Javanese language

Javanese ();Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh ; Aksara Jawa: ; Pegon: ; ) 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 ( 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.

 Demographic distribution of Javanese speakers 
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.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

  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 JavaIn 1980 this included the now separate Banten province 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

References

Other websites

Javanese Writing System
Ethnologue report on Javanese 
Javanese in Suriname strive to preserve origins Jakarta Post article

Category:Austronesian languages
Category:Languages of Indonesia