The Sigulai language (also called Sibigo, Sikule, Ageumeui, or Wali Banuah) is an
Austronesian language
The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken b ...
spoken on
Simeulue
Simeulue is an island of Indonesia, off the west coast of Sumatra. It covers an area of 1,754 square kilometre (677 square miles), including minor offshore islands. It had a population of 80,674 at the 2010 census and 92,865 at the 2020 census ...
island off the western coast of
Sumatra
Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
. It belongs to the
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 Southeast ...
branch of the Austronesian languages. Sikule is one of
Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands languages, which are a sub-group of
Western Malayo-Polynesian.
Sikule is spoken in
Salang,
Alafan and
Simeulue Barat district
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
, on the northern of
Simeulue
Simeulue is an island of Indonesia, off the west coast of Sumatra. It covers an area of 1,754 square kilometre (677 square miles), including minor offshore islands. It had a population of 80,674 at the 2010 census and 92,865 at the 2020 census ...
island. It is apparently related to the
Nias language
The Nias language is an Austronesian language spoken on Nias Island and the Batu Islands off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. It is known as Li Niha by its native speakers. It belongs to the Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands languages, ...
.
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...
lists ''Lekon'' and ''Tapah'' as dialects.
[
]Simeulue
Simeulue is an island of Indonesia, off the west coast of Sumatra. It covers an area of 1,754 square kilometre (677 square miles), including minor offshore islands. It had a population of 80,674 at the 2010 census and 92,865 at the 2020 census ...
is spoken in the rest of Simeulue outside of Alafan, while Jamu
Jamu ( Javanese: ) is a traditional medicine from Indonesia. It is predominantly a herbal medicine made from natural materials, such as roots, bark, flowers, seeds, leaves and fruits. Materials acquired from animals, such as honey, royal jell ...
(also called ''Kamano''), related to Minangkabau, is spoken in the capital city of Sinabang.
Phonology
The vowel and consonant phonemes of Sikule are shown in the tables below.[Nothofer, 1986, p. 96]
See also
* Simeulue language
The Simeulue language is spoken by the Simeulue people of Simeulue off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Names
''Simeulue'' is also called , which literally means 'Where are you going?'. Ethnologue also lists ''Long Bano'', ''Simalur'', ...
References
Sources
* Adelaar, Alexander, ''The Austronesian Languages of Asia and Madagascar: A Historical Perspective'', The Austronesian Languages of Asia and Madagascar, pp. 1-42, Routledge Language Family Series, London, Routledge, 2005,
*
*
* Nothofer, Bernd, ''The Barrier Island Languages in the Austronesian Language Family'', Focal II: Papers From the Fourth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, pp. 87-109, Pacific Linguistics, Series C 94, Canberra, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, 1986.
{{Languages of Indonesia
Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands languages
Languages of Indonesia
Languages of Aceh