system can get, we would have to focus onto the island of Java in Indonesia, where there are around 68 million native speakers of the Javanese language. This language is perhaps notable for having among most extensive speech register systems amongst the Austronesian languages, which makes it possible for situations in which one person speaks to another of a lower social rank with one form of vocabulary in a speech register, while getting a response in a potentially entirely different form of vocabulary in another speech register. The usage of these registers essentially compounds the difficulty in mastering the Javanese language, as one would also need to understand how Javanese society is structured.

There are two or three different kinds of registers used in Javanese, which is pretty typical of Austronesian languages. These are the Ngoko, which is essentially informal or colloquial speech, the Madya, a register intermediate between informal and formal usually used when a person’s social status in Javanese society is unclear, and Krama, which is formal or polite speech. Within these registers, Ngoko and Krama can be split into typical Ngoko and Krama, and Ngoko alus and Krama alus respectively. This alus variant is a more formal version of each register, typically used in addressing elders, for instance, and would typically affect nouns, pronouns, and verbs of the Javanese language. To summarise this, here is a table, ordered from most formal at the top, and the least formal at the bottom:

Register	Situations	Vocabulary
Krama alus	Formal, addressing elders, unfamiliar people older than speaker, formal events such as weddings and funerals	Nouns, pronouns, verbs – Krama Inggil (referring to self) Krama Andhap (referring to others) Krama if no equivalent available Other words – Krama
Krama	Formal, addressing people of same age, used when subordinates address their superiors, public speeches and announcements	Krama
Madya	Strangers whose age, social status are unclear	Mixed
Ngoko alus	Everyday speech, family members older than speaker (parents), strangers of similar age	Nouns, pronouns, verbs – Krama Inggil (referring to self) Krama Andhap (referring to others) Ngoko if no equivalent available Other words – Ngoko
Ngoko	Everyday speech, family members younger than speaker, friends	Ngoko

This gives us up to 4 different forms of a Javanese word depending on the register used. For example, the word ‘to ask’ may be translated as takon in Ngoko, but also taken in Krama, mundhut priska in Krama Inggil, and nyuwun priksa in Krama Andhap. Despite all of these variants though, the grammar, fortunately, remains identical.

Pronouns remain a rather extensive class of words in Javanese, although the language does not seem to distinguish by number here. And so, sometimes you would see the same pronoun used to refer to ‘I’ and the exclusive ‘we’. And perhaps more often, one would also encounter a referred person’s title being used in place of pronouns. Nevertheless, I was acquainted with some of the basic pronouns one would expect to encounter when starting out in the language:

• I, exclusive we – aku (Ngoko), kula (Krama), dalem (Krama Inggil, Krama Andhap)
• Inclusive we – kita (Ngoko)
• You – kowé (Ngoko), samang (Madya), sampéyan (Krama), panjenengan (Krama Inggil, Krama Andhap)
• He, she, it, they – dhèwèké (Ngoko), piyambakipun (Krama), panjenengané / panjenenganipun (Krama Inggil, Krama Andhap)

So, what happens when a subordinate and a superior talk to each other? There would be a mix of vocabulary involved, as the subordinate would use honorific expressions to show respect, while the superior may choose to express their superiority when speaking to their subordinate, or not. Refer below for a question a subordinate might ask a superior, and the various replies:

• Bapak kersa dhahar? (Do you want to eat?, honorific)
• Iya, aku kersa dhahar. (Yes, I want to eat, expressing superiority)
• Iya, aku arep mangan. (Yes, I want to eat, not expressing superiority)
• Inggih, kula badhe nedha (Yes, I want to eat, same status)

These distinctions in words also apply to word classes such as numbers, which may differ for some numbers, but not for others. Some Ngoko register numbers may also seem to be contractions of Krama register numbers as well. Have a look at the following table for some Ngoko and Krama numbers:

English	Ngoko	Krama	English	Ngoko	Krama
one	siji	satunggal	eight	wolu	wolu
two	loro	kalih	nine	sanga	sanga
three	telu	tiga	ten	sapuluh	sadasa
four	papat	sakawan	eleven	sewelas	satunggal welas
five	lima	gangsal	twenty	rong puluh	kalih dasa
six	enem	enem	hundred	satus	satunggal atus
seven	pitu	pitu	thousand	sèwu	satunggal èwu

And to complicate this even further, the Javanese language has different dialects in places like Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Malang, and Banyuwangi, which apply different regional vocabulary for these speech registers as well. However, there is a standardised form based on the dialects spoken in Yogyakarta and Solo, and when one learns Javanese, they would typically be learning Modern Standard Javanese. Thus, there are several factors one should consider when speaking Javanese to another person, such as the social class of the speaker and listener in Javanese society, the context which the speaker is in, and the region where the speaker and listener are.

There are some concerns raised over the persistence of this register system in the future of Basa Jawa, as pointed out in a 2019 publication in the journal Language Documentation and Conservation. Here, the author, Jozina Vander Klok, raised the possibility of the erosion of the Krama register over time, but maintaining the strong likelihood of the Ngoko register persisting well into the future of Javanese. This could be attributed to how the Javanese language is taught to younger generations, and perhaps some external influences from languages such as Bahasa Indonesia and English.

