Javanese language, both in Indonesia and abroad, grows and develops with a variety of backgrounds, which eventually turned to form an enclave with its own characteristics, such as the Javanese language located in Banten Province. Even though Banten Province is not the homeland of the Javanese language, but there is a language being spoken there that is recognized by the speakers as the Javanese language.
The formation of Javanese language enclave in Banten led to the variation between languages. Research conducted by Yeyen Maryani, researcher of Agency for Language Development, Ministry of Education and Culture, said that there are four Javanese dialects on the north coast and the southern coast of Banten province, which are the Dialect of Warung Jaud dialect, Sobang dialect, Rancasenang dialect and Darmasari dialect. “From quantitative calculation, it shows that the kinship of Sobang dialect with Rancasenang dialect is closer than that of Warung Jaud and Darmasari dialect,” Yeyen said in her open examination of doctoral program at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Friday (8/1).
According to Yeyen, the existence of four enclaves that are applied as Javanese-Banten language dialect is strengthened by cultural symbols such as architectural form of the building, clothing, gamelan traditional music,and historical heritage in the form of castle of Banten. In addition, the presence of Javanese-Banten language being spoken by the people in the four enclaves is supported by the presence or Cirebon orJavanese art that still exists in the community.