Madurese is a language of the Madurese people, native to the Madura Island and Eastern Java, Indonesia; it is also spoken by migrants to other parts of Indonesia, namely the eastern salient of Java (comprising Pasuruan, Surabaya, Malang, to Banyuwangi), the Masalembu Islands and even some on Kalimantan.

The number of speakers, though shrinking, is estimated to be 10-13 million, making it one of the most widely spoken languages in the country.

Thus, despite apparent geographic spread, Madurese is more related to Balinese, Malay, Sasak and Sundanese, than it is to Javanese, the language used on the island of Java just across Madura Island.

[3] Madurese has more consonants than its neighboring languages due to it having voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated (traditionally often transcribed as voiced aspirated), and voiced unaspirated.

Similar to Javanese, it has a contrast between dental and alveolar (even retroflex) stops.