Tenggerese dialect

Tenggerese (Tenggerese: ꦧꦱꦠꦼꦁꦒꦼꦂ, Basa Tengger), sometimes referred to as Tengger Javanese, is a dialect of Javanese spoken by the Tenggerese people, a subgroup of the Javanese who live in villages located in the mountainous areas surrounding the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, administratively within the regencies of Pasuruan, Probolinggo, Malang, and Lumajang in East Java, Indonesia. The dialects differs from Surakarta Javanese, as it retains many features of Kawi, or Old Javanese, particularly in its phonology and vocabulary—a result of the geographic isolation of its speakers. Some linguists, however, consider Tenggerese a descendant of the ancient Kawi language, as it preserves archaic vocabulary no longer found in other Javanese dialects. The language closely related to Arekan Javanese and Osing language of Banyuwangi, which likewise preserves many features of Kawi. But in terms of pronunciation, this dialect is similar to the Banyumasan Javanese or Wonosobo dialect.

In the Tenggerese villages within the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, the Tenggerese language remains widely spoken as a means of daily communication and continues to be used in cultural practices and rituals such as ancestral worships. The Tengger language consists of several varieties and isolects that may differ between villages in vocabulary and grammar, largely due to geographic separation. In recent times, it has been increasingly influenced by the Arekan dialect of Javanese, which is widely spoken in East Java, as well as by Indonesian, the national language of Indonesia, particularly in formal domains such as education. Today, most Tenggerese people are bilingual or even trilingual. Code-switching between Tenggerese, Arekan Javanese, and Indonesian is common among the Tenggerese-speaking community, particularly in interactions with non-Tenggerese speakers.