Sasak, Meno-Mené dialect

Abstract

Sasak is a Malayo-Sumbawan (Adelaar 2005) language spoken as a primary language in Lombok, Indonesia (see the map in Figure 1). It is estimated to be spoken by 2 million (Clynes 1995) or 2.5 million (Marli 2015) people. Sasak is reported to have four (Jacq 1998) or five (Austin 2003) major dialects, to which Austin (2003) gives informal names based on the pronunciation of the deictic words for ‘like this’ and ‘like that’: Ngenó-Ngené (central northeast, central east, and central west coasts of Lombok), Menó-Mené (central Lombok), Ngotó-Ngeté (northeastern Lombok), Ngenó-Mené, also known as Kutó-Kuté (north Lombok), and Meriaq-Meriku (south central Lombok). The dialects with the broadest geographical distribution are Menó-Mené and Ngenó-Ngené.