Aceh Language

Acehnese or Achinese ( Jawi: بهسا اچيه) 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.

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 "Atjehnese" is the Dutch spelling and an outdated Indonesian one.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 Austronesian. Acehnese's closest relatives are the other Chamic languages, which are principally spoken in Vietnam and Cambodia. The closest relative of the Chamic family is the Malay 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.

Distribution

Acehnese language is spoken primarily in coastal region of Aceh. This language is spoken in 13 regencies and 4 cities in Aceh, those are:

City
# Sabang
# Banda Aceh
# Lhokseumawe
# Langsa

North-East Coast
# Aceh Besar
# Pidie
# Pidie Jaya
# Bireuen
# North Aceh
# East Aceh (except in 3 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 a variety of the Malay language)

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

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:
*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-stopped nasals (also called "funny nasals") before oral vowels and consonants. They are distinct from the nasal-stop 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 'eu' and the sound is represented by 'ö', 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.

Dialects

At least ten Achehnese dialects exist: Pasè, Peusangan, Matang, Pidië, Buëng, Banda, Daya, Meulabôh, Seunagan and Tunong.

Vocabulary

Pronouns

Numerals

Interrogative words

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

References

Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links

Learning Acehnese in Indonesian

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