Bali–Sasak–Sumbawa languages

Bali–Sasak–Sumbawa
Geographic
distribution		Indonesia (Bali and West Nusa Tenggara)
Linguistic classificationAustronesian
Proto-languageProto-Bali–Sasak–Sumbawa
Language codes
Glottologbali1277
Distribution of Bali-Sasak-Sumbawa languages: Balinese (blue), Sasak (red), and Sumbawa (orange).

The Bali–Sasak–Sumbawa languages are a group of closely related languages spoken in Indonesia in the western Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali and West Nusa Tenggara). The three languages are Balinese on Bali, Sasak on Lombok, and Sumbawa on western Sumbawa.[1]

The Malayo Sumbawa languages
(Bali-Sasak-Sumbawa languages are circled in green)


These languages have similarities with Javanese, which several classifications have taken as evidence of a relationship between them. However, the similarities are with the "high" registers (formal language/royal speech) of Balinese and Sasak; when the "low" registers (commoner speech) are considered, the connection appears instead to be with Madurese and Malay. (See Malayo-Sumbawan languages.)

The position of the Bali–Sasak–Sumbawa languages within the Malayo-Polynesian languages is unclear. Adelaar (2005) assigned them to a larger "Malayo-Sumbawan" subgroup, [2] but this proposal remains controversial.[3][4]

Languages

Language Native name Historical script Modern script Number of speakers (in millions) Native region
Balinese Basa Bali
ᬩᬲᬩᬮᬶ 		Balinese script Latin script 3.3 (2000) Bali, Lombok, Java
Sasak Base Sasak
ᬪᬵᬲᬵᬲᬓ᭄ᬱᬓ᭄ 		Balinese script Latin script 2.7 (2010) Lombok
Sumbawa ᨈᨘ ᨔᨆᨓ
Basa Samawa 		Lontara script Latin script 0.3 (1989) Sumbawa

References

  1. ^ Adelaar, K. Alexander (2005). "The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar: a historical perspective". In Adelaar, K. Alexander; Himmelmann, Nikolaus (eds.). The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar. London: Routledge. pp. 1–42.
  2. ^ Adelaar, Alexander (2005). "Malayo-Sumbawan". Oceanic Linguistics. 44 (2): 357–388. JSTOR 3623345.
  3. ^ Blust, Robert (2010). "The Greater North Borneo Hypothesis". Oceanic Linguistics. 49 (1): 44–118. doi:10.1353/ol.0.0060. JSTOR 40783586.
  4. ^ Smith, Alexander D. (December 2017). "The Western Malayo-Polynesian Problem". Oceanic Linguistics. 56 (2). University of Hawai'i Press: 435–490. doi:10.1353/ol.2017.0021.