Nusa Penida Balinese
Nusa Penidian
Basa Nosa ᬩᬲ​ᬦᭀᬲ
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Bali (Nusa Penida)
Ethnicity	Nusa Penida Balinese (Nak Nusé)
Native speakers	59,900 (2022 census)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Malayo-Sumbawan (?) Bali–Sasak–Sumbawa Balinese Highland Balinese? Nusa Penida Balinese
Writing system	Latin script (Balinese Latin alphabet) 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
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TheNusa Penida Balinese (referred to by its speakers asBasa Nosa), orNusa Penidian, is adialect of theBalinese language spoken by the localBalinese people known locally asNak Nusé that inhabitingNusa Penida, an island located to the south ofBali which is administratively part ofKlungkung Regency. This dialect is considered the most distinct among Balinese dialects, possessing unique features not found in other varieties. Due to Nusa Penida's geographical isolation from mainland Bali, it is sometimes incomprehensible to mainland Balinese speakers.^[2][3] The Nusa Penida dialect is often classified as a subset of the dialect ofBali Aga dialect spoken by theBali Aga people in the highland regions ofBali.

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.^[4] 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.^[4] In addition, like the Bali Aga dialect, the Nusa Penida dialect lacks the speechregister system that is found in lowland Balinese dialects.^[5][6]

Linguistically, the Nusa Penida Balinese is considered a dialect of Balinese, which is aMalayo-Polynesian language within theBali-Sasak-Sumbawa branch of theAustronesian language family.^[7] 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 fromOld 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.^[8]

There is a suspicion that the existence of theBasa Nosa is related to the invasion of theMajapahit Kingdom led by the prime ministerGajah Mada against theKingdom of Bali. After his inauguration ceremony as "Patih Amangkubhumi Majapahit" in 1336 AD (1258 Saka), Gajah Mada and his troops succeeded in conquering the Balinese Kingdom, including Nusa Penida which was referred to as theGurun (?)^[a] in thePalapa oath by Gajah Mada. This conquest is suspected to have influenced the linguistic conditions on both Bali and Nusa Penida, this is reinforced by the many similarities between Balinese, Nusa Penida andJavanese words, such as kola, etc. which is not found in mainland Balinese.^[4]

Currently, the Nusa Penida dialect is widely used only in Nusa Penida inKlungkung 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 ofNusa Lembongan andNusa 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 likeeda (you) andkola (I) in the Nusa Penida dialect. Speakers of the Nusa Lembongan dialect use words likecai orci (you) andcang (I). Another example isəndək (Nusa Penida dialect) andtusing (Nusa Lembongan dialect),geleng-cenik,hangken-kenken, and so on.^[2] 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.^[2]

The Nusa Penida dialect is also used outside Nusa Penida, mainly due to the migration of its speakers following the eruption ofMount Agung in 1963 as well as thetransmigration program enacted by theIndonesian government. Significant speakers relocated to southernSumatra, particularly toBandar Lampung,Palembang,Mesuji, andSouth Lampung.^[9]

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.^[2] 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 ofOld Javanese that have been lost in modernJavanese and mainland Balinese.^[10]

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

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 inhomah,honya,hoba,hobat, andpoles.

• Nusa Penida

• Balinese language
• Subject–verb–object languages
• Culture of Bali

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