Rejang language

Rejang
Rejang
Baso Jang ; Baso Hejang
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Bengkulu Province; Central Bengkulu Regency; Kepahiang Regency; Lebong Regency; North Bengkulu Regency; Rejang Lebong Regency; South Sumatra Province; North Musi Rawas Regency;
Ethnicity	Rejang people
Native speakers	350,000 (2000 census)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Greater North Borneo Rejang; ; ;
Dialects	Lebong; Musai (Musi); Kebanagung; Pesisir; Awes (Rawas);
Writing system	Latin (present); Rejang script (historically)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	rej
Glottolog	reja1240

Rejang (baso Jang, baso Hejang) is an Austronesian language predominantly spoken by the Rejang people in southwestern parts of Sumatra (Bengkulu), Indonesia. There are five dialects, spread from mountainous region to the coastal region of Bengkulu, including the Musi (Musai) dialect, the Lebong dialect, the Kebanagung dialect, the Rawas (Awes) dialect, and the Pesisir dialect.

Rejang was written with the Rejang script for a long time.^[3] The script is thought to pre-date the introduction of Islam to the area in the 12th century CE, although the earliest attested document has been dated to the mid 18th century. It is traditionally written on bamboo, buffalo horn, bark or copper plates. It was only recently that the Latin alphabet was introduced as a way of writing the language.

Classification

Rejang is not obviously close to other Malayo-Polynesian languages in Sumatra. McGinn (2009) classified it among the Bidayuh languages of Borneo, closest to Bukar Sadong.^[4] It may be that it is related to the newly described language Nasal, but that is speculative at this point.^[5] Robert Blust and Alexander Smith classified Rejang as part of Greater North Borneo languages (2017a, 2017b).^[6]^[7]^[8]

Dialects

Rejang has five different dialects. Speakers of each dialects are able to communicate with one another, in spite of lexical and phonological differences. The five dialects of Rejangs are Musi (Musai), Lebong, Kebanagung, Rawas (Awes), and Pesisir. Among all dialects, Awes dialect is the hardest for other dialects speakers.

Vocabulary

Astronomical terms

English	Lêbong Dialect	Musai Dialect	Kêbanagung Dialect	Pêsisia Dialect
earth	bumai, dênio, dunio	bumêi, dênio, dunio	bumêi, dênio, dunio	bumai, dênio, dunio
star	bitang	bitang	bitang	bitang
moon	bulên	bulên	bulên	bulên
sun	mataibilai	matêibilêi	matêibilêi, matoibiloi	mataibilai
cloud	awên	awên	awên	awên
sky	lenget	lenget	lenget	lenget

Gender

English	Lebong Dialect	Cu'up Dialect	Payang Dialect	Utara Dialect
female	slawêi	bia, sêbia, bie, sêbie, slawie	bêe sêbêe	slawêi
male	smanêi	sêbong, smanie	smanêi	smanêi
third gender	tayuk	tayuk	tayuk	tayuk

Colour

English	Lebong Dialect	Cu'up Dialect	Payang Dialect	Utara Dialect
red	miləak	miləak	miləah/abang	miləak
white	putiak	puteak	puteah	puteak
black	məluo	mələu	mələa	məluo
green	ijo	ijo	ijo	ijo
blue	biru/blu/blau	biru/blu/bləu	biru/blu/bləu	biru/blu/blau
grey	abu-abu/abau	abu-abu/abəu	abu-abu/abəu	abu-abu/abəu
jingga	jingga	jingga	jingga	jingga
violet	ungu/ungau	ungu/ungəu	ungu/ungəu	ungu/ungau
brown	perang	perang	perang	coklat
pink	miləak mudo/miləak jam(b)au	miləak mudo/miləak jam(b)əu	miləah mudo/miləak jam(b)əu	miləak mudo/miləak jam(b)au
silver (color)	pirok	pirak	pirak	pirak
maroon	miləak atie	miləak atəi	miləah atəei	miləak atəi

