Simeulue language

Simeulue
Simolol
Long Bano
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Simeulue, Aceh, Sumatra
Ethnicity	Simeulue people
Native speakers	(undated figure of 30,000)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands Simeulue
Dialects	Devayan Haloban Simolol
Language codes
ISO 639-3	smr
Glottolog	sime1241
ELP

The Simeulue language is spoken by the Simeulue people of Simeulue off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.

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.

• 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.

Sikule and Leukon, related to Nias, is spoken in Salang, Alafan, and Simeulue Barat in northern Simeulue, 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

	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

	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