Austronesian · ISO 639-3 mak
Makasar Language ᨅᨔ ᨆᨀᨔᨑ
Makasar is an Austronesian language spoken by about 1.9 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin and Buginese scripts.
Where Makasar is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
About the Makasar language
Makasar (ᨅᨔ ᨆᨀᨔᨑ) is spoken by about 1.9 million people, which makes it the 324th most spoken language in the world — just behind Defi Gbe (1.9 million) and ahead of Makassar Malay (1.9 million). It belongs to the Austronesian language family and, more precisely, to the Nuclear Makassaric group within the Greater South Sulawesi branch.
Where is Makasar spoken?
Makasar is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Indonesia (2.1 million).
Makasar is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Makasar is written in the Latin and Buginese scripts. Glottolog classifies it as threatened, meaning fewer children learn it than in the past.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Buginese.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 mak.
Frequently asked questions about Makasar
How many people speak Makasar?
Where is Makasar spoken?
What language family does Makasar belong to?
What is Makasar called in Makasar?
Is Makasar 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.