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Glite Dictionary
Sunda Islands

Sunda Islands

1 6.6
A chain of islands in Southeast Asia mostly in Indonesia, including Java and Sumatra
  • proper noun
: Islas Sunda
  • The Sunda Islands are known for their rich biodiversity and volcanic activity.

Examples

  • The Sunda Islands include popular tourist destinations like Bali and Lombok.

  • Many spices that shaped world trade historically originated in the Sunda Islands.

  • Indonesia's largest cities outside Java are located on the Sunda Islands.

  • The Sunda Islands are known for their rich biodiversity.

  • Have you ever visited the Sunda Islands?

  • Wildlife enthusiasts flock to the Sunda Islands to see unique species like orangutans.

  • Historically, the Sunda Islands played a significant role in maritime trade routes.

Surface Forms

Sunda Islands main

Morphology

Sunda + island

The form is a straightforward composition of a proper name 'Sunda' plus the noun 'islands', so a learner who knows 'islands' and recognizes 'Sunda' as a name will infer it denotes islands called Sunda (i.e. a group or chain of islands). While the exact geographic details of 'Sunda' may be unknown, the modifier + noun pattern is cross-linguistically common and transparently conveys the general meaning.

Etymology

The name Sunda Islands comes from the people called the 'Sundanese' and the old regional name Sunda for that area, because those people lived on some of the islands long ago. That's why Sunda Islands today means the group of islands in western Indonesia.