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 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi.2), including adjacent islands such as the Simeulue, Nias, Mentawai, Enggano, Riau Islands, Bangka Belitung and Krakatoa archipelago.
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 Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia in the areas near the Malay Peninsula, with Cambodia, Vietnam and the Chinese island Hainan as the northwest geographic outlier. Malagasy, spoken on the island of Madagascar off the eastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, is the furthest western outlier.
Minangkabau is an Austronesian language spoken by the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, the western part of Riau, South Aceh Regency, the northern part of Bengkulu and Jambi, also in several cities throughout Indonesia by migrated Minangkabau. The language is also a lingua franca along the western coastal region of the province of North Sumatra, and is even used in parts of Aceh, where the language is called Aneuk Jamee.
Bengkulu, historically known as Bencoolen, is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southwest coast of Sumatra. It was formed on 18 November 1968 by separating out the area of the historic Bencoolen Residency from the province of South Sumatra under Law No. 9 of 1967 and was finalized by Government Regulation No. 20 of 1968. Spread over 20,130.21 km2, its area is comparable to the European country of Slovenia and it is bordered by the provinces of West Sumatra to the north, Jambi to the northeast, Lampung to the southeast, and South Sumatra to the east, and by the Indian Ocean to the northwest, south, southwest, and west.
Rejang or Rejangese may refer to:
The Rejang script is an abugida of the Brahmic family that is related to other scripts of the region, such as the Batak and Lontara scripts. Rejang is also a member of the closely related group of Ulu scripts that include the script variants of South Sumatra, Bengkulu, Lembak, Lintang, Lebong, and Serawai. Other closely related scripts that are sometimes included in the Surat Ulu group include the Ogan, Kerinci, and Lampung scripts. The script was in use prior to the introduction of Islam to the Rejang area; the earliest attested document appears to date from the mid-18th century CE. The Rejang script is sometimes also known as the KaGaNga script following the first three letters of the alphabet. The term KaGaNga was never used by the users of the script community, but it was coined by the British anthropologist Mervyn A. Jaspan (1926–1975) in his book Folk literature of South Sumatra. Redjang Ka-Ga-Nga texts. Canberra, The Australian National University 1964.
The Malayic languages are a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. The most prominent member is Malay, a pluricentric language given national status in Brunei and Singapore while also the basis for national standards Malaysian in Malaysia and Indonesian in Indonesia. The Malayic branch also includes local languages spoken by ethnic Malays, further several languages spoken by various other ethnic groups of Sumatra, Indonesia and Borneo even as far as Urak Lawoi in the southwestern coast of Thailand.
Indonesia is home to over 700 living languages spoken across its extensive archipelago. This significant linguistic variety constitutes approximately 10% of the world’s total languages, positioning Indonesia as the second most linguistically diverse nation globally, following Papua New Guinea. The majority of these languages belong to the Austronesian language family, prevalent in the western and central regions of Indonesia, including languages such as Acehnese, Sundanese, and Buginese. In contrast, the eastern regions, particularly Papua and the Maluku Islands, are home to over 270 Papuan languages, which are distinct from the Austronesian family and represent a unique linguistic heritage. The language most widely spoken as a native language is Javanese, primarily by the Javanese people in the central and eastern parts of Java Island, as well as across many other islands due to migration.
Rejang Lebong is a regency of Bengkulu Province, Indonesia, on the island of Sumatra. This regency originally included a much larger part of the inland part of the province, lying to the east of the watershed of the Barisan Mountains, but on 25 February 2003 it was divided in three, with districts in the northwest being split off to form a separate Lebong Regency, and districts in the south being similarly split off to form a new Kepahiang Regency.
Mukomuko is a regency of Bengkulu Province, Indonesia, on the island of Sumatra. It was originally part of the North Bengkulu Regency, but on 25 February 2003 that regency was split into two parts, the northwestern part created as a separate Mukomuko Regency. It covers a land area of 4,146.52 km2 and had a population of 155,753 at the 2010 census, which rose to 190,498 at the 2020 census; the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 198,794 - comprising 102,576 males and 96,218 females. The administrative centre of the Mukomuko Regency is Mukomuko town.
The Ulu scripts, locally known as Surat Ulu are a family of writing systems found in central and south Sumatra, in the regions of Kerinci, Bengkulu, Palembang and Lampung, Indonesia. They were used to write manuscripts in Sumatran languages and Malay, such as the Tanjung Tanah Code of Law. The Malay writing was gradually replaced by the Jawi script, a localized version of the Arabic script.
Merigi is a district (kecamatan) of Kepahiang Regency, Bengkulu, Indonesia.
Col, or Lembak, is a Malayic language from Sumatra. It is spoken by around 145,000 speakers (2000) with most speakers found in Lubuklinggau Municipality, South Sumatra, and the areas surrounding it, all the way to Musi Rawas in South Sumatra. The speakers of this language belong to the Lembak ethnic group, a small ethnic group closely related to ethnic Malays, especially those of Bengkulu and Palembang Malays. Col is closely related to Palembang Malay and Bengkulu Malay with minor differences mostly in pronunciation. Bengkulu Malay and Palembang Malay tend to end words with "o" while Col usually ends them with "e". The language has its own ISO code, liw.
Pekal is a Malayic language spoken by around 30,000 people on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, more specifically in Mukomuko Regency in Bengkulu Province. It should not be confused with Mukomuko language/dialect which is much more closely related but distinct from Pekal. It also has a considerable influence from Rejangese language, which is the most widely spoken language in the province.
Nasal is an Austronesian language of southwestern Sumatra.
Kaur (Ka’ur) is a Malayic language spoken in Bengkulu province on the southeastern coast of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. It is difficult for speakers of neighboring Central Malay (Bengkulu) to understand. Many speakers are animists.
Rejang people are an Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, native to the some parts of Bengkulu Province and South Sumatera Province in the southwestern part of Sumatera Island, Indonesia. They occupied some area in a cool mountain slopes of the Barisan mountain range in both sides of Bengkulu and South Sumatra. With approximately more than 1,3 million people, they form the largest ethnic group in Bengkulu Province. Rejang people predominantly live as a majority in 5 out 10 regencies and city of Bengkulu Province, while the rest of them who lives in South Sumatera resides at 7 villages in the district called as Bermani Ulu Rawas. The Rejangs are predominantly an Islam adherent group with small numbers following a religion other than Islam. According to research, Rejang people are the descendants of the Bukar-Sadong people who migrated from Northern Borneo (Sarawak).
A Rudus is a sword or cutlass associated with the Malay culture of Sumatra. Together with the pemandap, the rudus is among the largest swords of Malay people. Rudus is also a symbol of certain Malay state in the Island, e.g. the Province of Bengkulu in Sumatra, Indonesia.
Rejang is an Austronesian language predominantly spoken by the Rejang people in southwestern parts of Sumatra (Bengkulu), Indonesia. There are five dialects, spread from mountainous region to the coastal region of Bengkulu, including the Musi (Musai) dialect, the Lebong dialect, the Kebanagung dialect, the Rawas (Awes) dialect, and the Pesisir dialect.
Lembak people, also known as Linggau people, are a local ethnic group that inhabits several areas of Bengkulu Province and South Sumatra Province in Indonesia. Their original settlements are in the border area between the two provinces, in the Barisan mountain range, with densely clustered villages pattern.
