Decline

As literacy and demand for reading materials increased in the beginning of the 20th century, Javanese publishers paradoxically began to decrease the amount of Javanese script publication due to a practical and economic consideration: printing any text in Javanese script at the time required twice the amount of paper compared to the same text rendered in the Latin alphabet, so that Javanese texts were more expensive and time-consuming to produce. In order to lower production costs and keep book prices affordable to the general populace, many publishers (such as the government-owned Balai Pustaka) gradually prioritized publication in the Latin alphabet.^{[21][lower-alpha 3]} However, the Javanese population at the beginning of the 20th century maintained the use of Javanese script in various aspects of everyday life. It was, for example, considered more polite to write a letter using Javanese script, especially one addressed toward an elder or superior. Many publishers, including Balai Pustaka, continued to print books, newspapers, and magazines in Javanese script due to sufficient, albeit declining, demand. The use of Javanese script only started to drop significantly during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies beginning in 1942.^[23] Some writers attribute this sudden decline to prohibitions issued by the Japanese government banning the use of native script in the public sphere, though no documentary evidence of such a ban has yet been found.^{[lower-alpha 4]} Nevertheless, the use of Javanese script did decline significantly during the Japanese occupation and it never recovered its previous widespread use in post-independence Indonesia.

Contemporary use

In contemporary usage, Javanese script is still taught as part of the local curriculum in Yogyakarta, Central Java, and the East Java Province. Several local newspapers and magazines have columns written in Javanese script, and the script can frequently be seen on public signage. However, many contemporary attempts to revive Javanese script are symbolic rather than functional; there are no longer, for example, periodicals like Kajawèn magazine that publish significant content in Javanese script. Most Javanese people today know the existence of the script and recognize a few letters, but it is rare to find someone who can read and write it meaningfully.^[25][26] Therefore, as recently as 2019, it is not uncommon to see Javanese script signage in public places with numerous misspellings and basic mistakes.^[27][28] Several hurdles in revitalizing the use of Javanese script includes information technology equipment that does not support correct rendering of the Javanese script, lack of governing bodies with sufficient competence to consult on its usage, and lack of typographical explorations that may intrigue contemporary viewers. Nevertheless, attempts to revive the script are still being conducted by several communities and public figures who encouraged the use of Javanese script in the public sphere, especially with digital devices.^[29]

Letter

A basic letter in the Javanese script is called an aksara which represents a syllable. Javanese script contains around 45 letters, but not all of them are used equally. Over the course of its development, some letters became obsolete and some are only used in certain contexts. As such, it is common to divide the letters in several groups based on their function.

Wyanjana

The Aksara wyanjana (ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫ ꦮꦾꦚ꧀ꦗꦤ) are consonant letters with an inherent vowel, either /a/ or /ɔ/. As a Brahmi derived script, the Javanese script originally had 33 wyanjana letters to write the 33 consonants that are used in Sanskrit and Kawi. Their forms are as follows:^[30][31]

Aksara Wyanjana (old sequence)

Place of articulation	Pancawalimukha					Semivowel	Sibilant	Fricative
	Unvoiced		Voiced		Nasal
	Unaspirated	Aspirated	Unaspirated	Aspirated
Velar	ꦏ ka	ꦑ kha	ꦒ ga	ꦓ gha	ꦔ ṅa			ꦲ ha/a1
Palatal	ꦕ ca	ꦖ cha	ꦗ ja	ꦙ jha	ꦚ ña	ꦪ ya	ꦯ śa
Retroflex	ꦛ ṭa	ꦜ ṭha	ꦝ ḍa	ꦞ ḍha	ꦟ ṇa	ꦫ ra	ꦰ ṣa
Dental	ꦠ ta	ꦡ tha	ꦢ da	ꦣ dha	ꦤ na	ꦭ la	ꦱ sa
Labial	ꦥ pa	ꦦ pha	ꦧ ba	ꦨ bha	ꦩ ma	ꦮ wa
Notes ^1 may represent /ha/ or /a/ in the Kawi language

