Language is one of the most fundamental aspects of human identity. The more than 700 languages spoken around the world have unique characteristics that reflect the culture, history and way of thinking of the people who speak them. Here are some examples of the uniqueness of languages from several countries around the world: 

Indonesian

Indonesian is unique in terms of pronunciation and word formation. Almost all words in Indonesian are alphabetized, so this uniqueness can make it easier for foreign speakers to learn and understand pronunciation. In addition, some words in Indonesian are able to experience vocabulary development with affixes, where a basic word can produce various forms of sentences and phrases. For example, the word 'baca' can change into a verb to 'read' with the affix 'mem-' and a noun to 'bacaan' with the affix 'an' at the end of the word. 

Mandarin 

Mandarin is famous for its tonal system used to differentiate the meaning of words. For example, the word 'ma' can mean; 'mother', 'horse', or 'scold', depending on the tone used. Mandarin has four tones, including; high tone (ū), rising tone (ú), falling tone (ǔ), and falling tone (ù). So the word 'ma' can mean 'mother' (mā), 'horse' (mǎ), or 'scold' (mà). This kind of uniqueness is what makes Mandarin different from other languages whose phonological systems only change the meaning without changing the meaning of the word. 

Japanese 

Japanese has a complex honorific system, where the use of words and expressions depends on the social relationship between speaker and listener. For example, there are formal and informal forms of language used in different situations, reflecting Japanese cultural values that highly value manners and social hierarchy.

Arabic language 

Arabic is a language rich with dialectal variations and vocabulary. One of the uniquenesses of the language is its root consonant system, where most words are built from three basic consonants that can be combined with various vowels to produce different meanings. For example ك ت ب can be formed into كَتَبَ (write), كَاتِبٌ (writer) and كِتَابٌ (book). 

Those are some of the uniqueness that has been summarized by the author, there are many more uniqueness of languages from various countries that the author has not mentioned. By understanding and knowing the uniqueness of these languages, it can make us more appreciative of the cultural wealth around us and preserve language heritage for future generations.

(Alfina Ika Arianti, Student of Tarjamah Study Program, Faculty of Adab and Humanities UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta)

This article has been published on Online Media kumparan.com on October 20, 2024 at 13.55 WIB