Gayo is an Austronesian language spoken by some 100,000 people (2000) in the mountainous region of Aceh around

Central Aceh Central Aceh Regency ( id, Kabupaten Aceh Tengah) is a regency in Aceh Special Region (''Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam'') of Indonesia. It is located on Sumatra island. Formerly this regency covered a much larger area; in 1969, the Southeast Aceh Reg ...

, Bener Meriah and Gayo Lues regencies. It is classified as belonging to the Western

Malayo-Polynesian The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeas ...

branch of the Austronesian languages, but is not closely related to other languages. Ethnologue lists ''Deret'', ''Lues'', ''Lut'', and ''Serbejadi-Lukup'' as dialects. Gayo is distinct from other languages in Aceh. The art and culture of the

Gayo people The Gayo people are an ethnic group living in the highlands of Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. The Gayo tribe has a population of 336,856 and they live predominantly in the mountains. Most Gayo live in three regencies in Aceh namely Bener ...

is also significantly different compared with other ethnic groups in Aceh. In 1907, G.A.J. Hazeu wrote a first Gayo–Dutch dictionary for the colonial authorities of the Dutch East Indies.Gajosch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek, by G.A.J. Hazeu, Landsdrukkerij Batavia 1907. It is available online as a Google scan.

References

External links

An open access of recordings
in Gayo are available through

Paradisec The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) is a cross-institutional project that supports work on endangered languages and cultures of the Pacific and the region around Australia. They digitise reel- ...

, including traditional stories, historical narratives and conversation. Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands languages Languages of Indonesia Gayonese people Languages of Aceh {{austronesian-lang-stub

References

Further reading

External links