Austronesian · ISO 639-3 pse
Central Malay Language Bahasa Pasemah
Central Malay is an Austronesian language spoken by about 1.6 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Central Malay is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Central Malay
Language family
- Austronesian
- Malayo-Polynesian
- Malayo-Chamic
- Malayic
- Nuclear Malayic
- South Sumatra Malay
- Central Malay
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Central Malay language
Central Malay (Bahasa Pasemah) is spoken by about 1.6 million people, which makes it the 357th most spoken language in the world — just behind Western Maninkakan (1.6 million) and ahead of Scots (1.6 million). It belongs to the Austronesian language family and, more precisely, to the South Sumatra Malay group within the Malayo-Chamic branch.
Where is Central Malay spoken?
Central Malay is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Indonesia (1.6 million).
Central Malay is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Central Malay is written in the Latin script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Indonesian, Minangkabau, Betawi, Bukit Malay, Banjar, Pattani Malay and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 pse.
Frequently asked questions about Central Malay
How many people speak Central Malay?
Where is Central Malay spoken?
What language family does Central Malay belong to?
What is Central Malay called in Central Malay?
Is Central Malay an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.