Acehnese language

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. Atjehnese is the Dutch spelling. The spelling Achehnese originates from a 1906 English translation of the Dutch-language Studien over atjesche klank- en schriftleer. Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 35.346-442 by Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, 1892. In Acehnese the language is called Basa/Bahsa Acèh. In Indonesian it is called Bahasa Aceh.^[3]

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.^[4]

Linguist Paul Sidwell wrote that "Sometime during this early phase of language shift, perhaps before the beginning of Common Era, the Chamic speakers who were to become the Acehnese left the mainland on a journey that would ultimately end in northern Sumatra." Basing on Graham Thurgood's thesis, Sidwell argues that Acehnese likely had been long separated from Chamic around the first to second century BCE.^[5]

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

1. Sabang
2. Banda Aceh
3. Lhokseumawe
4. Langsa

North-East Coast

1. Aceh Besar
2. Pidie
3. Pidie Jaya
4. Bireuen
5. North Aceh
6. East Aceh (except in three districts, Serba Jadi, Peunaron and Simpang Jernih, where the Gayo language is spoken)
7. Aceh Tamiang (mostly Manyak Payet and Kuala Simpang District; the rest of the Regency speaks Tamiang Malay)

West-South Coast

1. Aceh Jaya
2. West Aceh
3. Nagan Raya
4. Southwest Aceh (except in Susoh district where the Jamee language is spoken)
5. South Aceh (mixed with Kluet and Jamee)

Acehnese's phonology inventory are as follows:^[6][7][8][9]

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.^[20]

The current Latin spelling system (Indonesian: Ejaan Bahasa Aceh yang Disempurnakan, lit. 'Improved Spelling of the Acehnese Language') is based on the Indonesian spelling system, Ejaan yang Disempurnakan,^[25][26] while its diacritics are based on the spelling system used by Snouck Hurgronje to write Acehnese,^[a] which is why the spelling system is also called the Snouck's Spelling System.^[27]

Another popular spelling system, Husaini's Spelling (Idjaan Husaini, 'Husaini's Spelling') is also used,^[28] popular amongst Free Aceh Movement members, pro-independence members, and Acehnese people abroad. EBAYD and Husaini are almost the exact same, with the only difference being how they spell the palatal sounds, Husaini uses tj, dj, nj, j, and sj where EBAYD would use c, j, ny, y, and sy respectively.

Old orthographies

Since the introduction of the Arabic script through the Malays, Acehnese became a literary language, although literacy was mostly restricted to scholars and royal courts.^[36] Since Dutch colonization, and later World War II and the establishment of Indonesia,^[37] Acehnese has been written in the Latin script, and Jawoe has largely fallen out of use.^[38]

Jawoe

Main article: Jawi script

Historically, Acehnese was written in an Arabic script called Jawoe (جاوي‎; Acehnese pronunciation: [ɟawɔə̯]), a modified variant of Jawi.^[38] Originally, Jawi was adopted to write Malay as a language of the court and most texts in Aceh was written in Malay, as Acehnese was only a spoken language at the time.^[39]

Acehnese Jawoe is not a phonetic writing system. Due to the prevalent usage of Malay Jawi, Jawoe was written and read similar to a heterogramic system, where a word would retain its original Malay or Arabic spelling but read in Acehnese. Acehnese also has 34 distinct vowels sounds, which the Arabic script, an Abjad writing system, couldn't represent sufficiently.^[40]

More information Word, Jawoe ...

Word	Jawoe	Literal Transliteration	Malay	Acehnese
				EBAYD	Husaini	IPA
Directly taken from Arabic
intent	مقصود‎	mqṣwd	maksud	meukeuseut		[mɯ.kɯ.s̻̪ɯt̠̚]
obedient	طاعة‎	ṭaʕt	taat	ta’at		[t̠a.ʔãt̠̚]
fate	تقدير‎	tqdyr	takdir	teukeudi		[t̠ɯ.kɯ.di]
Directly taken from Jawi
to test	اوجي‎	ʔwjy	uji	ujoe	udjoë	[u.ɟɔə̯]
wrap	بوڠکوس‎	bwŋkws	bungkus	bungkôh		[buŋ.koh]
pray	سمبهيڠ‎	smbhyŋ	sembahyang	seumayang	seumajang	[s̻̪ɯ.ma.jaŋ]
long	ڤنجڠ‎	pnjŋ	panjang	panyang	panjang	[pa.ɳaŋ]
Influenced by Jawi spelling conventions
water	اير‎	ʔyr	air	ie	ië	[iə̯]
day	اوري‎	ʔwry	hari	uroe	uroë	[u.rɔə̯]
return	وال‎	wal		woe	woë	[wɔə̯]
finish	تلس‎	tls		lheueh	lheuëh	[lʱɯə̯h]