Tongan (Lea faka-Tonga)

Like Javanese, some Polynesian languages like Tongan use speech registers to distinguish respect shown to different social classes. Firstly, there is the normal speech that has, well, the words and sounds you would typically encounter on a day-to-day basis. Next there is an honorific language (lea faka ‘eiki) used only when speaking to or addressing chiefs (including your boss), and then there is the honorific language used when addressing the king. This primarily affects the words one uses for these respective contexts, and the same Tongan word may mean different things in different speech registers.

One of the more unusual words affected by this is the word ‘to come’, or ha’u in ordinary speech. This becomes me’a in the honorific speech, and in regal speech, it becomes hāʻele. Somehow the regal speech term actually sounds similar to the word ‘to come’ in some other Polynesian languages, like in te reo Māori’s haera and Samoan’s haele. The word linking two verbs, usually as ‘o, becomes mai pea in honorific and regal speech. Other examples of chiefly and kingly or regal speech terms can be found in the table below:

English	Ordinary Tongan	Honorific	Regal
eat	kai	‘ilo	taumafa
ill	puke	tengetange	pūluhi
cough	tae	tale	malemale
kill	tāmate’i	fakamanuka	feia
see	sio	me’a	tofusi
run	lele	me’a	‘afio
burial place	tanu	fai’angatoka	langi

And in addition to these registers, there are also some words that may have other variants depending on the situation in which they are used. Some variants are used in formal contexts, including addressing elders, and other are more derogative, meant to be used in informal contexts. One of these examples is how one would say please in Tongan. While kātaki is the most common form one would encounter in everyday speech, fakamolemole might be preferred in more formal contexts. The other example is how one would say ‘goodbye’, as more formal contexts would use ‘alu ā / nofo ā, with the former used if the speaker is staying, while the latter is used when the speaker is leaving. Sometimes, me’a ā may also be heard if the speaker is staying. One less formal way of saying goodbye is ‘ofa atu. However, I cannot seem to find evidence for honorific personal pronouns used in Tongan, unlike in languages like Javanese and Malay.

Samoan (Gagana fa’a Sāmoa)

When starting off in learning Samoan, the first things you would be acquainted to in speech registers are the K-style and T-style registers. Briefly put, the informal register used in everyday speech is the K-style speech, while the formal register, used in situations such as public addresses, addressing someone of higher seniority or rank, and reading from printed texts, uses the T-style. Samoan texts are generally printed using the T-style register, but you might find some K-style registers printed in some rare cases.

The reason why these are called the K- and T-styles is, the sounds used in each register actually differ. The Samoan language has 10 consonants, but also not quite. When you look up the phonological inventory of Samoan, you would notice the /k/, /h/, and /r/ sounds in parentheses, indicating that these sounds are only found in loanwords, and for the /k/ sound in particular, it is only found in informal situations.

There are 3 consonants affected in K-style speech, which undergo consonant replacements. As a rule of thumb, the titular /t/ in T-style speech becomes /k/ in K-style speech, while the /n/ (written as ‘n’) and /ŋ/ (written as ‘g’) sounds which are distinguished in T-style speech become merged into /ŋ/ in K-style speech. Additionally, the printed ‘r’ sound is pronounced as /l/ in K-style speech. This makes printed sentences like ” ‘Ou te matamata le tivi” (I watch the TV) become pronounced as “ ‘Ou ke makamaka le kivi” in everyday speech. It is perhaps one of the more unique systems of formal and informal registers, as it affects possibly some of the most commonly encountered sounds in the world’s languages.

In addition to these registers, like Tongan, there are also polite word variants used when addressing or referring to a High Chief, a Talking Chief, and a Tufuga or an artisan or builder. This can affect various kinds of words, from the personal pronoun ‘you’ to verbs like to eat and drink, and even words like house and dog. Some examples are shown below.

English	Everyday Samoan	High Chief speech	Talking Chief speech	Tufuga speech
you	‘oe	lau susuga lau afioga	lau tofā	mataisau agaiotupu
to eat	‘ai	tausami talisua talialo	taumafa
to drink	inu	taute	taumafa
house	fale	māota	laoa	apisā
dog	maile	ta’ifau	‘uli

Speech registers and honorific speech is not particularly unique to languages like these. Some European languages distinguish between the singular you like ‘tu’ and ‘vous’ in French, and ‘du’ and ‘Sie’ in German, while different inflectional forms are used in languages like Korean and Japanese. I think the similarity amongst these languages is the attention paid to distinguishing speech when addressing people of various social hierarchies, and how in some languages, misusing these registers, particularly in using informal registers in situations that necessitates formal ones, would cause great offense. I hope you have learned a thing or two from these introductions, and I will see you in the next one.

Further Reading

Haugen, J. D. & Philips, S. U. (2010) ‘Tongan chiefly language: The formation of an honorific speech register’, Language in Society, 39(5), pp. 589-616.

Klok, J. V. (2019) ‘The Javanese language at risk? Perspectives from an East Java village’, Language Documentation & Conservation.

Rahayu, E. T. (2014) ‘Comparison of honorific language in Javanese and Japanese speech community’, International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature, 2(7), pp. 140-146.

Udasmoro, W., Yuwono, J. S. E. & Firmonasari, A. (2023) ‘The preservation of the Javanese language in the Special Region of Yogyakarta’, The Indonesian Journal of Geography, 55(1), pp. 59–68.