Madurese is a language of the Madurese people of Madura Island and eastern 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...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

; it is also spoken on the neighbouring small Kangean Islands

Kangean Islands

The Kangean Islands form an archipelago part of Indonesia, are located in the Java Sea approximately north of Bali and 120 km east of Madura Island. The islands are administratively a part of Sumenep Regency within East Java province.The largest island, at about 490 km², is Kangean Island...

 and Sapudi Islands, as well as from migrants to other parts of Indonesia, namely the Tapal Kuda area comprising Pasuruan

Pasuruan

Pasuruan is a city and regency of East Java, Java....

, Surabaya

Surabaya

Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...

, Malang

Malang

Malang is the second largest city in East Java province, Indonesia. It has an ancient history dating back to the Mataram Kingdom. The city population at the 2010 Census was 819,708. During the period of Dutch colonization, it was a popular destination for European residents. The city is famous for...

 until Banyuwangi

Banyuwangi

The Regency of Banyuwangi is located at the easternmost end of the Indonesian island of Java and it is a very strategic area for those who want to go to Bali, since it also serves as an important ferry port between Java and Bali. It is surrounded by mountains and forests to the west; by sea to the...

, Masalembu Islands

Masalembu Islands

Masalembu Islands lie in the Java Sea about halfway between Java and Borneo. They are administratively part of Masalembu District of Sumenep Regency of Madura, province of East Java. Madurese is spoken on the island. The 3 main islands are Masalembu Island, Masakambing Island, and Keramaian...

, even some on Kalimantan. The Kangean dialect

Kangean language

Kangean is a language spoken in Indonesia, in the Kangean Islands which lie to the east of Madura Island. It is barely intelligible with Madurese proper....

 may be a separate language. It was traditionally written in the Javanese script

Javanese script

The Javanese alphabet, natively known as Hanacaraka or Carakan , known by the Sundanese people as Cacarakan is the pre-colonial script used to write the Javanese language....

, but the Latin alphabet

Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...

 is now more commonly used. The number of speakers, though shrinking, is estimated to be 8-13 million.

Links between Bali–Sasak languages and Madurese are more evident with the "low" form (common form). There are some common words between Madurese and Filipino languages as well as between Madurese and Banjar

Banjar

Banjar may refer to:*Banjar people, an ethnic group in Asia*Banjar language of the Banjar people*Banjar, India, a town in Himachal Pradesh, India*Banjar, West Java, a city in West Java province of Indonesia...

. There are several dialects.

Phonology and morphology

Madurese has more consonant

Consonant

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...

s than its neighboring languages due to it having voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated

Aspiration (phonetics)

In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...

, and voiced sounds. Similar to 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...

, it has a contrast between dental and alveolar

Alveolar consonant

Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...

 (even retroflex

Retroflex consonant

A retroflex consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants, especially in Indology...

) stops
. Nouns are not inflected in gender and are plural

Plural

In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...

ized via reduplication

Reduplication

Reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word is repeated exactly or with a slight change....

. Its basic word order is SVO. Negation

Negation

In logic and mathematics, negation, also called logical complement, is an operation on propositions, truth values, or semantic values more generally. Intuitively, the negation of a proposition is true when that proposition is false, and vice versa. In classical logic negation is normally identified...

 is expressed by putting a negative particle before the verb, adjective or noun phrase

Noun phrase

In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....

. As with other similar languages there are different negative particles for different kinds of negation.

Common words

• Man: lalake
• Woman: babine
• Yes: iya
• No: enja
• Water: aeng
• Sun: are
• Three: tello'
• I/me: sengko'
• You: be'en