Words by Susiyanti Rusyan
Basa
Cerbon or Cirebon language or Cirebonese is often being questioned by people
who are not the residents of that city. They often feel confused whether basa
Cerbon is belonging to Sundanese or Javanese. Well, before we are talking more
about basa Cerbon, here are some information about Cirebon that you’d better to
know.
Cirebon
is located in the province of West Java, Indonesia. Cirebon is derived from the
Sundanese word of “Ci” which means
water and “Rebon” which means
shrimps. In other words Cirebon means the place where the main fishery’s
production is shrimps.
Cirebon has so many cultures
and arts. Two of the most famous arts in Cirebon are Batik (the matterial for dresses with some traditional pattern) and
Tari Topeng Cirebon or Cirebon mask
dance. The most popular Batik in
Cirebon is Batik Mega Mendung which
has the unique pattern that shows the life of the coastal society in Cirebon
while Tari Topeng Cirebon is the
traditional dance from Cirebon where the dancers use masks when dancing. There
is a lot of variety of Cirebon masks dance with the different stories in every
masks. The name of dancing depends to the dance style and the stories behind
the mask that is going to be shown by the dancer. If you are going to know more
about Cirebon, just come to this place and see the wonderful of the city.
Well, let’s back to the topic.
Many people think that the society of
Cirebon use Sundanese as
their regional language because Cirebon is located in the province of West
Java, Indonesia. In the other side,
some people
think that the society of Cirebon speaks in Javanese because the location of
Cirebon is near the provincial border with Central Java. The fact says that the society of Cirebon use basa
Cerbon as their regional language to communicate between each others in their
daily conversation. Basa Cerbon is not including
to Sundanese although it is located in West
Java. It is also not a part of Javanese
although the location of Cirebon is near the
provincial border with Central Java. How
come?
Based on the history that was written by Untung Rahardjo in his book ”Kesusastraan
Cirebon dalam Periodisasi Kuna, Tengahan, Baru dan Modern” (The Development
of The Literature of Cirebon), Cirebon used to be the trade centre of Javanese
north coastal region. It was a territory of kingdom Galuh Sunda Pakuan, but it
didn’t make Cirebon has the same culture and art just like the territory where
Cirebon was located in. Cirebon was the open region which easily received some
new values from other regions, so that there created a community which was
heterogeneity in every social elements. Such as culture and art, including the
language that are used by the society until present. It is because the
characteristic of the residents who always open to something new which was
brought by the transients. It has been bequeathed to the generation of Cirebon
continually. The authority of that time could tolerate it because they knew
that it was one of the cultural socio effect in the development of a port city.
Raharjo wrote that basa Cerbon
was devided into two parts; basa Cerbon that was used by the society and keraton (the kingdom) society.
Basa Cerbon that was used by
the society was an intercourse language. It was an interference between the
original language of Cirebon with the language that was used by the transients
who travelled to Cirebon. It is because Cirebon used to be the destination of
the travellers from many regions whether they wanted to deal something or
crossed only. Raharjo added that the original language of Cirebon is Sunda Kuno ( Old Sundanese) that was
used by the society of keraton.
Not much different from Raharjo,
through the interview, Dedi Supriyadi -- Cirebon regency’s Deputy of Culture
Field at Department of Culture, Tourism, Sports, and Youth, says that basa
Cerbon is a new product of language that Indonesias has. It is not belonging to
Sundanese or Javanese, but it is an independent language.
Cerbon was descended from the
word “Caruban” which means “mixed”.
As what Raharjo has written, Supriyadi added that Basa Cerbon is a language
that was produced from the interference more than one language.
However, Supriyadi has the
different ideas about the history of Basa Cerbon. He says that in the days of
yore the original residents of “Sunda” lived in Gunung Ciremai or mount Ciremai. Of course they speak in old
Sundanese or more precisely called by Bahasa
Sunda Buhun. Cirebon is a port city, then many people from other regions
were coming to do their business. The meeting of the two language created the
new language called Basa Cerbon.
Basa Cerbon nowdays (Modern
Basa Cerbon) is devided into two parts. The first is Basa Bebasan which is a
language that is used by people to speak with the older ones or to the
important people or the people who have the important position in Cirebon.
Bebasan is also used by the society in Keraton that still exist today. The
second is Basa Bagongan which is used by people to speak with the people who
have the same age with the speakers. However, today Basa Bagongan is commonly
used by most Cirebon’s residents, not only for the same age speakers but also
for all Cirebon’s society.
Dialects are the evidence of
the language mixed. Here are the main dialects of Basa Cerbon:
a. The dialect of
Cirebon. It is the original dialect of Basa Cerbon ( Basa Bagongan). In this
dialect, people always use the word “Jeh” in every the last of the sentences
when they speak.
b.
The dialect of
Indramayu. People of Indramayu usually use the word “mah” in their sentences
when they speak.
c. Brebes. This place
is near the border of central Java, so that the dialect that is used by the
people who live here has the similiarity with the language of the regional of
Central Java. People in here usually add the word “kue” in their sentences.
d. Kuningan. In this
place people speak in Sundanese but it is not the same with Sundanese in the West
Java because it has mixed with Basa Cirebon.
Well, that’s all about Basa Cerbon. Now you should not be confused again
with the status of that language. You can share about this to your friends when
you are talking about Cirebon.
Sources:
1.
Untung Raharjo’s
“Kesusastraan Cirebon dalam Periodisasi Kuna, Baru dan Modern”.
2. Through the
Interview process at June 14, 2012, the information of Basa Cerbon’s History
and Details by Dedi Supriyadi -- Cirebon regency’s Deputy of Culture Field at
Department of Culture, Tourism, Sports, and Youth.