Minangkabau language

Minangkabau (Minangkabau: Baso Minangkabau, Jawi script: بهاس منڠكربو‎; Indonesian: Bahasa 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.^[2] 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.

Minangkabau
Baso Minangkabau بهاس منڠكربو‎
Native to	Indonesia (West Sumatra)
Region	West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, North Sumatra, Aceh (Indonesia)
Ethnicity	Minangkabau, Aneuk Jamee
Native speakers	5.5 million (2007)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian disputed: Malayo-Sumbawan or Greater North Borneo Malayic Minangkabau
Dialects	West Sumatran Minangkabau, Aneuk Jamee, Pesisir, Mukomuko, Rokan, Kampar, Kuantan
Writing system	Latin Minangkabau script
Official status
Regulated by	Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa
Language codes
ISO 639-2	min
ISO 639-3	min
Glottolog	mina1268
Areas where Minangkabau is a majority   Areas where Minangkabau is a significant minority
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Minangkabau is similar to Malay. The relationship between the languages is characterized in different ways. Some see Minangkabau as an early variety of Malay, while others think of Minangkabau as a distinct (Malayic) language.^[3]

Minangkabau is one of a few languages that generally lacks verb forms and grammatical subject-object distinctions.^[4]

Although Minangkabau is still commonly spoken amongst the Minangkabau people, education specific to the culture in urbanizing locations is slowly being erased as it is deemed less and less important in West Sumatra. The Minangkabau language is deemed as "informal" in the urban regions of Padang, with the Indonesian language being preferred instead in formal institutions. Youth in the city will frequently use a mixture of conversational Minang and Indonesian slang.

Minangkabau language in Arabic script on Minangkabau royal seal from the 19th century

Geographic distribution

Minangkabau is the native language of the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra.^[2] There are approximately 5.5 million speakers of the language. It is also spoken in the western part of Riau, South Aceh Regency, the northern part of Bengkulu and Jambi.^[2] Along the western coastal region of North Sumatra, the language is also a lingua franca. The language is used and called Aneuk Jamee in parts of Aceh.

Besides Indonesia, Minangkabau is also spoken in Malaysia, by some descendants of migrants from the Minang-speaking region in Sumatra (Ranah Minang, Tanah Minang, or Land of the Minang). Significant numbers of the early migrants settled in what is now the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan; this Negeri Sembilan Malay, known as Bahaso Nogori / Baso Nogoghi, is now a distinct language, more closely related to Malay than to Minangkabau. More recent immigrants are known as Minang.

Dialects

The Minangkabau language has several dialects, sometimes differing between nearby villages (e.g. separated by a river). The dialects are Rao Mapat Tunggul, Muaro Sungai Lolo, Payakumbuh, Pangkalan-Lubuk Alai, Agam-Tanah Datar, Pancungsoal, Kotobaru, Sungai Bendung Air, and Karanganyar.^[5] In everyday communication between Minangkabau people of different regions, the Agam-Tanah Datar dialect (Baso Padang or Baso Urang Awak 'our [people's] language') is often used and has become a kind of standard.

The Tapan language, spoken in the town of Tapan in southern West Sumatra province, is a recently discovered Malayan language which has been proposed as related to but not part of Minangkabau. Together, Tapan and Minangkabau would form a Greater Minangkabau subgroup.^[6] The two languages Tapan and Muko-Muko form a Lunangic subgroup within the Minangic (Greater Minangkabau) language group.^[6][7]

The Minangic subgroup is characterized by the following word-final sound changes.^[7]

• *V[hi]ŋ > V[hi]ăŋ
• *us > uĭh
• *at > eʔ
• *as > eh
• *is > ih

Phonology

The sound inventory of Minangkabau is listed below:^[8]

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩	ɲ ⟨ny⟩	ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	tʃ ⟨c⟩	k ⟨k⟩	ʔ ⟨k⟩, ⟨ʼ⟩
	voiced	b ⟨b⟩	d ⟨d⟩	dʒ ⟨j⟩	ɡ ⟨g⟩
Fricative			s ⟨s⟩			h ⟨h⟩
Lateral			l ⟨l⟩
Rhotic			r ⟨r⟩
Semivowel		w ⟨w⟩		j ⟨y⟩

Vowels

Monophthongs

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ⟨i⟩		u ⟨u⟩
Mid	e ⟨e⟩		o ⟨o⟩
Open		a ⟨a⟩

Diphthongs

	Front	Back
Close	iə̯⁓ie̯ ⟨ia⟩	uə̯⁓uo̯ ⟨ua⟩, ui̯ ⟨ui⟩
Mid	eə̯ ⟨ea⟩	oə̯ ⟨oa⟩
Open	ai̯ ⟨ai⟩, au̯ ⟨au⟩

