Bima language

Bima (endonym: Nggahi Mbojo [ᵑɡa.hi ᵐbo.d͡ʒo]), or Bimanese, is an Austronesian language spoken on the eastern half of Sumbawa Island, Indonesia by the Bimanese and Dompuan peoples (Bima-Dompu), which it shares with speakers of the Sumbawa language. Bima territory includes the Sanggar Peninsula, where the extinct Papuan language, Tambora, was once spoken. Bima is an exonym; the autochthonous name for the territory is Mbojo and the language is referred to as Nggahi Mbojo. There are over half a million Bima speakers. Neither the Bima nor the Sumbawa people have alphabets of their own for they use the alphabets of the Bugis and the Malay language indifferently. Bimanese is also spoken in several areas of Sumbawa Regency, Lombok, and East Nusa Tenggara (primaly in Komodo island and eastern part of Flores). In Flores, Bima is spoken by people in the Reo, Pota, and East Manggarai regions.