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The Batak languages are a subgroup of the
Austronesian languages
The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken ...
spoken by the
Batak people
Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian peoples, Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo people ( ...
in the
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
n
province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
North Sumatra
North Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan on the east coast of the island. It borders Aceh to the northwest, Riau to the sou ...
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 80% cognate words between Karo and Alas, 81% with Pakpak, 76% with Simalungun & Toba, 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, Toba and Angkola are related to each other and mutually intelligible. Karo languages
are mutually intelligible with other Northern Batak languages named Alas – Kluet language's in the southern part of
Aceh
Aceh ( , ; , Jawi script, Jawoë: ; Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, Old Spelling: ''Atjeh'') is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the northern end of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capit ...
, and are also partially mutually intelligible with Pakpak and
Singkil. Some Pakpak (Dairi) dialect also partially mutually intelligible with Toba languages. Simalungun languages are sometimes partially mutually intelligible with both Northern and Southern Batak, but more comprehensible with other Southern Batak languages (Toba-Angkola-Mandailing). The geographical influences on the Batak languages can be seen in the map in the infobox;
Lake Toba separates the Karo (Northern Batak) from direct contact with the Toba (Southern Batak).
Reconstruction
The Batak languages can be shown to descend from a hypothetical common ancestor, Proto-Batak (which in turn originates from
Proto-Austronesian
Proto-Austronesian (commonly abbreviated as PAN or PAn) is a proto-language. It is the reconstructed ancestor of the Austronesian languages, one of the world's major language families. Proto-Austronesian is assumed to have begun to diversify in ...
). 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
In phonetics, a homorganic consonant (from Latin and ) is a consonant sound that is articulated in the same place of articulation as another. For example, , and are homorganic consonants of one another since they share the bilabial place of ...
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, or one whose articulation at beginning and end is relatively fixed, with the tongue moving neither up nor down and neither forward nor backward towards a new position of articulation. A monophthong can be ...
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, but the Latin script
The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...
is now used for most writing.
See also
* Horas
References
External links
Batak Toba
at ''Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...
'' (22nd ed., 2019).
{{Authority control
Batak languages
Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands languages
Languages of Indonesia