Acehnese or Achinese (Jawi: ) 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. Acehnese is used as the co-official language in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. Besides Indonesian used as the official language.
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. is the Dutch spelling and an outdated Indonesian one. The spelling Achehnese originates from a 1906 English translation of the Dutch-language by Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, 1892. In Acehnese the language is called . In Indonesian it is called .
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 distant relative of the Chamic family is the Malayic 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 thirteen regencies and four cities in Aceh, which are:
City
Sabang
Banda Aceh
Lhokseumawe
Langsa
North-East Coast
Aceh Besar
Pidie
Pidie Jaya
Bireuen
North Aceh
East Aceh (except in three 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)
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 and the sound is represented by , 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
Sample text
The following texts are excerpts from the official translations of article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Acehnese, along with the original declaration in English.
Acehnese text sample: Latin script "."