---
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type: Profile
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title: Indonesian
description: Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the standardized Malay variety unifying the Indonesian archipelago. As a second language for most citizens, it functions as a classic successful national lingua franca with relatively simple morphology.
llms_summary: "Indonesian. (Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia). Profile. Grammatical Typology SVO, Analytic. L1 Native Speakers 43 M. Language Family Austronesian / Malayo-Polynesian / Malayic. Language Vitality Index 9 scale. Number of Countries 1 countries. Standard Script Latin (Indonesian alphabet). Total Speakers 200 M. UNESCO Risk Category Safe. Web Domain Share (%) 10% %. Linguistics & Culture. Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the standardized Malay variety unifying the Indonesian archipelago. As a second language for most citizens, it functions as a classic successful national lingua franca with relatively simple morphology.  canonical profile on Chrisyst Datasets"
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indexed_at: "2026-07-16T13:15:13.715Z"
license: citation-free
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    slug: indonesian
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---
# Indonesian

Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the standardized Malay variety unifying the Indonesian archipelago. As a second language for most citizens, it functions as a classic successful national lingua franca with relatively simple morphology.

## Record

- **Title**: [Indonesian](https://datasets.chrisyst.com/indonesian/index.md)
- **Geo target**: Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia
- **Website**: https://badanbahasa.kemdikbud.go.id/
- **Address**: Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia
- **Coordinates**: -6.2088, 106.8456

### Summary

Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the standardized Malay variety unifying the Indonesian archipelago. As a second language for most citizens, it functions as a classic successful national lingua franca with relatively simple morphology.

### Description

## Historical Evolution
Malay trade pidgins and literary Low Malay preceded Dutch colonial Riau-Lingga prestige norms. Youth Congress pledges (1928) and independence (1945) elevated Bahasa Indonesia as a unifying national language over hundreds of local languages. Modern standardization via the Badan Bahasa shapes education, media, and administration.

## Phonology
Indonesian has a five-vowel system and simple syllable structure (C)(C)V(C). Stress typically falls on the penultimate syllable. Loanwords adapt orthography to Malay phonotactics, avoiding consonant clusters alien to Austronesian patterns.

## Syntax
Indonesian is SVO with no inflectional tense; aspect and time rely on adverbs and auxiliables (sudah, sedang, akan). Passive voice uses di- prefixation; reduplication marks plurality or approximation. Pronouns encode social distance (saya vs aku, Anda vs kamu).

### Attributes

- **Grammatical Typology**: SVO, Analytic
- **L1 Native Speakers**: 43 M _(quality 43)_
- **Language Family**: Austronesian / Malayo-Polynesian / Malayic
- **Language Vitality Index**: 9 scale _(quality 9)_
- **Number of Countries**: 1 countries _(quality 1)_
- **Standard Script**: Latin (Indonesian alphabet)
- **Total Speakers**: 200 M _(quality 200)_
- **UNESCO Risk Category**: Safe
- **Web Domain Share (%)**: 10% % _(quality 0)_