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Latin Script

Early History (1888–1946)

The earliest known romanisation of Acehnese is from 1888 by Hendrik August Nicolaas Catenius, a Major of the East Indies Infantry Army, in his trilingual phrase book Poeĕ Gata Basa Atjeh? (Spreekt gij Atjehsch?), 'Do You Speak Acehnese?', containing phrases in Dutch, Malay, and Acehnese.^[41]

In 1891, the Netherlands government appointed Snouck Hurgronje to Aceh, where he was able to collect many texts regarding Acehnese language and literature in his seven month stay. Because no popular romanisation of Acehnese has yet to exist at the time, Snouck repurposed the French alphabet to fit Acehnese, as he deems the phonemic inventory of both languages to be similar. He published his work Studiën over Atjèhsche Klank-en Schriftleer, 'The Study of Acehnese Language and Script' in 1892, where he would describe his orthography, after further refining it, he released De Atjèhers, 'The Acehnese' in 1906. Since then, most Acehnese writings in the Roman script has adopted his spelling conventions.^[42]

Snouck's spelling was further strengthened by Acehnese teachers and educators, including primary school teachers Mohammad Djam and Njak Tjoet, who used the spelling system through their book Batjoed Sapeue, 'A Bit of Everything' to teach Acehnese children how to read, and Muhammad Saleh, who wrote Poentja, 'Core' as a supplementary manual for Batjoed Sapeue. Several other literary books was produced, which primarily uses Snouck's spelling system, such as De Vries and Aboebakar's Lhèe Saboh Nang, 'The Three Siblings'.^[43]

Post WWII (1946–1966)

For several decades, most Acehnese romanisations follow Snouck's orthography, one of the standard reference for the new orthography is Djajadiningrat's Atjèhsch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek, 'Acehnese-Dutch Dictionary', which uses a modified version of Snouck's.^[44] Publications of the Acehnese language in the latin script was limited, only after the end of World War II and the independence of Indonesia did it began to further develop, marked by the publications of Abdullah Arif's Seumangat Atjeh, 'Spirit of Aceh' and Sjèh Min Djeureula's Peunchianat Bangsa, 'Betrayer of the Nation' in 1946.^[45]

After World War II, the changes in Acehnese orthography has been largely in tandem with the national language of the newly independent Indonesia, the Indonesian language.^[46] As the Indonesian language goes through reforms, several individual Acehnese writers were quick to incorporate the spelling changes into their Acehnese writings. One key feature that stayed is the usage of diaresis e ⟨ë⟩ to write closing diphthongs, which was originally adopted to distinguish between the diphthong oë /ɔə̯/ and monothong oe /u/, this convention stayed until the late 70s.^[47]

Standardisation of the Acehnese language (1966–1980)

Inspired by the granting of special autonomy to Aceh, efforts began to bring Acehnese back into school curriculum, which amplified the production of Acehnese school and course books.^[29] This motivated Acehnese educators from universities in Banda Aceh to attempt a standardisation of the language's spelling system, which culminated to the holding of Seminar Bahasa Aceh, 'The Acehnese Language Seminar' in 1966. A standard was determined through Jauhari Ishak's Tatabahasa Aceh, 'Acehnese Grammar' in 1968.^[48]

In 1980, another seminar, Seminar Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa Aceh, 'Acehnese Language Development and Fostering Seminar', was convened by Ibrahim Hasan, which was attended by 73 expert linguists and educators, it was hosted on August 25th to 26th, 1980, in Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh. Several points was given to the mission of the seminar:^[49]

1. To standardise the Acehnese spelling convention to be used as a guide, both spoken and written.
2. To implement the teaching of the Acehnese languages in schools, and to develop Acehnese further through education and mass media.
3. To standardise and codify Acehnese terminologies as a mean to contribute the development of the national language.

The spelling system that was agreed upon is the EBAYD, which is still in use to this day. The spelling system is based on Snouck's orthography with several adjustments to match the reforms of the Indonesian language, specifically the Enhanced Spelling System reform in 1972.^[50]

Translation of the Quran (1992)

In 1992, another seminar was convened by Ibrahim Husein, director of the Centre for Islamic Cultural Research and Studies (P3KI), to publish a translation of the Quran in the style of an Acehnese poem by Mahjiddin Jusuf. The spelling used in the translation is known as the 1992 P3KI Spelling.^[51]

The P3KI spelling employs simplification of the Acehnese diacritics agreed upon in the 1980 seminar due to the difficulty to employ the diacritic symbols with the current available technology, they suggest that diacritics should be relegated to scientific writings and language teaching. Additional changes can also be seen through the spelling of Arabic sy, which is spelt consistently as ch. Another feature is the usage of a superscript comma to incidate vowel nasality, the symbol isn't used when a consonant is present before the vowel.^[52]

Below is a comparison table of letter usage between previous Acehnese spellings in the Latin script.

