| Javanese | |
| Nativename: | Javanese: basa Jawa Javanese: ꦧꦱꦗꦮ Javanese: باسا جاوا |
| Pronunciation: | pronounced as /jv/ (central and eastern dialects) pronounced as /jv/ (western and Tenggerese dialect) pronounced as /jv/ (Serangese dialect) |
| States: | Indonesia |
| Ethnicity: |
|
| Speakers: | million |
| Date: | 2015 |
| Ref: | e27 |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam2: | Malayo-Polynesian |
| Ancestor: | Old Javanese |
| Ancestor2: | Middle Javanese |
| Stand1: | Kawi (Early standard form) |
| Stand2: | Surakartan Javanese (Modern standard form) |
| Dialects: | Javanese dialects |
| Script: | Latin script Javanese script Pegon script |
| Nation: | Indonesia
|
| Agency: | Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa |
| Iso1: | jv |
| Iso2: | jav |
| Lc1: | jav |
| Ld1: | Javanese |
| Lc2: | jvn |
| Ld2: | Caribbean Javanese |
| Lc3: | jas |
| Ld3: | New Caledonian Javanese |
| Lc4: | osi |
| Ld4: | Osing |
| Lc5: | tes |
| Ld5: | Tenggerese |
| Lingua: | 31-MFM-a |
| Imagescale: | 1 |
| Map: | Javanese language distribution.png |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Glotto: | java1253 |
| Glottoname: | Javanesic |
| Glotto2: | java1254 |
| Glottorefname: | Javanese |
Javanese ([1], ;[2] Javanese: basa Jawa, Javanese script: Javanese: ꦧꦱꦗꦮ, Pegon: Javanese: {{Script/Arabic|باسا جاوا, IPA: pronounced as /jv/) is an Austronesian language spoken primarily by the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, Indonesia. There are also pockets of Javanese speakers on the northern coast of western Java. It is the native language of more than 68 million people.[3]
Javanese is the largest of the Austronesian languages in number of native speakers. It has several regional dialects and a number of clearly distinct status styles.[4] Its closest relatives are the neighboring languages such as Sundanese, Madurese, and Balinese. Most speakers of Javanese also speak Indonesian for official and commercial purposes as well as a means to communicate with non-Javanese-speaking Indonesians.
There are speakers of Javanese in Malaysia (concentrated in the West Coast part of the states of Selangor and Johor) and Singapore. Javanese is also spoken by traditional immigrant communities of Javanese descent in Suriname, Sri Lanka and New Caledonia.[5]
Along with Indonesian, Javanese is an official language in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia.[6]
See also: Javanese people.
Javanese is spoken throughout Indonesia, neighboring Southeast Asian countries, the Netherlands, Suriname, New Caledonia, and other countries. The largest populations of speakers are found in the six provinces of Java itself, and in the neighboring Sumatran province of Lampung.
The language is spoken in Yogyakarta, Central and East Java, as well as on the north coast of West Java and Banten. It is also spoken elsewhere by the Javanese people in other provinces of Indonesia, who are numerous due to the government-sanctioned transmigration program in the late 20th century, including Lampung, Jambi, and North Sumatra provinces. In Suriname, Javanese is spoken among descendants of plantation migrants brought by the Dutch during the 19th century.[7] In Madura, Bali, Lombok, and the Sunda region of West Java, it is also used as a literary language. It was the court language in Palembang, South Sumatra, until the palace was sacked by the Dutch in the late 18th century.
Javanese is written with the Latin script, Javanese script, and Arabic script. In the present day, the Latin script dominates writings, although the Javanese script is still taught as part of the compulsory Javanese language subject in elementary up to high school levels in Yogyakarta, Central and East Java.
Javanese is the twenty-second largest language by native speakers and the seventh largest language without official status at the national level. It is spoken or understood by approximately 100 million people. At least 45% of the total population of Indonesia are of Javanese descent or live in an area where Javanese is the dominant language. All seven Indonesian presidents since 1945 have been of Javanese descent. It is therefore not surprising that Javanese has had a deep influence on the development of Indonesian, the national language of Indonesia.
There are three main dialects of the modern language: Central Javanese, Eastern Javanese, and Western Javanese. These three dialects form a dialect continuum from northern Banten in the extreme west of Java to Banyuwangi Regency in the eastern corner of the island. All Javanese dialects are more or less mutually intelligible.
A table showing the number of native speakers in 1980, for the 22 Indonesian provinces (from the total of 27) in which more than 1% of the population spoke Javanese:
| Indonesian province | % of provincial population | Javanese speakers (1980) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aceh | 6.7% | 175,000 | |
| North Sumatra | 21.0% | 1,757,000 | |
| West Sumatra | 1.0% | 56,000 | |
| Jambi | 17.0% | 245,000 | |
| South Sumatra | 12.4% | 573,000 | |
| Bengkulu | 15.4% | 118,000 | |
| Lampung | 62.4% | 2,886,000 | |
| Riau | 8.5% | 184,000 | |
| Jakarta | 3.6% | 236,000 | |
| West Java | 13.3% | 3,652,000 | |
| Central Java | 96.9% | 24,579,000 | |
| Yogyakarta | 97.6% | 2,683,000 | |
| East Java | 74.5% | 21,720,000 | |
| Bali | 1.1% | 28,000 | |
| West Kalimantan | 1.7% | 41,000 | |
| Central Kalimantan | 4.0% | 38,000 | |
| South Kalimantan | 4.7% | 97,000 | |
| East Kalimantan | 10.1% | 123,000 | |
| North Sulawesi | 1.0% | 20,000 | |
| Central Sulawesi | 2.9% | 37,000 | |
| Southeast Sulawesi | 3.6% | 34,000 | |
| Maluku | 1.1% | 16,000 |
According to the 1980 census, Javanese was used daily in approximately 43% of Indonesian households. By this reckoning there were well over 60 million Javanese speakers,[8] from a national population of 147,490,298.[9]
In Banten, the descendants of the Central Javanese conquerors who founded the Islamic Sultanate there in the 16th century still speak an archaic form of Javanese. The rest of the population mainly speaks Sundanese and Indonesian, since this province borders directly on Jakarta.
At least one third of the population of Jakarta are of Javanese descent, so they speak Javanese or have knowledge of it. In the province of West Java, many people speak Javanese, especially those living in the areas bordering Central Java, the cultural homeland of the Javanese.
Almost a quarter of the population of East Java province are Madurese (mostly on the Isle of Madura); many Madurese have some knowledge of colloquial Javanese. Since the 19th century, Madurese was also written in the Javanese script.
The original inhabitants of Lampung, the Lampungese, make up only 15% of the provincial population. The rest are the so-called "transmigrants", settlers from other parts of Indonesia, many as a result of past government transmigration programs. Most of these transmigrants are Javanese who have settled there since the 19th century.
In Suriname (the former Dutch colony of Surinam), South America, approximately 15% of the population of some 500,000 are of Javanese descent, among whom 75,000 speak Javanese. A local variant evolved: the Tyoro Jowo-Suriname or Suriname Javanese.[10]
Javanese is part of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family, although its precise relationship to other Malayo-Polynesian languages is hard to determine. Using the lexicostatistical method, Isidore Dyen classified Javanese as part of the "Javo-Sumatra Hesion", which also includes the Sundanese and "Malayic" languages.