Buginese language in the context of "Bugis people"

Indonesia is home to over 700 living languages spoken across its extensive archipelago. This significant linguistic variety constitutes approximately 10% of the world’s total languages, positioning Indonesia as the second most linguistically diverse nation globally, following Papua New Guinea. The majority of these languages belong to the Austronesian language family, prevalent in the western and central regions of Indonesia, including languages such as Acehnese, Sundanese, and Buginese. In contrast, the eastern regions, particularly Papua and the Maluku Islands, are home to over 270 Papuan languages, which are distinct from the Austronesian family and represent a unique linguistic heritage. The language most widely spoken as a native language is Javanese, primarily by the Javanese people in the central and eastern parts of Java Island, as well as across many other islands due to migration.

Languages in Indonesia are classified into nine categories: national language, locally used indigenous languages, regional lingua francas, foreign and additional languages, heritage languages, languages in the religious domain, English as a lingua franca, and sign languages.

The Buginese (Buginese: To Ugi, Lontara script: ᨈᨚ ᨕᨘᨁᨗ; Indonesian: Orang Bugis), or simply Bugis, are an Austronesian ethnic group who are the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassarese and Torajan), in the south-western province of Sulawesi, third-largest island of Indonesia. The Bugis converted from animism to Islam in 1605. A small minority adhere to Christianity and a pre-Islamic indigenous belief called Tolotang.

The Bugis, whose population numbers around six million and constitutes less than 2.5% of the Indonesian population, are influential in the politics of the country, and historically influential on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Lesser Sunda Islands and other parts of the archipelago where they have migrated en masse, starting in the late seventeenth century. The third president of Indonesia, B. J. Habibie, and a former vice president of Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla, are of Bugis descent. In Malaysia, the reigning Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia), Sultan Ibrahim and eighth prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, have Bugis ancestry.

South Sulawesi (Indonesian: Sulawesi Selatan; Lontara: ᨔᨘᨒᨓᨙᨔᨗ ᨔᨛᨒᨈ) is a province in the southern peninsula of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Selayar Islands archipelago to the south of Sulawesi is also part of the province. The capital and largest city is Makassar. The province is bordered by Central Sulawesi and West Sulawesi to the north, the Gulf of Bone and Southeast Sulawesi to the east, Makassar Strait to the west, and Flores Sea to the south.

The 2010 census estimated the population as 8,032,551, which makes South Sulawesi the most populous province on the island (46% of the population of Sulawesi is in South Sulawesi), and the sixth most populous province in Indonesia. At the 2020 Census, this had risen to 9,073,509, and the official estimate as of mid-2024 was 9,463,390 (comprising 4,701,970 males and 4,761,410 females). The main ethnic groups in South Sulawesi are the Buginese, Makassarese and Torajan. The economy of the province is based on agriculture, fishing, and the mining of gold, magnesium, iron, and other metals. The pinisi, a traditional Indonesian two-masted sailing ship, is still used widely by the Buginese and Makassarese, mostly for inter-insular transportation, cargo, and fishing purposes within the Indonesian archipelago.

The Lontara script (ᨒᨚᨈᨑ), also known as the Bugis script, Bugis-Makassar script, or Urupu Sulapa’ Eppa’ "four-cornered letters", is one of Indonesia's traditional scripts developed in the South Sulawesi and West Sulawesi region. The script is primarily used to write the Buginese language, followed by Makassarese and Mandar. Closely related variants of Lontara are also used to write several languages outside of Sulawesi such as Bima, Ende, and Sumbawa. The script was actively used by several South Sulawesi societies for day-to-day and literary texts from at least mid-15th Century CE until the mid-20th Century CE, before its function was gradually supplanted by the Latin alphabet. Today the script is taught in South Sulawesi Province as part of the local curriculum, but with very limited usage in everyday life.

Lontara is an abugida with 23 basic letters. The script is a descendant of Brahmi through Kawi intermediaries. As of other Brahmic scripts, each letter represents a syllable with an inherent vowel /a/, which can be changed with diacritics. The direction of writing is left to right. Traditionally, the script is written without word breaks (scriptio continua) and with little to no punctuation. A typical Lontara text may contain many ambiguities as coda syllables, or consonants at the end of syllables, are normally not written and must be supplied by readers from context.

The Buginese (Buginese: To Ugi, Lontara script: ᨈᨚ ᨕᨘᨁᨗ; Serang script: تَوْ أُوْڬِيْ‎; Indonesian: Suku Bugis), or simply Bugis, are an Austronesian ethnic group who are the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassarese and Torajan), in the south-western province of Sulawesi, third-largest island of Indonesia. The Bugis converted from animism to Islam in 1605. A small minority adhere to Christianity and a pre-Islamic indigenous belief called Tolotang.

The Bugis, whose population numbers around six million and constitutes less than 2.5% of the Indonesian population, are influential in the politics of the country, and historically influential on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Lesser Sunda Islands and other parts of the archipelago where they have migrated en masse, starting in the late seventeenth century. The third president of Indonesia, B. J. Habibie, and a former vice president of Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla, are of Bugis descent. In Malaysia, the reigning Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia), Sultan Ibrahim and eighth prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, have Bugis ancestry.

Makassarese (/məˌkæsəˈriːz/ mə-KASS-ər-EEZ; Basa Mangkasaraʼ, Lontara script: ᨅᨔ ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Makasar script: 𑻤𑻰𑻥𑻠𑻰𑻭, Serang script: بَاسَ مَڠْكَاسَرَءْ, pronounced [ɓasa mãŋˈkʰasaraʔ]), sometimes called Makasar, Makassar, Macassar, or Macassan (Australian English) is a language of the Makassarese people, spoken in South Sulawesi province of Indonesia. It is a member of the South Sulawesi group of the Austronesian language family, and thus closely related to, among others, Buginese, also known as Bugis. The areas where Makassarese is spoken include the Gowa, Sinjai, Maros, Takalar, Jeneponto, Bantaeng, Pangkajene and Islands, Bulukumba, and Selayar Islands Regencies, and Makassar. Within the Austronesian language family, Makassarese is part of the South Sulawesi language group, although its vocabulary is considered divergent compared to its closest relatives. In 2000, Makassarese had approximately 2.1 million native speakers.