More information IPA, Cantenius (1888) ...

IPA	Cantenius (1888)	Snouck (1892)	Lhèe Saboh Nang (1932)	Husaini (1976)	EBAYD (1980)	P3KI (1992)
c	tj				c
ɟ	dj				j
ɲ	nj				ny
j	j				y
(ʃ)	sj				sy	ch
kʰ	kh				kh
(x)	ch
e	é					e
ɛ	è
ə	ĕ	ë		e, ë	e
ɯ		eu
ɔ	o	o, ò	o	o		o
ʌ	o̊			ö
o		ō	ô
u	oe			u
oə̆	oë				oe
ʔ	-q	ء	’	-k
◌̃			‘	’

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• 
  Hikayat Prang Sabi, an Acehnese epic written in the Jawoe spelling
• 
  Excerpt from De Atjehers by Snouck in Acehnese
• 
  Bilingual tsunami warning sign in Indonesian and Acehnese, written in the EBAYD spelling
• 
  A banner announcing the death of Hasan di Tiro in Acehnese, written in the Husaini spelling

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.^[53]

Before the Dutch colonial period, almost all Acehnese literature was in the form of poetry, either as hikayat or nazam. Very few works were in prose, one of which was Kitab Bakeu Meunan, a translation of the book Qawaa'id al-Islaam. After the arrival of the Dutch, Acehnese prose works began to emerge in the 1930s, such as Lhee Saboh Nang, written by Aboe Bakar and De Vries. Following that, more prose works appeared, although poetry in the form of hikayat continued to dominate.

The first encyclopedia in Acehnese, the Acehnese Wikipedia, was launched on August 12, 2009.^[54][55] A prose translation of the Quran in Acehnese was published by the Ministry of Religious Affairs on December 13, 2018.^[56] As of now, there is no newspaper published in Acehnese. In 2020, the first Acehnese-language magazine, Majalah Neurôk, was launched, initiated by an Acehnese cultural figure, Ayah Panton.^[57] Google Translate added the Acehnese language translation feature on June 27, 2024.^[58]

Acehnese has a wide arrange of dialect variations, and is divided into four major grouping of dialects:^[59][60][61]

• North Aceh, spoken in Bireuen, North Aceh, Lhokseumawe, East Aceh, and Langsa
• Pidie, spoken in Pidie and Pidie Jaya
• Greater Aceh, spoken in Sabang, Banda Aceh, and Aceh Besar
• and West Coast, spoken in Aceh Jaya, West Aceh, and pockets in Nagan Raya, Southwest Aceh, and South Aceh

Aside from the four major grouping, Acehnese dialects can be further subdivided into ten groups: Pasè, Peusangan, and Matang from the North; Pidie; Bueng, Banda Aceh of Greater Aceh; and Daya, Meulabôh, Seunagan, and Tunong of West Coast.^[62][63] The dialect of Daya is also referred to as Lamnoe.^[64][65]

The dialect of Greater Aceh and the dialect of Daya from the West Coast is thought to be the original land where Acehnese is first spoken.^[66][65] It's notable for its stark dialect varieties between villages compared to the largely homogeneous dialects of North Aceh and Pidie.^[67] Though the dialects of Greater Aceh and Daya are generally similar to each other.

Standard Acehnese is largely based on the North Aceh dialect, specifically of the Peusangan variety.^[68]

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:

Husaini's Spelling^[70]

"Bandum ureuëng lahé deungon meurdéhka, dan deungon martabat dan hak njang saban. Ngon akai geuseumiké, ngon haté geumeurasa, bandum geutanjoë lagèë sjèëdara. Hak dan keumuliaan."

Improved Acehnese Spelling (EBAYD)^[25]

"Bandum ureueng lahé deungön meurdéka, dan deungön martabat dan hak nyang saban. Ngön akai geuseumiké, ngön até geumeurasa, bandum geutanyoe lagèe cèedara. Hak dan keumuliaan."

Jawoe Script

"بندوم اورڠ لاهير دڠن مرديک، دان دڠن مرتبت دان حق ڽڠ سابن. ڠن عقل ݢسميکير، ڠن هاتي ݢمراس، بندوم ڬتايو لاݢي ساودارا، حق دان کمولياءن."

• The original English version of the text:^[71]

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

• 
  Hikayat Akhbarul Karim
• 
  Hikayat Banta Beuransah
• 
  Hikayat Prang Sabi