The Makasar Alphabet

Makasar (also spelled Makassar or Macassar) is an Austronesian language ^[1] spoken by approximately 2 million people in South Sulawesi province of Indonesia. The language is primarily associated with the ethnic Makassar people and is spoken mainly in and around the city of Makassar (the provincial capital) and in the regencies of Gowa, Takalar, Jeneponto, and Bantaeng. Makassar is one of the largest cities in eastern Indonesia and serves as an important hub for the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago.

The Makassar Sultanate, established in the early 17th century at the height of its power, was one of the most significant maritime states in Southeast Asia. Makassar traders and sailors established networks that reached across the Indonesian archipelago to the Philippines, Timor, and as far as the northern coast of Australia, where their annual fishing expeditions left a documented historical and cultural mark on Aboriginal communities. The language carries the legacy of this remarkable seafaring and trading heritage.

Modern Makasar uses the Latin alphabet ^[1] with 21 letters for everyday writing. However, Makasar also has its own traditional script called Lontara, which was historically used for correspondence, literature, and record-keeping. The Lontara script is an abugida (alphasyllabary) in which each character represents a consonant with an inherent "a" vowel, and diacritical marks indicate other vowels or a final consonant. The Lontara script was shared between the Makassar and Bugis peoples and was used to record historical chronicles (lontara texts) of great cultural significance.

The Lontara script continues to be taught in South Sulawesi schools as part of cultural heritage education, and it appears in signage, cultural materials, and artistic works. While Latin script has become the standard for everyday practical writing in Makasar, Lontara remains an important symbol of South Sulawesi cultural identity. Lontara manuscripts, some centuries old, are preserved in museums and libraries and represent an invaluable record of South Sulawesi history and literature.

Makasar belongs to the South Sulawesi branch of Austronesian ^[2], which also includes Buginese (Bugis), Toraja-Sa'dan, and several smaller languages of South Sulawesi. Within Austronesian, South Sulawesi languages form part of the Malayo-Polynesian branch. Makasar is most closely related to Buginese, with significant shared vocabulary and grammatical features, though the two are distinct languages with limited mutual intelligibility at the phonological and morphological levels.

Makasar and Buginese together represent the most widely spoken language group in South Sulawesi. The Bugis people (speakers of Buginese) and the Makassar people have historically been closely connected through politics, trade, and culture, while maintaining distinct linguistic and ethnic identities. Both groups were major seafarers and traders, and the Bugis are particularly known for their diaspora communities found across the Indonesian archipelago and in Malaysia, Singapore, and other parts of Southeast Asia.

Lontara is the traditional script of the Makassar and Bugis peoples ^[1] of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is an abugida script in which each character represents a consonant-vowel syllable, with the inherent vowel being "a". Diacritical marks attached to the characters indicate other vowel sounds or the absence of a vowel. The Lontara script was used to write historical chronicles, genealogies, navigation guides, treaties, and literary texts of great cultural and historical importance.

Today, Lontara is taught in schools in South Sulawesi as a regional cultural heritage subject. It appears in street signs, cultural events, official logos, and artistic contexts in Makassar and throughout South Sulawesi. While everyday practical writing in Makasar is done in Latin script, Lontara remains a living symbol of South Sulawesi cultural identity. Academic and cultural organisations work to preserve and promote the script, and digital fonts for Lontara have been developed to support its use in modern digital communication.

Makasar is classified as a vigorous language ^[2] with approximately 2 million speakers. It faces competition from Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia), the national language used in education, media, and official contexts, as well as from Buginese which has a larger speaker community. In urban Makassar, Indonesian and Buginese may be more commonly heard in certain contexts. However, Makasar maintains strong community use, especially in areas where the Makassar ethnic community is dominant.

Makasar is taught in schools in South Sulawesi as a regional language alongside Indonesian. There are publications, radio programmes, and other media in Makasar, and the language is used in ceremonial, cultural, and religious contexts. The South Sulawesi provincial government supports the teaching of regional languages and the Lontara script as part of cultural heritage education. Academic research on Makasar continues to document the language's grammar, vocabulary, and oral literature traditions.