Dialects of modern Javanese

There are three main groups of Javanese dialects based on the sub region where the speakers live. They are: Western Javanese, Central Javanese and Eastern Javanese. The differences between these dialectical groups are primarily pronunciation and, to a lesser extent, vocabulary. All Javanese dialects are more or less mutually intelligible.
The Central Javanese variant, based on the speech of Surakarta (and also to a degree of Yogyakarta), is considered as the most "refined" Javanese dialect. Accordingly standard Javanese is based on this dialect. These two cities are the seats of the four Javanese principalities, heirs to the Mataram Sultanate, which once reigned over almost the whole of Java and beyond. Speakers spread from north to south of the Central Java province and utilize many dialects, such as Muria and Semarangan, as well as Surakarta and Yogyakarta. To a lesser extent, there are also dialects such as those used in Pekalongan or Dialek Pantura and Kebumen (a variation of Banyumasan). The variations of Javanese dialect in Central Java are said to be so plentiful that almost all administrative regions have their own native slang that is only recognizable by people from that region, but those minor dialects are not distinctive to most Javanese speakers.
In addition to Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces, Central Javanese is also used in the western part of East Java province. For example, Javanese spoken in the Madiun region bears a strong influence of Surakarta Javanese (as well as Javanese spoken in Ponorogo, Pacitan, and Tulungagung), while Javanese spoken in Bojonegoro and Tuban is similar to that spoken in the Pati region (Muria dialect).
Western Javanese, spoken in the western part of the Central Java province and throughout the West Java province (particularly in the north coast region), contains dialects which are distinct for their Sundanese influences and which still maintain many archaic words. The dialects include North Banten, Banyumasan, Tegal, Jawa Serang, North coast, Indramayu (or Dermayon) and Cirebonan (or Basa Cerbon).
Eastern Javanese speakers range from the eastern banks of Kali Brantas in Kertosono to Banyuwangi, comprising the majority of the East Java province, excluding Madura island. However, the dialect has been influenced by Madurese, and is sometimes referred to as Surabayan speech.
The most aberrant dialect is spoken in Balambangan (or Banyuwangi) in the eastern-most part of Java. It is generally known as Basa Osing. Osing is the word for negation and is a cognate of the Balinese tusing, Balinese being the neighboring language directly to the east. In the past this area of Java was in possession of Balinese kings and warlords.
In addition to these three main Javanese dialects, there is Surinamese Javanese. Surinamese Javanese is mainly based on the Central Javanese dialect, especially from the Kedu residency.

 Pronunciation

Most Javanese people, except those who live in West Java, accept the pronunciation of the phoneme "a" as /ɔ/. Therefore, there is a different pronunciation of many words; for example apa (Eng.=what) is pronounced /apaʔ/ in Western Javanese and /ɔːpɔː/ in Central and Eastern Javanese.
When there is a condition of phoneme stem VCV (Vowel-Consonant-Vowel) with the same vowels, Central Javanese speakers drop the second vowel into another sound, with the following formula: "i" becomes /e/ and "u" becomes /o/, the Easterns drop both of the vowels, whereas Western Javanese maintains the sounds "i" and "u". So the word cilik (Eng.= small), is pronounced /tʃileʔ/ in Central, /tʃeːleʔ/ in Eastern, and /tʃilik/ in Western Javanese; the word tutup is pronounced /tutop/ in Central, /toːtop/ in Eastern, and /tutup/ in Western Javanese.

 Vocabulary

The vocabulary of Javanese language is enriched by dialectal words. For example, to get the meaning of "you", Western Javanese speakers say rika /rikaʔ/, Eastern Javanese use kon /kɔn/, and Central Javanese speakers say kowe /kowe/. Another example is the expression of "how": the Tegal dialect of Western Javanese uses kepriben /kəpriben/, the Banyumasan dialect of Western Javanese employs kepriwe /kəpriwe/ or kepriwen /kəpriwen/, Eastern Javanese speakers say yok apa /jɔʔ ɔpɔ/ - originally means "like what" (Javanese: kaya apa), and Central Javanese speakers say piye /piye/.