Over the course of its development, the modern Javanese language no longer uses all letters in the Sanskrit-Kawi inventory. The modern Javanese script only uses 20 consonants and 20 basic letters known as aksara nglegéna (ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫ ꦔ꧀ꦭꦼꦒꦺꦤ). Some of the remaining letters are repurposed as aksara murda (ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫ ꦩꦸꦂꦢ) which are used for honorific purposes in writing respected names, be it legendary (for example Bima ꦨꦶꦩ) or real (for example Pakubuwana ꦦꦑꦸꦨꦸꦮꦟ).^[32] From the 20 nglegéna basic letters, only 9 have corresponding murda forms. Because of this, the use of murda is not identical to capitalization of proper names in Latin orthography;^[32] if the first syllable of a name does not have a murda form, the second syllable would use murda. If the second syllable also does not have a murda form, the third syllable would use murda, and so on. Highly respected names may be written completely in murda if possible, but in essence, the use of murda is optional and may be inconsistent in traditional texts. For example, the name Gani can be spelled as ꦒꦤꦶ (without murda), ꦓꦤꦶ (with murda on the first syllable), or ꦓꦟꦶ (with murda on all syllables) depending on the background and context of the writing. The remaining letters that are not classified as nglegéna or repurposed as murda are aksara mahaprana, letters that are used in Sanskrit and Kawi texts but obsolete in modern Javanese.^{[30][lower-alpha 5]}

Aksara Wyanjana (modern sequence)

	ha/a1	na	ca	ra	ka	da	ta	sa	wa	la	pa	dha	ja	ya	nya	ma	ga	ba	tha	nga
Nglegena	ꦲ	ꦤ	ꦕ	ꦫ	ꦏ	ꦢ	ꦠ	ꦱ	ꦮ	ꦭ	ꦥ	ꦝ	ꦗ	ꦪ	ꦚ	ꦩ	ꦒ	ꦧ	ꦛ	ꦔ
Murda		ꦟ	ꦖ2	ꦬ3	ꦑ		ꦡ	ꦯ			ꦦ				ꦘ		ꦓ	ꦨ
Mahaprana						ꦣ		ꦰ				ꦞ	ꦙ						ꦜ
Notes ^1 may represent /ha/ or /a/ depending on the word ^2 only attested in conjunct form,[3] the glyph for its basic letter is a contemporary reconstruction ^3 ra agung, has the same function as other murda letters but is not widely known due to its limited use in the Kraton environment[30]

Swara

Aksara swara (ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫ ꦱ꧀ꦮꦫ) are letters that represent pure vowels. Javanese script has 14 vowel letters inherited from the Sanskrit tradition. Their forms are as follows:^[31]

Aksara Swara

Place of articulation	Velar	Palatal	Labial	Retroflex	Dental	Velar-Palatal	Velar-Labial
Short	ꦄ a	ꦆ i	ꦈ u	ꦉ ṛ/re1	ꦊ ḷ/le2	ꦌ é3	ꦎ o
Long	ꦄꦴ ā	ꦇ ī	ꦈꦴ ū	ꦉꦴ ṝ4	ꦋ ḹ5	ꦍ ai6	ꦎꦴ au7
Notes ^1 pa cerek, represents the syllable /rə/ ^2 nga lelet, represents the syllable /lə/ ^3 /e/ as e in the word "dress" The following pronunciations are not used in modern Javanese: ^4 pa cerek dirgha, a Sanskrit innovation that is used in a few analogically generated morphological categories[35] ^5 nga lelet raswadi, not an actual Sanskrit sound, but rather a graphic convention included among the written vowels to maintain the symmetry of short–long pairs of letters[35] ^6 diphthong /aj/ ^7 diphthong /aw/

Similar to wyanjana letters, modern Javanese language no longer uses the whole inventory of swara letters, only short vowel letters are now commonly used and taught. In modern orthography, swara letters may be used to replace wyanjana ha ꦲ (which may have caused ambiguous readings between /ha/ or /a/) to disambiguate the pronunciation of unfamiliar terms and names.^[36]

