MADURESE LANGUAGE

an Austronesian language of the Indonesian subfamily, spoken on Madura Island, some smaller offshore islands, and the northern coast of Java, Indonesia. Dialects include Eastern, or Sumenep, and Western, including Bangkalan and Pamekasan. Sumenep is the standard dialect for educational purposes. Madurese has more linguistic similarities to the Malay-Sumatran group than to Javanese or Sundanese, which are geographically closer. Speakers were estimated at more than 8 million in the late 20th century.