Dialects Of Modern Javanese

There are three main groups of Javanese dialects, based on sub-regions: Western Javanese, Central Javanese, and Eastern Javanese. The differences are primarily in pronunciation, but with vocabulary differences also. Javanese dialects are all mutually intelligible.

Central Javanese (Jawa Tengahan) is founded on the speech of Surakarta and to a lesser extent of Yogyakarta. It is considered the most "refined" of the regional variants, and serves as a model for the standard language. Those two cities are the seats of four Javanese principalities (heirs to the Mataram Sultanate) that once dominated the whole of Java and beyond. This variant is used throughout Central Java province, and there are many lower-level dialects such as Muria and Semarangan, as well as Surakarta and Yogyakarta themselves. There are also dialects such as Pekalongan or Dialek Pantura, and Kebumen (a variation of Banyumasan). The variations in Central Java are said to be so plentiful that almost every administrative region (or kabupaten) has its own local slang; but those minor dialects are not seen as distinct by most Javanese speakers.

Central Javanese is also used in the western part of East Java province. For example, Javanese spoken in the Madiun region (along with Javanese spoken in Blitar, Ponorogo, Pacitan, and Tulungagung) bears a strong influence of Surakarta Javanese.

1. Pekalongan dialect is spoken in Pekalongan and Pekalongan regency, and also in Pemalang.


2. Kedu dialect is spoken in the former Kedu residency, and in Temanggung, Kebumen, Magelang, and Wonosobo.


3. Bagelen dialect is spoken in Purworejo.


4. Semarang dialect is spoken in Semarang, Semarang regency, and also Salatiga, Demak and Kendal.


5. Eastern North-Coast dialect, or dialek Muria, is spoken in Jepara, Rembang, Kudus, Pati, and also in Tuban and Bojonegoro.


6. Blora dialect is spoken in Blora, the eastern part of Grobogan, and the western part of Ngawi.


7. Surakarta dialect is spoken commonly in Surakarta, Karanganyar, Wonogiri, Sukoharjo, and Boyolali.


8. Yogyakarta dialect is spoken in Yogyakarta and Klaten.


9. Madiun dialect is spoken in East Java province, including Madiun, Ngawi, Pacitan, Ponorogo, and Magetan.

Western Javanese (Jawa Kulonan), spoken in the western part of the Central Java province and throughout the West Java province (particularly on the north coast), includes dialects that are distinct for their Sundanese influences. It retains many archaic words.

1. North Banten dialect (Jawa Serang) is spoken in Serang, Cilegon, and the western part of Tangerang regency.


2. Cirebon dialect (Cirebonan or Basa Cerbon) is spoken in Cirebon and Losari. Indramayu dialect (or Dermayon), which is spoken in Indramayu, Karawang, and Subang, is sometimes included in Cirebonan.


3. Tegal dialect, known as Tegalan or Dialek Pantura (North-Coast dialect), is spoken in Tegal, Brebes, and the western part of Pemalang regency.


4. Banyumas dialect, known as Banyumasan, is spoken in Banyumas, Cilacap, Purbalingga, Banjarnegara, and Bumiayu.

These Western Javanese dialects are sometimes called as basa ngapak-apak by other Javanese.

Eastern Javanese (Jawa Wetanan) speakers range from the eastern banks of Brantas River in Kertosono, and from Nganjuk to Banyuwangi, comprising the majority of the East Java province excluding Madura island. However, the variant has been influenced by Madurese, and is sometimes referred to as Surabayan speech.

The most outlying Eastern Javanese dialect is spoken in Balambangan (or Banyuwangi). It is generally known as Basa Osing. Osing, a local negation word, is a cognate of tusing in Balinese. (This area of Java has the island of Bali immediately to the east, and was formerly under the control of Balinese kings and warlords.)

1. Surabaya dialect (Suroboyoan) is commonly spoken in Surabaya, Gresik, and Sidoarjo. Many Madurese people also use this dialect as their second language.


2. Malang dialect is spoken in Malang and Malang regency, and also in Mojokerto.
   Jombang dialect.


3. Tengger dialect, used by Tenggerese people.


4. Banyuwangi dialect (Basa Osing).

In addition to these three main variants, there is Surinamese Javanese, which is mainly based on Central Javanese, especially from the Kedu residency.

Phonetic Differences

Phoneme /i/ at closed ultima is pronounced as [ɪ] in Central Javanese (Surakarta–Yogyakarta dialect), as [i] in Western Javanese (Banyumasan dialect), and as [ɛ] in Eastern Javanese.

Phoneme /u/ at closed ultima is pronounced as [ʊ] in Central Javanese, as [u] in Western Javanese, and as [ɔ] in Eastern Javanese.

Phoneme /a/ at closed ultima in Central Javanese is pronounced as [a] and at open ultima as [ɔ]. Regardless of position, it tends toward [a] in Western Javanese and as [ɔ] in Eastern Javanese.

Western Javanese tend to palatalize every last vowel of a word as euphony, eg.: Ana apa? [anak kapaʔ] "What happened?", Aja kaya kuwe! [adʒak kaiak kuɛʔ] "Don't be like that!".

Javanesse

Javanese language (Javanese: basa Jawa, Indonesian: bahasa Jawa) is the language of the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. There are also pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java. It is the native language of more than 75,500,000 people (more than 40% of total population in Indonesia).

Javanese is part of the Austronesian family, and is therefore related to Indonesian and other Malay varieties. Most speakers of Javanese also speak Indonesian: for official and commercial purposes, and to communicate with non-Javanese Indonesians.

There are speakers of Javanese in Malaysia (concentrated in the states of Selangor and Johor) and Singapore. Some people of Javanese descent in Suriname (the Dutch colony of Suriname until 1954) speak a creole descendant of the language.

Introduction

The word Jawa (Java) written in Javanese script.

Javanese is a Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian language. It is otherwise not particularly close to other languages and is difficult to classify, though not too dissimilar from neighboring languages such as Malay, Sundanese, Madurese, and Balinese.

The language is spoken in Central and East Java, as well as on the north coast of West Java. 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 in South Sumatra, until the palace was sacked by the Dutch in the late 18th century.

Javanese can be regarded as one of the classical languages of the world, with a vast literature spanning more than twelve centuries. The language developed in four stages:

• Old Javanese, from the 9th century


• Middle Javanese, from the 13th century


• New Javanese, from the 16th century


• Modern Javanese, from the 20th century (but this stage is not universally distinguished)

Javanese is written with the Javanese script, Arabo-Javanese script, Arabic script (modified for Javanese), and Latin script.

Although not currently an official language anywhere, Javanese is the Austronesian language with the largest number of native speakers. It is spoken or understood by approximately 80 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. Five out of the six Indonesian presidents since 1945 have been of Javanese descent. It is therefore not surprising that Javanese has a deep impact on the development of Indonesian, the national language of Indonesia, which is itself a modern development from Malay.

There are three main dialects in the modern language: Central Javanese, Eastern Javanese, and Western Javanese. There is a dialect continuum from Banten in the extreme west of Java to Banyuwangi in the eastern corner of the island. All Javanese dialects are more or less mutually intelligible.