Pa cerek ꦉ, pa cerek dirgha ꦉꦴ, nga lelet ꦊ, and nga lelet raswadi ꦋ are syllabic consonants that are primarily used in specific Sanskrit cases.^[35] When adapted to languages outside of Sanskrit, the function and pronunciation of these letters tend to vary. In modern Javanese language, only pa cerek and nga lelet are used; pa cerek is pronounced /rə/ while nga lelet is pronounced /lə/. Both letters are usually re-categorized into their own class called aksara gantèn in modern tables. These letters are mandatory shorthand that replace every combination of ra pepet (ꦫꦼ → ꦉ) and la pepet (ꦭꦼ → ꦊ).^[37]

Rékan

Aksara rékan (ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫ ꦫꦺꦏꦤ꧀) are additional letters used to write foreign sounds.^[38] This type of letters were initially developed to write Arabic loanwords, later adapted to write Dutch loanwords, and in contemporary usage are also used to write Indonesian and English loanwords. Most rékan letters are formed by adding the cecak telu diacritic on the native letters that are considered closest-sounding to the foreign sound in question. For example, rékan letter fa ꦥ꦳ is formed by adding cecak telu over the wyanjana letter pa ꦥ. The combination of wyanjana letter and corresponding foreign sounds for each rékan may be different between sources. Some rékan letters are as follows:^[39]

Aksara Rékan

	ḥa	kha	qa	dza	sya	fa/va	za	gha	'a
Javanese	ꦲ꦳	ꦏ꦳	ꦐ1	ꦢ꦳	ꦱ꦳	ꦥ꦳	ꦗ꦳	ꦒ꦳	ꦔ꦳
Arabic	ح	خ	ق	ذ	ش	ف	ز	غ	ع
Notes ^1 ka sasak, only used in the Sasak language

Diacritics

Diacritics (sandhangan ꦱꦤ꧀ꦝꦔꦤ꧀) are dependent signs that are used to modify the inherent vowel of a letter. Similar to Javanese letters, Javanese diacritics may be divided into several groups based on their function.

Swara

Sandhangan swara (ꦱꦤ꧀ꦝꦁꦔꦤ꧀ꦱ꧀ꦮꦫ) are diacritics that are used to change the inherent /a/ into different vowels. Their forms are as follows:^[40]

Sandhangan Swara

Short						Long
-a	-i	-u	-é[1]	-o	-e[2]	-ā	-ī	-ū	-ai[3]	-au[4]	-eu[5][6]
-	ꦶ	ꦸ	ꦺ	ꦺꦴ	ꦼ	ꦴ	ꦷ	ꦹ	ꦻ	ꦻꦴ	ꦼꦴ
-	wulu	suku	taling	taling-tarung	pepet	tarung	wulu melik	suku mendut	dirga muré	dirga muré-tarung	pepet-tarung
ka	ki	ku	ké	ko	ke	kā	kī	kū	kai	kau	keu
ꦏ	ꦏꦶ	ꦏꦸ	ꦏꦺ	ꦏꦺꦴ	ꦏꦼ	ꦏꦴ	ꦏꦷ	ꦏꦹ	ꦏꦻ	ꦭꦻꦴ	ꦏꦼꦴ
Notes ^1 /e/ as e in the word "dress" ^2 /ə/ as a in the word "about" The following pronunciations are not used in modern Javanese: ^3 diphthong /aj/ ^4 diphthong /aw/ ^5 represents /ɨ/ in the Sundanese language ^6 romanized as ö in the Kawi language[31]

Similar to swara letters, only short vowel diacritics are taught and used in contemporary Javanese, while long vowel diacritics are only used in Sanskrit and Kawi writing.

Panyigeging wanda

Sandhangan panyigeging wanda (ꦱꦤ꧀ꦝꦁꦔꦤ꧀ꦥꦚꦶꦒꦼꦒꦶꦁ ꦮꦤ꧀ꦢ) are diacritics used to write closed syllables. Their forms are as follows:^[41]

Sandhangan Panyigeging Wanda

nasal[1]	-ng	-r	-h	virama[2]
ꦀ	ꦁ	ꦂ	ꦃ	꧀
panyangga	cecak	layar	wignyan	pangkon
kam	kang	kar	kah	k
ꦏꦀ	ꦏꦁ	ꦏꦂ	ꦏꦃ	ꦏ꧀
Notes ^1 usually used in transcription of Balinese lontars for writing the sacred syllable ong ꦎꦀ ^2 not used in closed syllables that occur in the middle of words or sentences (see conjunct)

