Acehnese Language

Acehnese ( Jawi: ) is an Austronesian language natively spoken by the Acehnese people in Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia. This language is also spoken by Acehnese descendants in some parts of Malaysia like Yan, in Kedah. Acehnese is used as the co-official language in the province of Aceh, alongside Indonesian.

Name

As of 1988, ''Acehnese'' is the modern English name spelling and the bibliographical standard, and Acehnese people use the spelling ''Acehnese'' when writing in English. ''Achinese'' is an antiquated spelling of the English language tradition. is the Dutch spelling and an outdated Indonesian one. The spelling ''Achehnese'' originates from a 1906 English translation of the Dutch-language by Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, 1892. In Acehnese the language is called . In Indonesian it is called .

Classification and related languages

Acehnese belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of Austronesian. Acehnese's closest relatives are the other Chamic languages, which are principally spoken in Vietnam and Cambodia. The distant relative of the Chamic family is the Malayic language family, which includes languages also spoken in Sumatra such as Minangkabau as well as the national language, Indonesian.

Paul Sidwell notes that Acehnese likely has an Austroasiatic substratum.

Linguist Paul Sidwell wrote that "Sometime during this early phase of language shift, perhaps before the beginning of Common Era, the Chamic speakers who were to become the Acehnese left the mainland on a journey that would ultimately end in northern Sumatra." Basing on Graham Thurgood's thesis, Sidwell argues that Acehnese likely had been long separated from Chamic around the first to second century BCE.

Distribution

Acehnese language is spoken primarily in coastal region of Aceh. This language is spoken in thirteen regencies and four cities in Aceh, which are:

City
# Sabang
# Banda Aceh
# Lhokseumawe
# Langsa

North-East Coast
# Aceh Besar
# Pidie
# Pidie Jaya
# Bireuen
# North Aceh
# East Aceh (except in three districts, Serba Jadi, Peunaron and Simpang Jernih, where the Gayo language is spoken)
# Aceh Tamiang (mostly Manyak Payet and Kuala Simpang District; the rest of the Regency speaks Tamiang Malay)

West-South Coast
# Aceh Jaya
# West Aceh
# Nagan Raya
# Southwest Aceh (except in Susoh District where the Jamee language is spoken)
# South Aceh (mixed with Kluet language and Aneuk Jamee)

Phonology

Oral monophthong vowels in Acehnese are shown in the table below.

In addition to the modern 26 letter basic Latin alphabet, Acehnese uses the supplementary letters è, é, ë, ô, and ö, making a total of 31 letters in its orthography.

The table below shows the Acehnese consonant phonemes and the range of their realizations.

Notes:
*The stop /t/ is slightly retroflex.
*Syllable-final orthographic always represents save in certain recent loans
*, , and are borrowed sounds, and are often replaced by and the clusters and , respectively
*The nasals , , , are realized as post-oralized nasals (also called "funny nasals") before oral vowels and consonants. They are distinct from the nasal–plosive sequences , , , , e.g. in 'port' vs 'all'.

Grammar

Acehnese features a split ergative system. Intransitives that align with the agent of a transitive verb (Sa) always show agreement by a proclitic (1). Meanwhile, intransitives that align with the patient of a transitive verb (Sp) may optionally show agreement by an enclitic (2). Volitionality is the determining factor for whether an intransitive verb is Sa or Sp.

Writing system

Formerly, the Acehnese language was written in an Arabic script called Jawoë or Jawi in the Malay language. The script is less common nowadays. Since colonization by the Dutch, the Acehnese language has been written in the Latin script, with the addition of supplementary letters. The diacritical letters are é, è, ë, ö and ô. The sound is represented by and the sound is represented by , respectively. The letter 'ë' is used exclusively to represent the schwa sound which forms the second part of diphthongs. The letters f, q, v, x, and z are only used in loanwords.

Literature

Acehnese language is rich with literature. The oldest manuscript written in Acehnese is Hikayat Seumau'un from 1658 CE. Most Acehnese literatures consist of poetic works, very little written in prose form.

Before the Dutch colonial period, almost all Acehnese literature was in the form of poetry, either as hikayat or nazam. Very few works were in prose, one of which was ''Kitab Bakeu Meunan'', a translation of the book ''Qawaa'id al-Islaam''. After the arrival of the Dutch, Acehnese prose works began to emerge in the 1930s, such as ''Lhee Saboh Nang'', written by Aboe Bakar and De Vries. Following that, more prose works appeared, although poetry in the form of hikayat continued to dominate.

The first encyclopedia in Acehnese, the Acehnese Wikipedia, was launched on August 12, 2009 A prose translation of the Quran in Acehnese was published by the Ministry of Religious Affairs on December 13, 2018. As of now, there is no newspaper published in Acehnese. In 2020, the first Acehnese-language magazine, ''Majalah Neurôk'', was launched, initiated by an Acehnese cultural figure, Ayah Panton. Google Translate added the Acehnese language translation feature on June 27, 2024.

Dialects

At least ten Acehnese dialects exist: Pasè, Peusangan, Matang, Pidië, Buëng, Banda, Daya, Meulabôh, Seunagan, and Tunong.
At least three major dialects exist: Baet Lambuot, Mesjid Punteut and Panthe Ketapang. Baet Lambuot dialect spoken in Aceh Besar regency. Mesjid Punteut dialect spoken in Simpang Ulim district, East Aceh regency. Panthe Ketapang dialect spoken in Jaya district, Aceh Jaya regency.

Geographical dialects: Aceh Besar, Pidie, Peusangan, Pasai, East Aceh (''Aceh Timur'') and West Aceh (''Aceh Barat''), North Aceh (''Aceh Utara''), Bireun, Aceh Jaya

West coast dialects (''dialek pesisir barat''): Tunong, Seunagan, Meulabôh, Daya.

Vocabulary

Pronouns

Numerals

Interrogative words

Sample text

The following texts are excerpts from the official translations of article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Acehnese, along with the original declaration in English.

* ''Acehnese text sample:''
::Original text
::"."
::
::Using standard spelling
::"."

*The original English version of the text:
::"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

Gallery

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Handgeschreven boek in Acehs schrift TMnr 2454-1.jpg, Hikayat Akhbarul Karim
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Handgeschreven boek in Acehs schrift TMnr 2454-2.jpg, Hikayat Banta Beuransah
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Handgeschreven boek in Acehs schrift TMnr 2454-4a.jpg, Hikayat Prang Sabi

References

Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links

Learning Acehnese in Indonesian

BasaAceh.org

Learning Acehnese in English and Indonesian


Acehnese literature resources


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* PARADISEC archive of Ache language includes three collections
MD4MD5
an
MD6
These collections focus on different varieties of Achenese.

Listen to a sample of Achinese from Global Recordings Network

{{DEFAULTSORT:Acehnese Language

Languages of Indonesia
Languages of Aceh
Chamic languages