Gayo language

Gayo
Basa Gayo
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Sumatra
Ethnicity	335,000 Gayo (2010 census)
Native speakers	280,000 (2010 census)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands Gayo
Language codes
ISO 639-2	gay
ISO 639-3	gay
Glottolog	gayo1244

The map of Gayo language in Northern Sumatra.

Gayo (alternatively rendered as Gajo) is an endangered Austronesian language spoken by some 275,000 people in the mountainous region of the Indonesian province Aceh on the Northern tip of the island of Sumatra, specifically around the Central Aceh, Bener Meriah and Gayo Lues regencies. It is classified as belonging to the Western Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages, but is not closely related to other languages. Ethnologue lists Bukit, Dëret, Lues, Lut, and Serbejadi-Lukup as dialects.

Gayo is distinct from other languages in Aceh. The art and culture of the Gayo people 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.

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal	Labial-velar
Nasal		/m/ ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩		ɲ ⟨ny⟩	ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive	voiceless	/p/ ⟨p⟩	/t/ ⟨t⟩			/k/ ⟨k⟩	/ʔ/ ⟨'⟩
	voiced	/b/ ⟨b⟩	/d/ ⟨d⟩			/ɡ/ ⟨g⟩
Fricative			/s/ ⟨s⟩				/h/ ⟨h⟩
Affricate	voiceless			/t͡ʃ/ ⟨c⟩
	voiced			/d͡ʒ/ ⟨j⟩
Trill			/r/ ⟨r⟩
Approximant			/l/ ⟨l⟩		/j/ ⟨y⟩			/w/ ⟨w⟩

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	/i/ ⟨i⟩		/u/ ⟨u⟩
Near-Close	(ɪ)		(ʊ)
Close-Mid	/e/ ⟨é⟩	/ə/ ⟨e⟩	/o/ ⟨ô⟩
Open-Mid	/ɛ/ ⟨è⟩		/ɔ/ ⟨o⟩
Open		/a/ ⟨a⟩/⟨ë⟩

Further reading

• Eades, Domenyk (2005). A Grammar of Gayo: A Language of Aceh, Sumatra (PDF). Pacific Linguistics 567. Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/pl-567. hdl:1885/146732. ISBN 978-0-85883-553-5.
• Eades, Domenyk; Hajek, John (2006), "Gayo", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (1): 107–115, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002416

External links

• An open access of recordings in Gayo are available through Paradisec, including traditional stories, historical narratives and conversation.