Javanese language

Austronesian language

Javanese (/ɑːvəˈnz/);[2] Basa Jawa; Aksara Jawa: ꦧꦱꦗꦮ; Pegon: باساجاوا; Javanese pronunciation: [bɔsɔ d͡ʒɔwɔ]) is the native language of Javanese people which originated from the island of Java. Being the most populous island in the world, a lot of community in Java island could understand the Javanese language naturally despite not having a Javanese-ethnic identity. The Javanese language is recognized as one of the regional languages (a.k.a. the native or indigenous languages) in Indonesia with the largest speakers concentrated in the provinces of Yogyakarta, Central Java, and East Java. The Javanese language also recognized as one of the minority languages in some countries worldwide, mainly in Suriname, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Hong Kong, Australia, Caribbean, Sri Lanka, and neighbouring Southeast Asian countries.

Javanese
Basa Jawa
ꦧꦱꦗꦮ
باسا جاوا
Basa (language) written in the Javanese script
Pronunciation[bɔsɔ d͡ʒɔwɔ]
Native toJava (Indonesia)
Ethnicity
  • Javanese
  • Banyumasan
  • Cirebonese
  • Osing
  • Tenggerese
Native speakers
82 million (2007)[1]
Early forms
Old Javanese
  • Middle Javanese
Standard forms
Kawi
(Early standard form)
Surakartan Javanese
(Modern standard form)
DialectsJavanese dialects
Latin script
Javanese script
Pegon alphabet
Official status
Official language in
Special Region of Yogyakarta
Language codes
ISO 639-1jv
ISO 639-2jav
ISO 639-3Variously:
jav – Javanese
jvn – Caribbean Javanese
jas – New Caledonian Javanese
osi – Osing
tes – Tenggerese
kaw – Kawi
Glottologjava1253
Linguasphere31-MFM-a
Dark green: areas where Javanese is the majority language. Light green: where it is a minority language.
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Two Javanese speakers, recorded in Indonesia.

Demographic distribution of Javanese speakers

The word Jawa (Java) written in Javanese script.

Javanese is spoken throughout Indonesia, neighboring Southeast Asian countries, the Netherlands, Suriname, New Caledonia and other countries. However, the greatest concentration of speakers is in the six provinces of Java itself, and in the neighboring Sumatran province of Lampung.

Below, a table with the number of native speakers in 1980 is provided.[3]

Indonesian province% of the populationJavanese speakers (1980)
1.Aceh province6.7%175,000
2.North Sumatra21.0%1,757,000
3.West Sumatra1.0%56,000
4.Jambi17.0%245,000
5.South Sumatra12.4%573,000
6.Bengkulu15.4%118,000
7.Lampung62.4%2,886,000
8.Riau8.5%184,000
9.Jakarta3.6%236,000
10.West Java[4]13.3%3,652,000
11.Central Java96.9%24,579,000
12.Yogyakarta97.6%2,683,000
13.East Java74.5%21,720,000
14.Bali1.1%28,000
15.West Kalimantan1.7%41,000
16.Central Kalimantan4.0%38,000
17.South Kalimantan4.7%97,000
18.East Kalimantan10.1%123,000
19.North Sulawesi1.0%20,000
20.Central Sulawesi2.9%37,000
21.Southeast Sulawesi3.6%34,000
22.Maluku1.1%16,000

References

Other websites