The Sikule language (also called Sibigo, Sigulai, Ageumeui, or Wali Banuah) is an Austronesian language spoken on Simeulue 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 sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

. 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 Southea ...

branch of the Austronesian languages. Sikule is one of

Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands languages The Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands languages (also Barrier Islands–Batak languages) are a group of Malayo-Polynesian languages spoken by the Batak and related peoples in the interior of North Sumatra and by the Nias, Mentawai people, and o ...

, which are a sub-group of Western Malayo-Polynesian. Sikule is spoken in Salang,

Alafan Alafan is a district of the Simeulue Regency on Simeulue in the Indonesian province of Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the nor ...

and

Simeulue Barat Simeulue Barat is a district of the Simeulue Regency on Simeulue in the Indonesian province of Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on ...

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 counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

, on the northern of Simeulue 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 subgroup ...

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') 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 comprehensi ...

lists ''Lekon'' and ''Tapah'' as dialects. Simeulue is spoken in the rest of Simeulue outside of Alafan, while Jamu (also called ''Kamano''), related to Minangkabau, is spoken in the capital city of

Sinabang Sinabang is a town on the east coast of Simeulue Island, which lies off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. Sinabang is the administrative seat (capital) of the Simeulue Regency, in Aceh Province of Indonesia and has a population of approxim ...

Phonology

The vowel and consonant phonemes of Sikule are shown in the tables below.Nothofer, 1986, p. 96

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

Phonology

See also

References

Sources