Simeulue language

Simeulue
Simolol
Long Bano
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Simeulue, Banyak Islands, Babi Island, Lasia Island  [ id ] (Aceh)
Ethnicity	Simeulue people Haloban people  [ id ]
Native speakers	(undated figure of 30,000) [1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands Simeulue
Dialects	Devayan Haloban (id) Simolol
Language codes
ISO 639-3	smr
Glottolog	sime1241
Distribution of Simeulue language speakers in the Simeulue and surrounding islands (smr)

The Simeulue language (Long Bano) also known as Simolol is spoken by the Simeulue people of Simeulue island off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. It's also spoken in surrounding islands such as Banyak Islands, this language is closely related to the Sigulai language which is also spoken on the island of Simeulue and also to the Nias language spoken on the neighboring island of Nias. ^{[1] [2]}

Names

Simeulue is also called Mae o, which literally means 'Where are you going?'. Ethnologue also lists Long Bano, Simalur, Simeuloë, Simolol, and Simulul as alternate names.

Varieties

Simeulue is spoken in five of eight districts (kecamatan) of Simeulue Regency and in the Banyak Islands, Aceh Singkil Regency. It includes at least three dialects. ^[3]

• Devayan: spoken in the four southern districts of Teupah Selatan, Simeulue Timur, Teupah Barat, and Teluk Dalam.
• Simolol (prestige dialect): spoken around Kampung Aie in Simeulue Tengah.
• Haloban : spoken in two villages in Banyak Islands, namely Haloban and Asantola. It has 15.000 native speakers according to Ethnologue. ^{[4] [5]}

Sikule and Leukon, related to Nias, is spoken in Salang, Alafan, and Simeulue Barat in northern Simeulue, ^[6] while Jamee (also called Kamano), related to Minangkabau, is spoken in the capital city of Sinabang and has become the lingua franca of the island.

Phonology

Consonants ^[7]

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b	t d	c ɟ	k g	ʔ
Fricative		s			h
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Approximant	w	r , l	j

• The phonemes /d c ɟ g j ɲ/ do not appear word-finally.
• /ɲ/ also does not appear word-initially.

Vowels ^[7]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid-high	e	ə	o
Mid-low	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a

Additionally, the following diphthongs have been observed: /au/, /ai/, /ɔi/.

See also

• Simeulue people
• Sikule language
• Haloban language

References

1. Simeulue at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
2. "Tsunami 1907: Early Interpretation and its Development" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-26.
3. "Simeulue" (PDF), asiaharvest.org
4. Laporan Ethnologue
5. Simeulue
6. Candrasari, Ratri. "Language Vitality of Leukon" (PDF). Eurasian Journal of Analytical Chemistry. 13 (6): 234–243.
7. Faridan, Abdullah; Ajies, A. Murad Em; Usman, Umar; Nuriah, T. A. (1981). Struktur bahasa Simeulue (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.

Further reading

• Aziz, Zulfadli A.; Amery, Robert (2016). "A Survey on the Status of the Local Languages of Pulau Simeulue and Pulau Banyak and Their Use within the Community". Proceedings of EEIC. 1 (2): 487–490.
• Candrasari, Ratri (2017). "Bahasa Devayan di Pulau Simeulue: Kajian Vitalitas Bahasa". Repositori Universitas Sumatera Utara.
• Faridan, Abdullah (1981). Struktur Bahasa Simeulue. Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa.
• Faridan, Abdullah (1983). Morfologi dan Sintaksis Bahasa Simeulue. Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa.
• Mahmud, Saifuddin; Sulaiman, Budiman (2000). Struktur Sastra Lisan Simeulue. Pusat Bahasa Departemen Pendidikan Nasional. ISBN   979-685-078-8.
• Usman, Umar; Faridan, Abdullah (1991). Sistem Morfologi Verba Bahasa Simeulue. Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. ISBN   979459-1149.