IP 199 Balinese

The language: Balinese is an Austronesian / Malayo-Polynesian language spoken on the island of Bali which is part of Indonesia. It is related to most other languages in the area such as Indonesian, Malay, Javanese and Sasak, to mention the nearest languages. There are about two million speakers of the language who live on the island and take part in a very fascinating cultural life.

The course: At the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Balinese has been taught on an intermittent basis, usually in response to the needs of students and staff who have already extensively studied Bahasa Indonesia and who plan to conduct research and study in Bali. The course has been conducted on a non-intensive [one credit] basis and builds on structural and lexical links to Indonesian while pointing out the uniqueness of Balinese.

Materials: Materials consist of readings from traditional texts and the use of tape recordings of these selections of Balinese literature [mostly prose]. The tapes have been recorded by a native speaker of Balinese. The course may be repeated and then some work on the traditional Balinese writing system may be included depending on the interests of the students.

For more information, contact the
Coordinator of the Tahitian Language Program
Prof. Jack H. Ward
Department of Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific Languages & Literatures
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Honolulu, HI 96822
Telephone: 808.956.3561
email: jward@hawaii.edu