Sasak language

The Sasak language (/ˈsɑːsɑːk/ SAH-sahk; Base Sasaq, IPA: [["basə ˈsasak"]] , Sasak script: ᬪᬵᬲᬵᬲᬓ᭄ᬳᬓ᭄; Indonesian: Bahasa Sasak [["baˈha.sa ˈsasak"]] ) or Sasaknese is spoken by the Sasak ethnic group, who make up most 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 nearby islands and belongs to the larger Austronesian language family. Though Sasak does not have official status, the national language Indonesian is used in official and literary contexts in areas where Sasak is spoken.

Sasak has several dialects that match different regions of Lombok, and speakers of these dialects sometimes find it hard to understand each other. The language also has a special way of speaking where different words are used based on the social status of the person being spoken to, much like in Javanese and Balinese cultures.

Today, Sasak is not often used in writing or reading, but it is still used in traditional texts written on dried lontar leaves for special ceremonies. In the past, Sasak used a writing system very similar to the Balinese script.

Speakers

Sasak is spoken by the Sasak people on the island of Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Lombok lies between the island of Bali and Sumbawa. In 2010, about 2.7 million people spoke Sasak, making up roughly 85 percent of Lombok’s population.

While Sasak is used in families and villages, it does not have an official status. The national language, Indonesian, is used for education, government, reading and writing, and talking between different groups of people. Besides the Sasak, about 300,000 Balinese people also live on Lombok, mostly in the west near Mataram, the main city. In busy areas with many different groups, some people switch between Sasak and Indonesian when they talk, but they still use Sasak.

Classification and related languages

Sasak is part of a big group of languages called Austronesian. Experts think it is most closely related to the Sumbawa and Balinese languages. These three languages are often called the Balinese-Sasak-Sumbawa group.

Some experts also think Sasak, along with languages like Javanese and Sundanese, belong to a group called "Western Indonesian." The old literary language Kawi, based on Old Javanese, has also influenced Sasak. It is used in special performances, poems, and important writings in Sasak culture.

Phonology

Sasak has eight vowels, and they can sound a bit different depending on the dialect. These vowels are written with letters like a, e, i, o, and u. Sometimes extra marks are added to these letters to show slightly different sounds, similar to how Indonesian uses special marks.

Diphthongs

In Sasak, some words have diphthongs, which are two vowels mixed together in one syllable. Examples include sounds like /ae/, /ai/, /au/, /ia/, /uə/, and /oe/.

Morphophonology

Words in Sasak usually have their stress on the last syllable. Sometimes, the vowel a at the end of a word changes its sound a little bit. For example, the word for "to read" is /baca/, but it sounds like bace when spoken alone. However, when we add something to the word, like in bacaan meaning "reading" or pembacaan meaning "reading instrument," the a keeps its original sound.

When two words are joined together, if the first word ends in a vowel, a special nasal sound /n/ (or sometimes /ŋ/) is added between them. For instance, joining mate ("eye") and bulu ("hair") gives us maten bulu, meaning "eyelash."

Grammar

Sasak has a flexible way of arranging words in sentences, which is common in western Indonesian languages. The order of words can change depending on the type of verb used. Sentences with certain verbs usually follow the order of subject-verb-object, much like in other languages in the area. But with other verbs, the word order can vary more.

Verbs in Sasak do not change to show when something happens or how it is viewed. Instead, they can appear in two forms: a basic form and a nasal form, which adds a special beginning sound. For example, the basic word for "to buy" is beli, and the nasal form is mbeli. This nasal form can also turn nouns into verbs, like turning kupi ("coffee") into ngupi ("to drink coffee").

Sasak also uses small words called clitics that attach to other words. For example, ni means "this" and can attach to a noun, like in dengan ni meaning "this person." Other clitics can show ownership, such as ku meaning "my," turning ime ("hand") into imengku ("my hand").

Variations

Sasak has different ways of speaking depending on where you are and who you are talking to. People from different parts of Lombok Island speak Sasak a little differently, and there are five main groups of these differences. However, experts say there are even more differences than these five names show.

Sasak also changes how words are used based on who someone is. This is similar to how people speak in Balinese, Javanese, and Korean. There are three levels to show how important the person you are speaking to is, and another way to show how the speaker feels about themselves compared to the other person. For example, the word for "you" can change depending on this level. The simpler, everyday words have many regional differences, but the more polite and formal words stay mostly the same across Sasak.

Literature

The Sasak people have a special way of writing on dried leaves from the lontar palm. Long ago, the powerful Majapahit empire, which ruled areas including Lombok, likely brought writing to the island in the fourteenth century. The oldest surviving lontar texts are from the nineteenth century. Many of these important texts were collected by the Dutch and are now kept in libraries in Leiden or Bali. The Mataram Museum in Lombok also has a collection, and many families on the island keep these texts as precious heirlooms to share with future generations.

Today, people still read these lontar texts during special performances called pepaòsan. These readings happen at important events like funerals, weddings, and circumcision ceremonies. In rural areas, Sasak people read these texts as part of a ritual to help their farm animals stay healthy. In 2002, a pepaòsan was performed during a circumcision ceremony using paper copies of the lontar texts.

The lontar texts from Lombok are written in Sasak, Kawi (an old literary language based on Javanese), or a mix of both. They use a special script called hanacaraka, which is almost the same as Balinese script. The basic letters include a consonant with the vowel a. For other vowels, special marks called diacritics are added above, below, or around the letter. This writing system is also known as the Sasak script.