Nusa Penida Balinese

The Nusa Penida Balinese (referred to by its speakers as basa Nosa) is a dialect of the Balinese language spoken by the Nak Nusé people, a sub-group of the Balinese people inhabiting Nusa Penida, an island located to the south of Bali which is administratively part of Klungkung Regency. This dialect is considered the most unique and distinct among Balinese dialects, as it is mutually unintelligible with standard Balinese and other Balinese dialects spoken in mainland Bali, due to the geographical isolation of Nusa Penida from mainland Bali. The Nusa Penida dialect is often classified as a subset of the Bali Aga dialect spoken by the Bali Aga people in the highland regions of Bali.

Nusa Penida Balinese
ᬩᬲᬦᬸᬲ
basa nosa
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Bali (Nusa Penida)
Ethnicity	Balinese (Nak Nusé)
Native speakers	59,900 (2022 census)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Malayo-Sumbawan (?) Bali–Sasak–Sumbawa Balinese Nusa Penida Balinese
Writing system	Latin script Balinese script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	nusa1244
Areas in Klungkung Regency where Nusa Penida Balinese is a majority   Areas in Klungkung Regency where Nusa Penida Balinese is a minority

The uniqueness of the Nusa Penida dialect compared to the mainland Balinese dialect generally lies in phonological, morphological, and intonation aspects. The Nusa Penida dialect differs not only in terms of intonation but also in its vocabulary. The intonation of Nusa Penida speakers, which tends to be short in duration and high in pitch, also poses challenges for mainland Balinese speakers to understand what is being said. In addition, like the Bali Aga dialect, the Nusa Penida dialect lacks the speech register system that is found in lowland Balinese dialects.

Classification

Linguistically, the Nusa Penida Balinese is considered a dialect of Balinese, which is a Malayo-Polynesian language within the Bali-Sasak-Sumbawa branch of the Austronesian language family. This dialect is regarded as more closely related to the Bali Aga dialect spoken in the highland regions of mainland Bali than to lowland Balinese. Both the Bali Aga and Nusa Penida dialects are derived from Old Balinese and have preserved features that have been lost in modern Balinese. Numerous studies have classified the Nusa Penida dialect as a subset of the Bali Aga dialect.

Distribution

Currently, the Nusa Penida dialect is widely used only in Nusa Penida in Klungkung Regency. However, it is important to note that not all communities in Nusa Penida use the Nusa Penida dialect. There are several groups of people who communicate using different dialects. On the islands of Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan, which are located next to Nusa Penida, as well as in a small part of Nusa Penida close to these islands, there is a distinct dialect that is quite different from the Nusa Penida dialect. One of the most striking differences is in words like eda (you) and kola (I) in the Nusa Penida dialect. Speakers of the Nusa Lembongan dialect use words like cai or ci (you) and cang (I). Another example is əndək (Nusa Penida dialect) and tusing (Nusa Lembongan dialect), geleng-cenik, hangken-kenken, and so on. Only 13 out of 16 villages in Nusa Penida use the Nusa Penida dialect. The remaining villages either speak the Nusa Lembongan dialect or a dialect resembling mainland Klungkung Balinese.

The Nusa Penida dialect is also used outside Nusa Penida, mainly due to the migration of its speakers following the eruption of Mount Agung in 1963 as well as the transmigration program enacted by the Indonesian government. Significant speakers relocated to southern Sumatra, particularly to Bandar Lampung, Palembang, Mesuji, and East Lampung.

Phonology

This dialect is often classified as a sub-dialect of another variant within the Balinese language, namely the Bali Aga language. However, there is a notable difference between the two dialects, namely the loss or reduction of the phoneme /a/ at the end of words. This classification arises because the Nusa Penida dialect shares linguistic features with the Aga dialect, described as follows:

• The distribution of the phoneme /h/ at the beginning and middle of words;
• The presence of the endings /-ñə/ and /-cə/, which are allophonic morphemes of the ending /-ə/;
• The speakers' intonation tends to have a faster tempo and stronger stress;
• Vocabulary in the Nusa Penida dialect resembles that of the Aga dialect and its other sub-dialects.

The characteristics described above also demonstrate that both the Bali Aga dialect and the Nusa Penida dialect retain features of Old Javanese that have been lost in modern Javanese and mainland Balinese.

Vocabulary

Below is a comparison of several vocabulary words in the Nusa Penida dialect and standard Balinese:

Nusa Penida Balinese	Standard Balinese	Indonesian	English
kola, kéla	tiyang, canǵ	aku	I
jaba	dija	dimana	where
eda, ida	cai, awaké	kamu	you
lepéh	kényél	lelah	tired
homah	umah	rumah	house
hoba	suba	sudah	finish
honya	onya	semua	all
béhas	baas	beras	rice grains
béhat	baat	berat	heavy
endék	tusing	tidak	no
layah	layah, séduk	lapar	hungry
toya, yéh	toya, yéh	air	water
dəpinñə	dəpin	biarkan	let it be
pohun	puwun	terbakar	burned
paloh	aluh	mudah	easy

In standard Balinese, the initial letter [u] is commonly used, whereas in the Nusa Penida dialect, [u] is replaced and pronounced as [o]. Additionally, the letters [o] and [h] are more frequently used at the beginning of words, such as in homah, honya, hoba, hobat, and poles.

See also

• Nusa Penida