Indonesian orthography
spelling system currently used for the Indonesian language
Indonesian orthography refers to the official spelling system used in the Indonesian language. The current system uses the Latin script and is called Ejaan yang Disempurnakan (EYD), commonly translated as Enhanced Spelling, Perfected Spelling or Improved Spelling.
History
The Perfected Spelling system is a system of orthography released in 1972 to replace the existing Republican Spelling System (RSS, also called the Soewandi Spelling System, SSS). A joint initiative of Indonesia and neighbouring country Malaysia (which also introduced the similar Joint Rumi Spelling system), the aim of the change in 1972 was to introduce greater harmonisation of the Indonesian and Malay-language orthographies. The new EYD system, adopted on the 27th anniversary of Indonesia's independence on 17 August 1972, was decreed by President Suharto the previous day. Government departments were instructed to begin using the EYD system on 1 January 1973. On 27 August 1975, the Minister of Education and Culture issued a decree which provided a detailed explanation of the changes in the new system and marked the official use of the EYD system. It was formerly known as the Indonesian Spelling System (Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia, EBI), often referred to as the Indonesian Spelling System General Guidelines (Pedoman Umum Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia, PUEBI), between 2015 and 2022.
Characteristics
Republican-to-EYD letter changes
Foreign loan letters
Letters that had previously been included in the Republican Spelling as foreign loan letters are officially used in the EYD Spelling.
Q and X
The letters Q and X are used in scientific subjects, for example, sinar-X (X-ray).
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This entry incorporates text from “Indonesian orthography” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.