Pronouns

English	Lêbong Dialect	Musai Dialect	Kêbanagung Dialect	Pêsisia Dialect
I	Uku, Ku	Uku, Ku	Uku, Ku	Uku, Ku
You	Kumu (honour, formal), ko (common)	Kumu (honour, formal), Ko (common)	Ko	Kumu (honour, formal), Ko (common)
We	Itê	Itê	Itê	Itê
They	Tobo'o	Tobo'o	Toboho	Tobo'o
He	Si	Si	Si	Si
She	Si	Si	Si	Si

Numbers

Numeral	English	Lebong Dialect	Cu'up Dialect	Payang Dialect	Utara Dialect
0	zero	kosong	nol	nol	nol
1	one	do (sometimes dəlai)	do (sometimes dəlai)	do (sometimes dikup)	do (sometimes dəlai)
2	two	duai	duəi	dui	duəi
3	three	təlau	tələu	tələu	təlau
4	four	əpat, pat	əpat, pat	əpat, pat	əpat, pat
5	five	ləmo	ləmo	ləmo	ləmo
6	six	num	num	num	num
7	seven	tujuak	tojoak	tojoah	tojoak
8	eight	dəlapən	dəlapən	dəlapən	dəlapən
9	nine	s(mb)ilan	s(mb)ilan	s(mb)ilan	s(mb)ilan
10	ten	dəpuluak	dəpoloak	dəpoloah	dəpoloak
11	eleven	səblas, dəblas	səblas, dəblas	səblas, dəblas	səblas, dəblas
12	twelve	duai bəlas	duəi bəlas	dui bəlas	duəi balas
13	thirteen	təlau bəlas	tələu bəlas	tələu bəlas	təlau bəlas
19	nineteen	s(mb)ilan bəlas	s(mb)ilan bəlas	s(mb)ilan bəlas	s(mb)ilan bəlas
20	twenty	duai puluak	duəi poloak	dui poloah	duəi poloak
21	twenty one	duai puluak satu	duəi poloak satu	dui poloah satu	duəi poloak do
50	fifty	ləmo puluak	ləmo poloak	ləmo poloah	ləmo poloak
100	one hundred	də'otos, dotos, sotos	də'otos, dotos, sotos	də'otos, dotos, sotos	də'otos, dotos, sotos
200	two hundred	duai otos	duəi otos	dui otos	duəi otos
1000	one thousand	dəribau,səribau	dəribeu, səribeu	dəribeu, səribeu	dəribau, səribau
10000	ten thousand	dəpuluak ribau	dəpoloak ribəu	dəpoloah ribəu	dəpoloak ribau
100000	one hunder thousand	sotos ribau	sotos ribəu	sotos ribəu	sotos ribau
1000000	one million	dəjuta	dəjuta	dəjuta	dəjuta

Days of the Week

English	Lebong Dialect	Cu'up Dialect	Payang Dialect	Utara Dialect
monday	sənin	sənin	sənin	sənin
tuesday	səlasa	səlasa	səlasa	səlasa
wednesday	rabau/rabu/rəbau	rabəu/rabu/rəbəu	rabəu/rabu/rəbəu	rebaa/rəbu/rəbəu
thursday	kəmis	kəmis	kəmis	kəmis
friday	jəm'at/jum'at	jəma'at/jum'at	jəmahat/jum'at	jəm'at/jum'at
saturday	sabtau/səbtau/səbtu	sabtəu	sabtəu	sabtau/səbtau
sunday	ming(g)au	ming(g)əu	ming(g)əu	ming(g)əu

Preposition

Place

English	Lêbong Dialect	Musai Dialect	Kêbanagung Dialect	Pêsisia Dialect
behind	bêlakang, kədong	bêlakang, kêdong	bêlakang, kêdong	bêlakang, kêdong
beside	dêpêak, pêak	dêpêak, pêak	dêpêah, pêah, saping	dêpêak, pêak
above	das	das	das	das
in front of	muko	muko	muko	muko
outside	luêa	luêa	uêh	luêa
inside	lêm	lêm	lêm	lêm
corner	iding	iding	iding	iding
under	bêak	bêak	bêak	bêak
between	antaro	antaro	antaro	antaro

