| Acehnese | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bahsa/Basa Acèh | ||||
| Spoken in | Indonesia, Malaysia | |||
| Region | Aceh, Sumatra | |||
| Native speakers | 3.5 million (2000 census) | |||
| Language family |
Austronesian
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| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-2 | ace | |||
| ISO 639-3 | ace | |||
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Aceh province, Sumatra
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Acehnese (also Achinese, Achehnese) or Aceh (formerly Atjeh) 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.
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Acehnese belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. Acehnese's closest relatives therefore include Chamic languages, Malay language family, Minangkabau language, Gayo language and Batak languages family.
The following are phonemes of Acehnese.
| 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]. In addition to the monophthongal vowels above, Acehnese also possesses five oral diphthongs, each with a nasal counterpart:[1]
| 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.
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.[3]
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.[4]
Among the 10 dialects, the most different dialects compared to other dialects are Buëng, Banda, and Daya dialects, especially Daya dialects. Perhaps, if a complete research was performed, they would be classed as a different language.