__FORCETOC__ The Batak languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken by the

Batak people Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, ...

in the Indonesian province of

North Sumatra North Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Utara) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located on the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan. North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province after W ...

and surrounding areas.

Internal classification

The Batak languages can be divided into two main branches, Northern Batak and Southern Batak. Simalungun was long considered an intermediary, but in current classifications it is recognized as part of the Southern branch.Adelaar, K. A. (1981). "Reconstruction of Proto-Batak Phonology". In Robert A. Blust (ed.), ''Historical Linguistics in Indonesia: Part I'', 1-20. Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya. Within Northern Batak, a study noted 76% cognate words between Karo and Alas, 81% with Pakpak, 80% with Simalungun, and 30% with Malay (Indonesian).The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar. K. Alexander Adelaar, Nikolaus Himmelmann, p. 535 Karo and Toba Batak are mutually unintelligible. Mandailing and Angkola are closer related to each other than to Toba. The geographical influences on the Batak languages can be seen in the map in the infobox; Lake Toba separates the Karo from direct contact with the Toba.

Reconstruction

The Batak languages can be shown to descend from a hypothetical common ancestor, Proto-Batak (which in turn originates from Proto-Austronesian). The sound system of Proto-Batak was reconstructed by Adelaar (1981). Final diphthongs: *-uy, *-ey, *-ow. The Proto-Batak sounds underwent the following changes in the individual daughter languages: * Proto-Batak *k became ''h'' in initial and medial position in the Southern Batak languages: :: Proto-Batak > Toba, Simalungun ; Karo 'person' :: Proto-Batak > Toba, Simalungun ; Karo 'grass' * Proto-Batak *h was lost in Toba, Angkola and Mandailing: :: Proto-Batak > Toba , Simalungun , Karo /pərəh/ 'wring out' * Proto-Batak final voiced stops *b, *d, and *g are retained only in Simalungun. In Toba, Angkola and Mandailing, they are unvoiced, while in the Northern Batak languages, they changed to homorganic nasals (/m/, /n/, /ŋ/): :: Proto-Batak > Simalungun , Toba , Karo /dələŋ/ 'mountain'. * The central vowel *ə is retained in the Northern languages, and shifted to /o/ in the Southern languages: ::Proto-Batak > Karo (/ənəm/), Toba 'six' * Proto-Batak diphthongs are only retained in Simalungun, but shifted to

monophthongs A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, wh ...

in all other Batak languages: ::Proto-Batak > Simalungun ; all other languages 'fire' ::Proto-Batak > Simalungun ; all other languages 'dead' ::Proto-Batak > Simalungun ; all other languages 'island'

Writing system

Historically, the Batak languages were written using the

Batak script The Batak script (natively known as ''surat Batak'', ''surat na sampulu sia'' ("the nineteen letters"), or ''si-sia-sia'') is a writing system used to write the Austronesian Batak languages spoken by several million people on the Indonesian ...

, but the Latin script is now used for most writing.

References

External links

* http://unicode-table.com/en/sections/batak/
Batak languages
at '' Ethnologue'' (22nd ed., 2019). {{Authority control Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands languages Languages of Indonesia