South Barisan Malay, also called Central Malay or Middle Malay, is a collection of related Malayic isolects spoken in the southwestern part of Sumatra. None of the Central Malay isolects has more than one million speakers.
Name
Traditionally, the term ''Middle Malay'' (a calque of Dutch ) is used when referring to this cluster. Later, to avoid misidentification with a temporal stage of
Malay language
Malay (; ms, Bahasa Melayu, links=no, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Rejang script, Rencong: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spo ...
(i.e. the transition between Old Malay and Modern Malay), the term ''Central Malay'' began to be used. McDonnell (2016) uses the term ''South Barisan Malay'' instead, referring to the southern region of the
Barisan Mountains where these isolects are spoken.
Varieties
Ethnologue groups together 12 isolects as part of Central Malay.
*
Benakat
*
Bengkulu
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Besemah
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Enim
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Kikim
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Kisam
*
Lematang Ulu
*
Lintang
*
Ogan
Ogan may refer to:
* Ogan (surname)
* Ogan Ilir Regency
* Ogan Komering Ilir Regency
* Ogan Komering Ulu Regency
* East Ogan Komering Ulu Regency
* South Ogan Komering Ulu Regency
* Ogan River, in South Sumatra, Indonesia
* Ogham
Ogham (Mod ...
*
Rambang
*
Semendo
*
Serawai
There has been little research on individual isolects within the cluster.
References
{{incubator, pse
Malayic languages
Languages of Indonesia