Tenggerese dialect

Geographic distribution and usage

Tenggerese is primarily spoken by the Tenggerese people who inhabit areas in and around the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in East Java, which is administratively divided among the regencies of Pasuruan, Probolinggo, Malang, and Lumajang. Tenggerese villages are concentrated in eastern Malang, southern Pasuruan, southwestern Probolinggo, and northwestern Lumajang. The Tengger people form the majority population in Tosari District (Pasuruan) and Sukapura District (Probolinggo). They are also found in several other villages, including Ledokombo, Pandansari, and Wonokerso in Sumber District (Probolinggo); Keduwung and Pusung Malang in Puspo District (Pasuruan); Kayu Kebek, Blarang, Andono Sari, and Ngadirejo in Tutur District (Pasuruan); Ngadas in Poncokusumo District (Malang); as well as Argosari and Ranu Pani in Senduro District (Lumajang). Of all the villages, only Ngadas and Ranu Pani fall within the boundaries of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, and are therefore designated as protected conservation areas. Most of the Tengger villages are located in mountainous and rugged terrain at elevations of up to 2,100 meters above sea level. Their relative isolation—from one another as well as from the outside world—has not only helped preserve the language but also fostered noticeable variation in Tenggerese across different villages.

Tenggerese is the primary language used in daily communication within the Tengger community. It is mostly employed in informal and semi-formal settings, such as conversations with family and friends or in village meetings. In formal contexts, such as schools, Standard Javanese and Indonesian are generally used, although Tenggerese may also be spoken when the teachers are native Tengger speakers. The language also plays an important role in cultural life, being used in traditional ceremonies and rituals, particularly in the recitation of mantras and oral literature such as folktales. Traditional Tengger ceremonies, including weddings, continue to be conducted in Tenggerese. Tenggerese speakers, especially adults, are generally bilingual or trilingual. They are proficient in Tenggerese and Arekan Javanese (basa ngisor). Tenggerese is used in communication among fellow Tengger people, while basa ngisor is employed when speaking with non-Tengger Javanese. Although code-switching occurs when necessary, Tenggerese remains the consistent medium of communication within the community, even in the presence of outsiders. In addition, most speakers are fluent in Indonesian, the national language, and many also have competence in English, due to the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park being a major tourist destination frequently visited by international travelers.

Dialects and varieties

Tengger villages in and around the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park are geographically separated by mountain slopes and forests, making them difficult to access. This isolation has contributed to the development of variations in the Tenggerese language, particularly in phonology and vocabulary. Nevertheless, these local differences are relatively minor, and the varieties remain mutually intelligible. The variety most commonly regarded as the "standard" is that of Ngadisari village in Sukapura, Probolinggo.

There are minor vocabulary differences among the various Tenggerese villages. For example, the word reyang 'I (male speaker)' is used in Ngadisari as a subject pronoun. In Ngadas village in Malang, however, although the word is known, it is never used; instead, the form eyang 'I (male speaker)' is employed, both as a subject and as a possessive suffix. Thus, the sentence Reyang kate nang pasar 'I want to go to the market', as spoken in Ngadisari, would be expressed in Ngadas as Eyang kate nang pasar. Another difference can be seen in the imperative form. In Ngadisari, the form gawanen 'bring [it]' is used consistently, whereas in Ngadas it becomes gawaen. Similarly, the Ngadisari form nak gawa 'bring [it]' corresponds to nik gawa in Ngadas. Certain Tenggerese varieties have also come under the influence of the Arekan dialect of Javanese, as reflected in the adoption of loanwords.

Phonological differences can be observed among the Tenggerese varieties spoken in different villages. In Pasuruan Regency, for example, the speech of Ngadirejo differs systematically from that of Mororejo. In Ngadirejo, the word for ‘you’ is siro /sirɔ/, while in Mororejo it is sira /sira/, showing a difference in the vowel phoneme. Similarly, in Ngadirejo the numeral ‘six’ is enem /ǝnǝm/, whereas Mororejo speakers use nenem /nǝnǝm/, which involves the addition of an extra syllable. A comparable pattern can be seen in the word for ‘sick’, which appears as loro /lɔrɔ/ in Ngadirejo but as lara /lara/ in Mororejo. In Sapikerep village in Sukapura, Probolinggo, the Tengger language often experiences code mixing with the Madurese language which is also spoken there.

Phonology

Tenggerese, like many other regional languages in Indonesia, lacks a standardized phonological system. Nevertheless, many of the phonological system designed for Tenggerese is loosely based on standard Indonesian orthography, especially the system created by the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology.

Tenggerese differs from Standard Mataram Javanese in several phonological aspects. In Standard Javanese, the phoneme 'a' occurs only in closed ultima syllables, as in paran /paran/ ‘visit’, tekan /təkan/ ‘arrive’, and tandang /tandaɳ/ ‘work’. In contrast, the phoneme 'ɔ' appears in both open and closed ultima syllables, as in para /pɔrɔ/ ‘the’, teka /təkɔ/ ‘come’, tandha /tɔnɖɔ/ ‘sign’, lontong /lɔnʈɔŋ/ ‘rice cake’, and bolong /bɔlɔŋ/ ‘hollowed out’. In Tenggerese, however, the phoneme 'a' can occur in both open and closed ultima syllables, as in aba /aba/ ‘sound’, cora /cora/ ‘thief’, dewa /dewa/ ‘deity’, paran /paran/, sah /sah/ ‘separated’, and mihat /mihat/ ‘looking at’. Meanwhile, the phoneme 'ɔ' is restricted to closed ultima syllables, as in kokoh /kɔkɔh/ ‘rustic rice’, rondon /rɔndɔn/ ‘leaf’, and cor /cɔr/ ‘oath’.

Vowels

Like Standard Javanese, Tenggerese has six vowels. These vowels are /i/, /e/, /ə/, /a/, /u/, and /o/.

Notes:

• In writing, and are both represented as ⟨e⟩.

Consonants

Tenggerese has 20 consonants.

Notes: In writing, the following phonemes are represented as thus:

• is ⟨ng⟩
• is ⟨ny⟩
• is ⟨c⟩
• is ⟨j⟩
• is ⟨y⟩
• is ⟨ṭ⟩ or ⟨th⟩
• is ⟨ḍ⟩ or ⟨dh⟩

Diphthongs

There are seven diphthongs in Tenggerese: /ai/, /ae/, /ao/, /au/, /oa/, /ua/, and /uə/. Each of these diphthongs can appear in various positions within a word, including the medial and final positions, as shown below.

Grammar

Tenggerese generally employs SVO word order like Standard Javanese. However, it can also exhibit VSO and occasionally VOS word order.

Affixes

Tenggerese, like many other Austronesian languages, is agglutinative, with base words modified through the extensive use of affixes. Affixation alters the meaning or grammatical function of the base word. Tenggerese employs a range of affixes, including prefixes, suffixes, infixes, and circumfixes. The table below presents examples of these affixes in use.

Vocabulary

A few examples of words in Tenggerese dialect:

When the letter ⟨a⟩ is read as ⟨o⟩ in Surakarta Javanese, in Tenggerese it is still read as ⟨a⟩ such as the Banyumasan and Tegal Javanese dialects.