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Bawean

About Me and My Language

That's me playing Balinese Gamelan

Orthography            Morphology          Syntax          Language Use      Word List

        Hi, I am roma. I am from a beautiful small Island called Bawean, located in the north of Gresik city, East Java, Indonesia. I am a master student at Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA. I joined with LDTC in order to make the written form and a dictionary of Bawean language. I am interested in establishing Bawean writing system with regard to the fact that Bawean is only a spoken language used in homes and other informal contexts. My national language which is Indonesia language is predominant as we are required to use it at schools and offices. Besides, most Bawean people are exposed to other languages such as Javanese language and Malay Language when they are studying in other islands and working in foreign countries particularly in Malaysia and Singapore. In those countries, Bawean is called “Boyan”.

11/22/2011, Honolulu, Hawaii
Naddha No’on (thank you)

Contact Email mukarram@hawaii.edu
Preferred name(s) of your language Bawean
Alternative names Boyan
Language classification Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Malayo-Sumbawan, Madurese, Bawean
Approximate number of speakers About 70,000 on Bawean Island (2010 census) and estimated around 200,000 in Singapore and Malaysia (digilib.petra.ac.id).
Other languages spoken in the area/country Indonesia, Javanese, Madurese
Official language(s) in your country Indonesia
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Background of the Language

According to www.ethnologue.org, Bawean is classified as one of Madurese dialects. In my opinion, however, Bawean and Madura are different languages. Probably, the classification is based on the fact that some Bawean words are similar with Madura, but not only does the language have influence on Bawean, Indonesia and Javanese also has the same role on forming Bawean language. The similarities and the differences will be seen in the dictionary. In addition, the culture of migration has been a potential threat to the existence of Bawean Language: only in Bawean Island is language passed to younger generation, but the younger generation in Singapore and Malaysia do not necessarily use Bawean. 

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Bawean language family tree