Sasak language
The Sasak language (base Sasak or basâ Sasak, Balinese script: ᬍᬩᬶᬄᬤᭂᬫᭂᬦ᭄) is spoken by the Sasak ethnic group, which make up the majority of the population of Lombok, an island in the West Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. It is closely related to the Balinese and Sumbawa languages spoken on adjacent islands, and is part of the Austronesian language family. Sasak has no official status; the national language, Indonesian, is the official and literary language in areas where Sasak is spoken.
| Sasak | |
|---|---|
| ᬍᬩᬶᬄᬤᭂᬫᭂᬦ᭄ Base Sasak Basâ Sasak | |
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Lombok |
| Ethnicity | Sasak |
Native speakers | 2.7 million (2010) |
| Balinese script, Latin | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Regulated by | Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | sas |
| ISO 639-3 | sas |
| Glottolog | sasa1249 |
| ELP | Sasak |
Linguistic map of Lombok, based on 1981 data. Areas with Sasak speakers are shown in green, and Balinese speakers in red. | |
Some of its dialects, which correspond to regions of Lombok, have a low mutual intelligibility. Sasak has a system of speech levels in which different words are used depending on the social level of the addressee relative to the speaker, similar to neighbouring Javanese and Balinese.
Not widely read or written today, Sasak is used in traditional texts written on dried lontar leaves and read on ceremonial occasions. Traditionally, Sasak's writing system is nearly identical to Balinese script.