Basic Element

English	Lêbong Dialect	Musai Dialect	Kêbanagung Dialect	Pêsisia Dialect
wind	angin	angin	angin	angin
water	bioa	bioa	bioa	bioa
land	tanêak	tanêak	tanəah	tanəak
soil	pitok	pitak	pitak	pitak
air	udaro	udaro	udaro	udaro
fire	opoi	opoi	opoe	opoi

Sample text

The following is a sample text in Rejang, of the Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (by the United Nations):

Kutê tun laher mêrdeka, tmuan hok-hok gik srai. Kutê nagiak-ba akêa peker ngen atêi, kêrno o kêlok-nê bêkuat-ba do ngen luyên lêm asai sêpasuak.

Gloss (word-to-word):

Article 1 – All human was born independent, has an equal rights. They are endowed a way to think and heart, then they need to be friend each other in the taste of brotherhood.

Translation (grammatical):

Article 1 – All human beings are born free and equal in rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Notes

^ Saputri, Nur Rahmah (2014). Analisis hukum Islam terhadap Adat Bemaling Suku Rejang di Kabupaten Rejang Lebong Bengkulu (PDF) (Undergraduate thesis). UIN Surabaya. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
^ Rejang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Rejang (Redjang, Kaganga), ScriptSource (developed and maintained by SIL International), retrieved 30 May 2019
^ McGinn, Richard (2009). "24. Out-of-Borneo subgrouping hypothesis for Rejang: re-weighing the evidence" (PDF). In Adelaar, Alexander; Pawley, Andre (eds.). Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history: a festschrift for Bob Blust. Pacific Linguistics. pp. 397–410. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
^ "Request for New Language Code Element in ISO 639-3" (PDF), ISO 639-3 Registration Authority
^ Blust 2010, pp. 44, 47.
^ Smith 2017a, p. 346–364.
^ Smith 2017b, p. 459–460.

Bibliography

Blust, Robert (2010). "The Greater North Borneo Hypothesis". Oceanic Linguistics. 49 (1). University of Hawai'i Press: 44–118. JSTOR 40783586. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Smith, Alexander D. (May 2017). The Languages of Borneo: A Comprehensive Classification (Ph.D. Dissertation). University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
Smith, Alexander D. (December 2017). "The Western Malayo-Polynesian Problem". Oceanic Linguistics. 56 (2). University of Hawai'i Press: 435–490. doi:10.1353/ol.2017.0021.

External links

Richard McGinn, Archive of Materials for the Study of the Rejangese of Sumatra. Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
Rejangese in Unicode Table

[Adat_Bemaling_Suku_Rejang_di_Kabupaten_Rejang_Lebong,_Bengkulu-1] Saputri, Nur Rahmah (2014). Analisis hukum Islam terhadap Adat Bemaling Suku Rejang di Kabupaten Rejang Lebong Bengkulu (PDF) (Undergraduate thesis). UIN Surabaya. Retrieved 30 May 2019.

[e18-2] Rejang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[Rejang_script_as_a_sign_to_write_Rejangese-3] Rejang (Redjang, Kaganga), ScriptSource (developed and maintained by SIL International), retrieved 30 May 2019

[4] McGinn, Richard (2009). "24. Out-of-Borneo subgrouping hypothesis for Rejang: re-weighing the evidence" (PDF). In Adelaar, Alexander; Pawley, Andre (eds.). Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history: a festschrift for Bob Blust. Pacific Linguistics. pp. 397–410. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2013.

[5] "Request for New Language Code Element in ISO 639-3" (PDF), ISO 639-3 Registration Authority

[FOOTNOTEBlust201044,_47-6] Blust 2010, pp. 44, 47.

[FOOTNOTESmith2017a346–364-7] Smith 2017a, p. 346–364.

[FOOTNOTESmith2017b459–460-8] Smith 2017b, p. 459–460.

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