Wyanjana

Sandhangan wyanjana (ꦱꦤ꧀ꦝꦁꦔꦤ꧀ꦮꦾꦚ꧀ꦗꦤ) are diacritics that are used to write consonant cluster with semivowels that occur in a single syllable. Their forms are as follows:^[42]

Sandhangan Wyanjana

-re	-y-	-r-	-l-	-w-
ꦽ	ꦾ	ꦿ	꧀ꦭ	꧀ꦮ
keret	pèngkal	cakra	panjingan la	gembung
kre	kya	kra	kla	kwa
ꦏꦽ	ꦏꦾ	ꦏꦿ	ꦏ꧀ꦭ	ꦏ꧀ꦮ

Conjunct

The inherent vowel of each basic letter can be suppressed with the use of the virama, natively known as pangkon. However, the pangkon is not normally used in the middle of a word or sentence. For closed syllables in such positions, a conjunct form called pasangan (ꦥꦱꦔꦤ꧀) is used instead. Every basic letter has a pasangan counterpart, and if a pasangan is attached to a basic letter, the inherent vowel of the attached letter is nullified. Their forms are as follows:^[43]

Aksara and Pasangan

		ha/a	na	ca	ra	ka	da	ta	sa	wa	la	pa	dha	ja	ya	nya	ma	ga	ba	tha	nga
Nglegena	Aksara	ꦲ	ꦤ	ꦕ	ꦫ	ꦏ	ꦢ	ꦠ	ꦱ	ꦮ	ꦭ	ꦥ	ꦝ	ꦗ	ꦪ	ꦚ	ꦩ	ꦒ	ꦧ	ꦛ	ꦔ
	Pasangan	꧀ꦲ	꧀ꦤ	꧀ꦕ	꧀ꦫ	꧀ꦏ	꧀ꦢ	꧀ꦠ	꧀ꦱ	꧀ꦮ	꧀ꦭ	꧀ꦥ	꧀ꦝ	꧀ꦗ	꧀ꦪ	꧀ꦚ	꧀ꦩ	꧀ꦒ	꧀ꦧ	꧀ꦛ	꧀ꦔ
Murda	Aksara		ꦟ	ꦖ	ꦬ	ꦑ		ꦡ	ꦯ			ꦦ				ꦘ		ꦓ	ꦨ
	Pasangan		꧀ꦟ	꧀ꦖ1	꧀ꦬ	꧀ꦑ		꧀ꦡ	꧀ꦯ			꧀ꦦ				꧀ꦘ		꧀ꦓ	꧀ꦨ
Mahaprana	Aksara						ꦣ		ꦰ				ꦞ	ꦙ						ꦜ
	Pasangan						꧀ꦣ		꧀ꦰ				꧀ꦞ	꧀ꦙ						꧀ꦜ
Notes ^1 often used as part of pepadan punctuation with no phonemic function ^2 the conjunct forms in this table are used for writing modern Javanese. Some letters have different conjunct forms when used for writing Sanskrit and Kawi

Examples of pasangan use, using characters from the Unicode Standard for Javanese script (which is used in this article), are as follows:

component										result	remark
	+		+		+		+		=		a + (ka + (pangkon + sa)) + ra → a + (ka + (pasangan sa)) + ra = a(ksa)ra
	+		+		+		+		=		ka + (na + (pangkon + tha) + -i) → ka + (na + (pasangan tha) + -i) = ka(nthi)

Note that the pasangan of a letter can be produced by typing the pangkon followed by the letter in its aksara/basic form. This appeals to the idea that a pangkon mutes the vowel of previous letter, and that adding a pasangan is phonetically equivalent to first muting the vowel of the previous letter and then adding a new letter.

