Sasak language

The Sasak language ( SAH-sahk; Base Sasaq, IPA: [ˈbasə ˈsasak], Sasak script: ᬪᬵᬲᬵᬲᬓ᭄ᬱᬓ᭄; Indonesian: Bahasa Sasak [baˈha.sa ˈsasak]) or Sasaknese 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. 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.