The Banyumasan language, spoken on the island of Java, is usually considered a dialect of Javanese

Javanese language

Javanese language is the language of the Javanese people from 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...

 in modern language classification.

The Banyumasan language is mainly spoken in the three areas of the island of Java: the Banyumasan

Banyumasan

Banyumasan may refer to:* Banyumasan language* Banyumasan people* Banyumas Regency...

 region, located in westernmost Central Java

Central Java

Central Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...

 Province and surrounding the Slamet mountain and Serayu River

Serayu River

-References:...

; a neighboring area inside West Java

West Java

West Java , with a population of over 43 million, is the most populous and most densely populated province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, it is slightly smaller in area than densely populated Taiwan, but with nearly double the population...

 Province; and northern region of Banten

Banten

Banten is a province of Indonesia in Java. Formerly part of the Province of West Java, it was made a separate province in 2000.The administrative center is Serang. Preliminary results from the 2010 census counted some 10.6 million people.-Geography:...

 Province. This area includes Majenang, Cilacap

Cilacap

Cilacap is a regency in the southwestern part of Central Java province in Indonesia. Its capital is Cilacap, which is an municipality in its own right....

, Gombong

Gombong

Gombong is a mountain in the county of Yeongwol, Gangwon-do in South Korea. It has an elevation of ....

, Kebumen, Banjarnegara

Banjarnegara

Banjarnegara is a city in Central Java, Indonesia and the seat of Banjarnegara Regency. It is 55 km from the Dieng Plateau region and a centre for ceramic arts.-External links:* * *...

, Purbalingga, Purwokerto

Purwokerto

Purwokerto is a city on the island of Java in Indonesia. It is the capital of Banyumas Regency, Central Java region. The estimated population of the city in 2005 was 249,705.-Geography:...

, Bumiayu, Slawi

Slawi

Slawi is the capital city of the Tegal Regency of the province of Central Java, Indonesia. Slawi is known for the production of a particularly fragrant black tea and the tea drinking culture known as Moci.-Geography:...

, Pemalang

Pemalang

Pemalang is a regency in north coast of Central Java province in Indonesia. Its capital is Pemalang.Like the larger cities of Tegal, to its west, and Pekalongan, to the east, Pemalang was dominated in the nineteenth century by sugar production. The area was known for its fertile soil, which had...

, Tegal

Tegal

Tegal is the largest city in the Tegal Regency, Indonesia. It is situated on the north coast of Central Java, about from Semarang, capital of Central Java....

, and Brebes region.

History

Scholars divide the development of Javanese language into four different stages:

• 9th–13th century, known as Old Javanese
• 13th–16th century developed to Middle Javanese
• 16th–20th century developed to New Javanese
• 20th century: Modern Javanese.

The phases above were influenced by the emergence of empires in Java. In Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

nese cultural history, empires yielded some distinct grades of language, each grade representing the social grade of the speakers (mainly nobles and populaces). Those grades of language are not of significant influence to Banyumasan

Banyumasan

Banyumasan may refer to:* Banyumasan language* Banyumasan people* Banyumas Regency...

 people. In the Banyumasan region, high grades are usually used only when speaking to a stranger assumed to come from the eastern area of Java i.e. Yogyakarta / Surakarta

Surakarta

Surakarta, also called Solo or Sala, is a city in Central Java, Indonesia of more than 520,061 people with a population density of 11,811.5 people/km2. The 44 km2 city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoharjo Regency to the east and...

 etc, or on certain occasions. Surakartan and Yogyakartan style are usually considered the standard Javanese language.

Banyumasan has a lot of differences compared to standard Javanese, mainly in phonology, pronunciation and vocabulary. This happened due to cultural or character distinction and widely current usage of Old Javanese vocabulary. Another distinction is that the pronunciation of the vowels is not as complicated.

Vocabulary distinction basically found in:

• Same word and phonetic but different meaning
• Same word and meaning but different phonetic
• Same phonetic and meaning but different pronunciation (changed on consonant or vowel).

Banyumasan Language	Standard Javanese	English
ageh	ayo	come on
ambring	sepi	quiet
batir	kanca	friend
bangkong	kodok	frog
bengel	mumet	dizzy
bodhol	rusak	broken
brug → Dutch Dutch language Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...  loanwords	kreteg	bridge
bringsang	sumuk	heat
gering	kuru	thin
clebek	kopi	coffee
londhog	alon	slow
druni	medhit	stingy
dhonge/dhongane	kudune	should be
egin	isih	still
gableg	duwe	have
getul	tekan	arrive
gigal	tiba	fall
gili	dalan	road
gujih	rewel	fussy
jagong	lungguh	sit
kiye	iki	this
kuwe	iku	that
letek	asin	salty
maen	apik	good
maregi	nyebeli	badly

Politeness

Javanese speech varies depending on social context, yielding three distinct styles, or registers

Register (linguistics)

In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal...

. Each style employs its own vocabulary, grammatical rules and even prosody

Prosody (linguistics)

In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance ; the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of...

. This is not unique to Javanese; neighbouring Austronesian languages as well as East Asian languages such as Korean

Korean language

Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...

, Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 and Thai

Thai language

Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...

 share similar constructions.

In Javanese these styles are called:

1. Ngoko is informal speech, used between friends and close relatives. It is also used by persons of higher status to persons of lower status, such as elders to younger people or bosses to subordinates.
2. Madya is the intermediary form between ngoko and krama. An example of the context where one would use madya is an interaction between strangers on the street, where one wants to be neither too formal nor too informal.
3. Krama is the polite and formal style. It is used between persons of the same status who do not wish to be informal. It is also the official style for public speeches, announcements, etc.

In Banyumasan

Banyumasan

Banyumasan may refer to:* Banyumasan language* Banyumasan people* Banyumas Regency...

 region, Madya and Krama styles are rarely used, usually towards a stranger who is assumed to come from the eastern area of Java (wetanan) such as Yogyakarta, Surakarta etc or on certain occasions, an eastern style of language (basa wetanan) named bandhekan (from gandhek).

Dialects and sub-dialects

There are 3 main dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

s of Banyumasan language: North area (Tegalan), South area (Banyumasan), and Banten. The Tegalan dialect is spoken in northern areas of Banyumasan: Tanjung, Ketanggungan, Larangan, Brebes, Slawi, Moga, Pemalang, Surodadi and Tegal. The Banyumasan dialect is spoken in southern areas: Bumiayu, Karang Pucung, Cilacap, Nusakambangan Island, Kroya, Ajibarang, Wangon, Purwokerto, Purbalingga, Bobotsari, Banjarnegara, Purwareja, Kebumen and Gombong. The Banten dialect is spoken in north Banten.

In addition, there are several sub-dialects spoken in Banyumasan, such as Bumiayu sub-dialect, Dayeuhluhur sub-dialect, and Ayah sub-dialect.

External links

• Javanese writing system