Numerals

The Javanese script has its own numerals (angka ꦲꦁꦏ) that behave similarly to Arabic numerals. However, most Javanese numerals has the exact same glyph as several basic letters, for example the numeral 1 ꧑ and wyanjana letter ga ꦒ, or the numeral 8 ꧘ and murda letter pa ꦦ. To avoid confusion, numerals that are used in the middle of sentences must be enclosed within pada pangkat or pada lingsa punctuations. For example, tanggal 17 Juni (the date 17 June) is written ꦠꦁꦒꦭ꧀꧇꧑꧗꧇ꦗꦸꦤꦶ or ꦠꦁꦒꦭ꧀꧈꧑꧗꧈ꦗꦸꦤꦶ. Enclosing punctuation may be ignored if their use as numerals is understood by context, for example as page numbers in the corner of pages. Their forms are as follows:^[44][45]

Angka

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
꧐	꧑	꧒	꧓	꧔	꧕	꧖	꧗	꧘	꧙

Punctuation

Traditional Javanese texts are written with no spaces between words (scriptio continua) with several punctuation marks called pada (ꦥꦢ). Their form are as follows:

Pada

lingsa	lungsi	adeg	adeg-adeg	pisélèh	rerenggan	pangkat	rangkap	epistolary					correction
								andhap	madya	luhur	guru	pancak	tirta tumétès	isèn-isèn
꧈	꧉	꧊	꧋	꧌...꧍	꧁...꧂	꧇	ꧏ	꧃	꧄	꧅	꧋꧆꧋	꧉꧆꧉	꧞꧞꧞	꧟꧟꧟

In contemporary teaching, the most frequently used punctuations are pada adeg-adeg, pada lingsa, and pada lungsi, which are used to open paragraphs (similar to pillcrow), separating sentences (similar to comma), and ending sentences (similar to full stop). Pada adeg and pada pisélèh may be used to indicate insertion in the middle of sentences similar to parenthesis or quotation marks, while pada pangkat has a similar function to the colon. Pada rangkap is sometimes used as an iteration mark for reduplicated words (for example kata-kata ꦏꦠꦏꦠ → kata2 ꦏꦠꧏ).^[46]

Several punctuation marks do not have Latin equivalents and are often decorative in nature with numerous variant shapes, for example the rerenggan which is sometimes used to enclose titles. In epistolary usage, several punctuations are used in the beginning of letters and may also be used to indicate the social status of the letter writer; from the lowest pada andhap, to middle pada madya, and the highest pada luhur. Pada guru is sometimes used as a neutral option without social connotation, while pada pancak is used to end a letter. However this is a generalized function. In practice, similar to rerenggan these epistolary punctuation marks are often decorative and optional with various shape used in different regions and by different scribes.^[46]

When errors occurred during manuscript copying, several Kraton scribes used special correction marks instead of crossing out the erroneous parts: tirta tumétès normally found in Yogyakarta manuscripts, and isèn-isèn found in Surakarta manuscripts. These correction marks are directly applied following the erroneous part before the scribe continued writing. For example, if a scribe wanted to write pada luhur ꦥꦢꦭꦸꦲꦸꦂ but accidentally wrote pada hu ꦥꦢꦲꦸ before realizing the mistake, this word may be corrected into pada hu···luhur ꦥꦢꦲꦸ꧞꧞꧞ꦭꦸꦲꦸꦂ or ꦥꦢꦲꦸ꧟꧟꧟ꦭꦸꦲꦸꦂ.^[47]

Pepadan

Other than the regular punctuation, one of Javanese texts' distinctive characteristics is pepadan (ꦥꦼꦥꦢꦤ꧀), a series of highly ornate verse marks. Several of their form are as follows:

Pepadan

minor pada		major pada
꧅		꧅ ꦧ꧀ꦖ ꧅

The series of punctuation marks that forms pepadan have numerous names in traditional texts. Behrend (1996) divides pepadan into two general groups: the minor pada which consist of a single mark, and the major pada which are composed of several marks. Minor pada are used to indicate divisions of poetic stanzas, which usually came up every 32 or 48 syllables depending on the poetic metre. Major pada are used to demarcate a change of canto (which includes a change of the metre, rhythm, and mood of the recitation) occurring every 5 to 10 pages, though this may vary considerably depending on the structure of the text.^[48] Javanese guides often list three kinds of major pada: purwa pada ꧅ ꦧ꧀ꦖ ꧅ which is used in the beginning of the first canto, madya pada ꧅ ꦟ꧀ꦢꦿ ꧅ which is used in between different cantos, and wasana pada ꧅ ꦆ ꧅ which is used in the end of the final canto.^[46] But due to the large variety of shapes between manuscripts, these three punctuations are essentially treated as a single punctuation in most Javanese manuscripts.^[49]

