Acehnese language

Acehnese
Bahsa/Basa Acèh بهسا اچيه
Spoken in	Indonesia
Region	Aceh, Sumatra
Native speakers	3.5 million  (2000 census)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Nuclear MP Malayo-Sumbawan Chamic Acehnese
Language codes
ISO 639-2	ace
ISO 639-3	ace
Aceh province, Sumatra

Acehnese language is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by Acehnese people natively in Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia. This language also spoken in some parts in Malaysia by Acehnese descendents there, such as in Yan, Kedah.

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. "Atjehnese" is an antiquated spelling of a Dutch tradition and an outdated Indonesian one. The spelling "Achehnese" originates from a 1906 English translation of the Dutch language Studien over atjesche klank- en schriftleer. Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 35.346-442 by Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, 1892. In Acehnese the language is called Basa/Bahsa Acèh. In Indonesian it is called Bahasa Aceh.

Classification and related languages

Acehnese belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. Acehnese's closest relatives are the other Chamic languages, such as Jarai and Cham, with just 230,000 and 280,000 speakers respectively, in both Cambodia and Vietnam. Other relatives are the Malay language family, Minangkabau language, Gayo language and the Batak languages family.

Distribution

Acehnese language distribution in Aceh province

Acehnese language is located primarily in coastal region of Aceh. This language is spoken in 10 regencies and 4 municipalities in Aceh, those are:

City

1. Sabang
2. Banda Aceh
3. Lhokseumawe
4. Langsa

North-East Coast

1. Aceh Besar
2. Pidie
3. Pidie Jaya
4. Bireuen
5. North Aceh
6. East Aceh (except in 3 subdistricts, Serba Jadi, Peunaron and Simpang Jernih where Gayo language is spoken)

West-South Coast

1. Aceh Jaya
2. Nagan Raya
3. Southwest Aceh (except in subdistrict Susoh where Aneuk Jamee language is spoken)
4. South Aceh (mixed with Kluet language and Aneuk Jamee language)

Phonology

Bilingual sign about tsunami warning in Indonesian and Acehnese

The following are phonemes of Acehnese.

Acehnese Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	oral	nasal	oral	nasal	oral	nasal
Close	i	ĩ	ɨ	ɨ̃	u	ũ
Close-mid	e	ɛ̃	ə	ʌ̃	o	ɔ̃
Open-mid	ɛ		ʌ		ɔ
Open			a	ã

Vowels come mostly in oral/nasal pairs, though there are only three nasalized mid vowels while there are twice as many oral mid vowels. /ʌ/ is not strictly central, though it is shown here as such for aesthetic reasons. Similarly, /ɨ/ has also been represented as more back [ɯ].^{[citation needed]} In addition to the monophthongal vowels above, Acehnese also possesses five oral diphthongs, each with a nasal counterpart:

• /iə ɨə uə ɛə ɔə/
• /ĩə ɨ̃ə ũə ɛ̃ə ɔ̃ə/

Hikayat Prang Sabi

Acehnese Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	p b	t d	c ɟ	k g	ʔ
Fricative		s	ʃ		h
Approximant	w	l	j
Trill		r

/s/ is laminal alveodental. /ʃ/ is technically postalveolar but is in the palatal column for aesthetic reasons.

Writing system

Formerly, Acehnese language was written in Arabic script called Jawoë or Jawi in Malay language. The script is barely used nowadays. Now, Acehnese language is written in Latin script, with some additional letters. The additional letters are é, è, ë, ö and ô.

Dialects

So far there has been no complete research about dialects of the Acehnese language. However, there are at least 10 dialects in the Acehnese language. The dialects are Pasè, Peusangan, Matang, Pidië, Buëng, Banda, Daya, Meulabôh, Seunagan and Tunong.

Gallery

• 

  Hikayat Akhbarul Karim

• 

  Hikayat Banta Beuransah

Bibliography

• Al-Harbi, Awwad; Al-Ahmadi, Ahmad (2003), "Acehnese coda condition: An optimality-theoretic account", Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational and Social Sciences and Humanities 15: 9–21, http://roa.rutgers.edu/files/594-0403/594-0403-AL-HARBI-0-0 
• Asyik, Abdul Gani (1982), "The agreement system in Acehnese", Mon–Khmer Studies 11: 1–33, http://www.lc.mahidol.ac.th/Documents/Publication/MKS/11/abdul1982agreement.pdf 
• Durie, Mark. "The So-Called Passive of Acehnese." Language. Linguistic Society of America, Vol. 64, No. 1 (Mar., 1988), pp. 104–113 - Available at Jstor: http://www.jstor.org/stable/414788
• Thurgood, Graham (2007), The Historical Place of Acehnese: The Known and the Unknown, http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/docs%5CAceh-project%5Cfull-papers%5Caceh_fp_grahamthurgood.pdf 

Further reading

• Asyik, Abdul Gani (1987), A contextual grammar of Acehnese sentences, http://acehbooks.org/pdf/00402.pdf 
• Durie, Mark (1985), A grammar of Acehnese : on the basis of a dialect of North Aceh, http://acehbooks.org/pdf/ACEH_03107.pdf 
• Lawler, John M. (University of Michigan) "On the Questions of Achnese 'Passive'." Archive

External links

• Learning Acehnese in Indonesian
• Learning Acehnese in English and Indonesian
• Acehnese literature resources
• Acehnese language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
• Acehnese language in the World Atlas of Language Structures Online
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Acehnese