The Place of Javanese English Among Globally Known Varieties of Englishes in Asia

Abstract

Javanese English might not be as familiar as other varieties of World Englishes in Asia such as Singaporean English or Indian English. However, since speeches delivered by some Indonesian presidents who happen to be Javanese have been heard in several international forums for the past 20 years, this locally known variety of English has gradually been reckoned in Asian communities and perhaps in the global world. Although still far from being globally known by the whole world, Javanese English is likely to appear as one of the mostly known English varieties from Indonesia due to its many speakers who are Javanese. Even so, the existence of Javanese English itself is still doubted by the Indonesians because of several factors. Favored or not, Javanese English is likely to assist Indonesian government in competing with fellow Asian countries in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) or in achieving its 17 Sustainable Develompent Goals (SDGs) along with most countries in the world. How Javanese English can have a pivotal role to help the government in its strive for advancement might still be debatable. Nevertheless, the writers believe that there is a potential place for Javanese English in the scope of international interactions among other World Englishes particularly known in Asia which can be beneficial to the development of Indonesia. This paper tries to scrutinize the prospects of Javanese English as well as the doubts toward Javanese English by presenting an ongoing study on the intelligibility of Javanese English sampled from several proficient nonnative English speakers in a qualitative perspective.