Pepadan is one of the most prominent elements in a typical Javanese manuscript and are almost always written with high artistic skills, including calligraphy, coloring, and even gilding.^[50] In luxurious royal manuscripts, the shape of the pepadan may even contain visual puns that gave clues to the readers regarding the canto of the text; a pepadan with wings or bird figure resembling a crow (called dhandhang in Javanese) indicates the dhandhanggula metre, while pepadan with elements of a goldfish indicates the maskumambang metre (literally "gold floating on water"). One of the scribal centers with the most elaborate and ornate pepadan is the scriptorium of Pakualaman in Yogyakarta.^[49][51]

Sundanese Cacarakan

Cacarakan is one of Sundanese language writing system, which means "similar to Carakan". It was officially used from 16 to 20 centuries. However, there are several places which use cacarakan. There are several orthographic difference to modern Javanese orthography:

• Vowel [ɨ] <eu> is written as ꦼꦴ or ◌ꦼꦵ (paneuleung) in cacarakan (there is no a such vowel in Javanese).
• Free vowel in cacarakan is written with aksara sora (Javanese: aksara swara) instead of aspirated ha. For example, a is written as ꦄ in cacarakan, instead of ꦲ in carakan.
• Free vowel of [i] is written as ꦄꦶ in cacarakan. However, it is possible to write it as ꦆ as in carakan.
• Consonant [ɲ] <ny> is written as ꦤꦾ for free standing ngalagena, while ꧀ꦚ as diacritic pasangan. Carakan ꦚ is not used in Cacarakan.

Similar to Balinese wianjana, Cacarakan ngalagena or wianjana consists of 18 letters instead of 20 letters in Carakan nglegena or wianjana. The two letters are ꦝ <ḍa> and ꦛ <ṭa>. For more details in seeing these differences, below is shown a table of the Sundanese Cacarakan and Javanese Carakan Ngalagena or Consonant Letters.

From the table it can be seen that the letter /dha/ in Carakan (Javanese) is used to represent the sound "da" in Cacarakan (Sundanese). Whereas for produces the sound "nya", Cacarakan (Sundanese) uses a series of letters /a/ plus a pengkal (Carakan). Sundanese Cacarakan uses the same letter pairs as Carakan, with the same writing rules. It's just different at times giving sandhangan (Carakan) or rarangkén (Cacarakan) used modified rules to produce Sundanese vowel sounds.

In the Cacarakan swara/sora script the letter /i/ is written with a series of letters /a/ added with wulu (Carakan) or panghulu (Cacarakan). In the Javanese Carakan alphabet no special vowels are used for the sound /e/ (pepet), while in Cacarakan the letters /e/ pepet are written independently in a series the letter /a/ is added with pepet (Cacarakan) or pamepet (Cacarakan). Another vowel that appears is to describe the sound [ö] or the letter / eu / that quite dominant used in Sundanese. The letter /eu/ is written with a series of letters / a / added by tarung (Carakan) and pepet (Carakan) or simply called paneuleung in the term Sundanese Cacarakan.

Madurese Carakan

In Madurese language, Javanese script is called Carakan Madhurâ or Carakan Jhâbân (script derived from Javanese). If in Javanese language each character can represent the sound /a /or /ɔ /, then in Madurese language it represents the sound /a /or /ɤ /. The carakan Madhurâ form itself consists of aksara ghâjâng (aksara nglegena), aksara rajâ or murdâ (aksara murda), aksara sowara or swara (aksara swara), and aksara rèka'an (aksara rékan). There is also pangangghuy (sandhangan) which consists of pangangguy aksara (sandhangan swara), pangangghuy panyèghek (sandhangan panyigeging wanda), and pangangghuy panambâ (sandhangan wyanjana).^{[62][63][64][65][66]}