Example

Sentences

English	Minangkabau	Indonesian
How are you now?	Baʼa kaba sanak kini?	Bagaimana kabar anda sekarang?
I'm well. How about you?	Lai elok-elok se nyo. Sanak baʼa?	Saya baik-baik saja. Anda bagaimana?
What is your name?	Sia namo sanak?	Siapa nama kamu?
My name is ...	Namo ambo ...	Nama saya ...
Thank you.	Tarimo kasih.	Terima kasih.
The trees in the jungle don't have the same height, moreover the people. (Proverb)	Sadang kayu di rimbo 'ndak samo tinggi, apo lai manusia. (Pribaso)	Sedangkan pohon di hutan tidak sama tinggi, apalagi manusia. (Peribahasa)
"As the frog swims, so he/she swims too." (He/she is doing something without having a goal.)	"Co a koncek baranang co itu inyo" baʼarti mangarajokan suatu tapi indak punyo tujuan.	"Bagaimana katak berenang seperti itulah dia" berarti mengerjakan sesuatu tanpa punya tujuan.
Don't throw the rubbish here! (Command)	Indak buliah mambuang sarok di siko! (Parintah)	Dilarang membuang sampah di sini! (Perintah)
Do not touch! You will burn your hand.	Ijan dipacik! Beko tangan angku tabaka.	Jangan disentuh! Nanti tanganmu terbakar.

Numerals

Number	Minangkabau	Indonesian	English
1	cieʼ	satu	one
2	duo	dua	two
3	tigo	tiga	three
4	ampeʼ	empat	four
5	limo	lima	five
6	anam	enam	six
7	tujuah	tujuh	seven
8	lapan	(de)lapan	eight
9	sambilan	sembilan	nine
10	sapuluah	sepuluh	ten
11	sabaleh	sebelas	eleven
15	limo baleh	lima belas	fifteen
50	limo puluah	lima puluh	fifty
100	saratuih	seratus	one hundred/a hundred
150	saratuih limo puluah	seratus lima puluh	one hundred and fifty
500	limo ratuih	lima ratus	five hundred
#,000	ribu	ribu	thousand
#,000,000	juta	juta	million
#,000,000,000	milliar	milliar	billion

See also

• Indonesia portal
• Languages portal

• Minangkabau people
• Overseas Minangkabau

References

1. Minangkabau at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Kajian Serba Linguistik : Untuk Anton Moeliono Pereksa Bahasa (2000)
3. Khaidir Anwar (1976), "Minangkabau, Background of the main pioneers of modern standard Malay in Indonesia", Archipel, 12 (1): 77–93, doi:10.3406/arch.1976.1296
4. Sophie Elizabeth Crouch (2009), Voice and verb morphology in Minangkabau, a language of West Sumatra, Indonesia. Master's thesis
5. Nadra, Reniwati, and Efri Yades, Daerah Asal dan Arah Migrasi Orang Minangkabau di Provinsi Jambi Berdasarkan Kajian Variasi Dialektikal (2008)
6. Kurniati, S., Putri, Y. P., Wichmann, S., & Gil, D. (2011). Tapan: An Exploration in Malayic Subgrouping. Paper presented at the 15th International Symposium on Malay Indonesian Linguistics (ISMIL 15).
7. Gil, D. & McKinnon, T. (2015). Excrescent Nasals in Malayic Dialects of Western Sumatra. Paper presented at the 13th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics (13-ICAL).
8. Adelaar, K. Alexander (1992). Proto-Malayic: The Reconstruction of its Phonology and Parts of its Lexicon and Morphology. Pacific Linguistics, Series C, no. 119. Canberra: Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, the Australian National University.

Further reading

• Nurlela Adnan, Ermitati, Rosnida M. Nur, Pusat Bahasa (Indonesia), Balai Pustaka (Persero), PT. 2001 – Indonesian-Minangkabau dictionary (Kamus bahasa Indonesia-Minangkabau), 841 pages.
• Marjusman Maksan, Yulina Kasim, Tamsin Medan, Syamsir Arifin, Basri, A. Razak Sikumbang, 1984, Geografi Dialek Bahasa Minangbakau, Jakarta, Pusat Pembinaan Dan Pengembangan Bahasa Departemen Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan, 1984.
• Tata Bahasa Minangkabau, Gerard Moussay (original title La Langue Minangkabau, translated from French by Rahayu S. Hidayat), ISBN 979-9023-16-5.

External links

• Rosetta Project: Minangkabau Swadesh List