Javanese language

Javanese (/ɑːvəˈnz/);[1] 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, Carribean, Sri Lanka, and neighbouring Southeast Asian countries.

Javanese
Basa Jawa
ꦧꦱꦗꦮ
باسا جاوا
Aksara Jawa - basa jawa.svg
Basa (language) written in the Javanese script
Pronunciation[bɔsɔ d͡ʒɔwɔ]
Native toJava (Indonesia)
Ethnicity
Native speakers82 million  (2007)ne2007
Language family
Early forms:
Old Javanese
  • Middle Javanese
    • Javanese
Standard forms
Kawi
(Early standard form)
Surakartan Javanese
(Modern standard form)
DialectsJavanese dialects
Writing systemLatin script
Javanese script
Pegon alphabet
Official status
Official language inSpecial 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
Linguasphere31-MFM-a
Javanese language distribution.png
Dark green: areas where Javanese is the majority language. Light green: where it is a minority language.
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.[2]

Indonesian province % of the population Javanese speakers (1980)
1. Aceh province 6.7% 175,000
2. North Sumatra 21.0% 1,757,000
3. West Sumatra 1.0% 56,000
4. Jambi 17.0% 245,000
5. South Sumatra 12.4% 573,000
6. Bengkulu 15.4% 118,000
7. Lampung 62.4% 2,886,000
8. Riau 8.5% 184,000
9. Jakarta 3.6% 236,000
10. West Java[3] 13.3% 3,652,000
11. Central Java 96.9% 24,579,000
12. Yogyakarta 97.6% 2,683,000
13. East Java 74.5% 21,720,000
14. Bali 1.1% 28,000
15. West Kalimantan 1.7% 41,000
16. Central Kalimantan 4.0% 38,000
17. South Kalimantan 4.7% 97,000
18. East Kalimantan 10.1% 123,000
19. North Sulawesi 1.0% 20,000
20. Central Sulawesi 2.9% 37,000
21. Southeast Sulawesi 3.6% 34,000
22. Maluku 1.1% 16,000

Javanese Language Media

References

  1. Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh
  2. The data is taken from the census of 1980 as provided by James J. Fox and Peter Gardiner and published by S.A. Wurm and Shiro Hattori, eds. 1983. Language Atlas of the Pacific Area, Part II. (Insular South-east Asia). Canberra
  3. In 1980 this included the now separate Banten province

Other websites