Comparison with Javanese

Broadly speaking, there is no significant difference with the Javanese. However, in the Madurese language there is no difference in the use of aspirate and tanaspirate consonants.^[67]

Aksara rèka'an in Madurese language as taught in schools has only five characters, while in Madoereesche Spraakkunst and Sorat tjarakan Madurah there are seven and nine respectively:^[68][69]

Another difference is the use of wignyan which in Javanese functions as the -h suffix, while in Madurese it becomes the -' as shown in the following table:^[62][70]

Bibliography

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• Behrend, T E (1993). "Manuscript Production in Nineteenth Century Java. Codicology and the Writing of Javanese Literary History". Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 149 (3): 407–437. doi:10.1163/22134379-90003115.
• Behrend, T E (1996). "Textual Gateways: the Javanese Manuscript Tradition". In Ann Kumar; John H. McGlynn (eds.). Illuminations: The Writing Traditions of Indonesia. Jakarta: Lontar Foundation. ISBN 0834803496.
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• Kiliaan, H. N. (1897). Madoereesche Spraakkunst (in Dutch). Batavia: Landsdrukkerij.
• Molen, Willem van der (1993). Javaans Schrift (in Dutch). Vol. Semaian 8. Leiden: Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden. ISBN 90-73084-09-1. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
• Molen, Willem van der (2000). "Hoe Heft Zulks Kunnen Geschieden? Het Begin van de Javaanse Typografie". In Willem van der Molen (ed.). Woord en Schrift in de Oost. De betekenis van zending en missie voor de studie van taal en literatuur in Zuidoost-Azie (in Dutch). Vol. Semaian 19. Leiden: Vakgroep Talen en Culturen van Zuidoost-Azië en Oceanië, Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden. pp. 132–162. ISBN 9074956238.
• Robson, Stuart Owen (2011). "Javanese script as cultural artifact: Historical background". RIMA: Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs. 45 (1–2): 9–36.
• Rochkyatmo, Amir (1 January 1996). Pelestarian dan Modernisasi Aksara Daerah: Perkembangan Metode dan Teknis Menulis Aksara Jawa (PDF) (in Indonesian). Direktorat Jenderal Kebudayaan.

Digital collection

• British Library manuscript collection
• National Library of Indonesia manuscript collection
• Yayasan Sastra Lestari manuscript collection
• Widyapustaka references collection Archived 14 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine

Digitized manuscripts

• A debt written on a piece of lontar (1708) British Library collection no. Sloane MS 1403E
• Babad Mataram and Babad ing Sangkala (1738) koleksi British Library no. MSS Jav 36
• A Malay-Javanese-Maduran language word list from early 19th century, British Library collection no. MSS Malay A 3
• An assortment of documents from the Kraton of Yogyakarta (1786–1812) British Library collection no. Add Ms 12341
• Papakem Pawukon from Bupati Sepuh Demak of Bogor (1814) British Library collection no. Or 15932
• Wejangan Hamengkubuwana I (1812) British Library collection no. Add MS 12337
• Raffles Paper - vol III (1816) a collection of Letters received by Raffles from the rules of the Malay archipelago, British Library collection no. Add MS 45273
• Serat Jaya Lengkara Wulang (1803) British Library collection no. MSS Jav 24
• Serat Selarasa (1804) British Library collection no. MSS Jav 28
• Usana Bali Archived 19 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine (1870) a Javanese copy of a Balinese lontar of the same title, National Library of Indonesia collection no. CS 152
• Dongèng-dongèng Pieuntengen (1867) a collection of Sundanese tales written in the Javanese script compiled by Muhammad Musa

Others

• Unicode proposal for the Javanese script
• Unicode documentation for the behavior of KERET diacritic
• Unicode documentation for the behavior of CAKRA diacritic
• Unicode documentation for the behavior of PENGKAL diacritic
• Unicode documentation for the behavior of TOLONG diacritic
• British Library Asian-African Studies blog, Javanese topic
• Javanese script transliterator by Benny Lin
• Hana - Javanese Script Transliterator by Dan
• Download Javanese fonts in Tuladha Jejeg Archived 27 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Aksara di Nusantara, or Google Noto