| Also Known As: Jawa,Djawa,Javanese language,Javanese
Description:
Javanese is the language of the people in the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java. It is the native language of more than 75,500,000 people.
The Javanese language is part of the Austronesian family, and is therefore related to Indonesian and other Malay varieties. Many speakers of Javanese also speak Indonesian for official and commercial purposes and to communicate with non-Javanese Indonesians.
Outside Indonesia, there are large communities of Javanese-speaking people in the neighbouring countries such as East Timor, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and also Hong Kong and Taiwan. In addition there are also Javanese-speaking people in Suriname, the Netherlands, and New Caledonia. The Javanese speakers in Malaysia are especially found in the states of Selangor and Johore. (For example, the former Chief Minister of Selangor, Khir Toyo, is an ethnic Javanese.) For distribution in other parts, as far as Suriname, see Demographic distribution of Javanese speakers below.
Javanese belongs to the Sundic sub-branch of the Western Malayo-Polynesian (also called..... full article at Wikipedia |
