Javanese is spoken by over 95 million people, mostly on Central and Eastern Java, with smaller speech communities in Indonesia, Malaysia, New Caledonia, Surinam, and the Netherlands. Worldwide, it is the 10th most spoken language and the largest Austronesian language, with a written history stretching back to the 7th century C.E.. However, surprisingly little work has been done on describing the grammar of the modern spoken language. Dutch scholars during the colonial period focused on the literary and historical varieties of Old Javanese. In English, there are no comprehensive reference grammars available; currently there is only a concise student's grammar by S. Robson (1992).

The Javanese CASL volume is comprehensive in its coverage of linguistic features and dialectal variation, including theory-neutral descriptions of the lexicon, phonology, morphology, and syntax in Javanese, as well as its speech level system. It focuses on Semarang and Malang Javanese, as exemplars of Central and East Javanese varieties. This grammar is a primary reference for linguists and students of Javanese.