About Me and My Language

Name: Khairunnisa
Contact:khairunn, lpappas
Preferred language name(s): Sasak
Alternative names: Lombok
Language classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Malayo-Sumbawan, North & East Malayo-Sumbawan, Bali-Sasak-Sumbawa, Sasak-Sumbawa
Geographical areas where spoken: Nusa Tenggara Barat Province, Lombok Island
Approximate number of speakers: 2.7 million (2013)
Other languages spoken in the community: Indonesian, Taliwang
Official language(s) in your country: Indonesian
Other language(s) in your country: More than 700 languages mostly belonging to the Austronesian language family
Does your language have a widely accepted writing system?
Yes. People tend to use their intuition with the Indonesian writing system.

If yes, what materials are written?
There is a Sasak dictionary. However, there are no published books in the language. People generally use it in informal writing situations such as text messaging.

Language Background

Threatened

Inter-generational transmission:
Some adults know the language, but do not speak it to children. (Urban)
Most adults and some children are speakers. (Rural)
Intergenerational transmission is declining in urban areas. If an adult becomes educated, they no longer use Sasak with their children, opting instead for Indonesian.
Absolute number of speakers:
>100000

Speaker number trends:
About half of community members speak the language; speakers are diminishing. Most adults speak the language,
Domains of use of the language:
The language is being replaced even in the home; some speakers may values their language while the majority support language shift. No literacy or education programs exist for the language; government encourages shift to the majority language.

What have other sources said about Sasak?

	Reported # of speakers	Vitality Assessment
endangeredlanguages.com	–	–
ethnologue.com	2.1 million (1989)	5 (Developing)
en.wikipedia.org	2.1 million (1989)	–