ACEHNESE LANGUAGE TRAINING MANUAL BOOK - K. F. H. VAN LANGEN (1889)

ACEHNESE LANGUAGE TRAINING MANUAL BOOK 

( Original Title :HANDLEIDING  VOOR DE BEOEFENING  DER ATJEHSCHE TAAL)

PREFACE

The aim, with the publication of this work, is twofold. First, to give our land servers in Aceh the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the language of that region; and secondly to provoke linguistics to their more scientific and fuller practice.
Mainly in the composition the requirements of practice have been taken into account. Hence the highest possible brevity.
A Reading Book has been added to the Speech Art, drawn from the best-known Acehnese works.
The examples used in the Voice Art are largely derived from those works.
In the Reading Book we have, for the sake of facilitating the first study, preceded the transcription and translation of the first three texts and the translation of the two following texts.
That this work should meet the goal is the wish of the SCHRIJVER 14 Juni 1888.
We still have the request to add to the Foreword of the Writer that the assessment of this test should take into account the fact that it had to be printed without the supervision of the Writers, while all kinds of circumstances prevented him, before he left for India by finalizing the desired revision.
In Speech Art as well as in the Reading Book, there will thus be occasional irregularities, whose removal can only take place adequately through an exchange of views with the Author. Since the Acehnese language is still practically not practiced at all, it did not seem appropriate to us to apply uniformity, where the choice could not be made without arbitrariness, or to change, which, for the time being, is merely to place a question mark  reason.



Grammar

The Aceh language is a branch of the great language tribe, called Malay-Polynesian.
It goes without saying that the various tribes, from which the Acehnese people gradually formed, also made different statements. Moreover, words were retained in some regions, which were lost in others or replaced by new ones.
From there the different dialects of the Atjehsch, distinguished in:
1 «. the dialect of the XXV and XXVI Moekims, which, with the exception of minor nuances, can be regarded as one;
2 «. the dialect of the XXII Mukims and Daja;
3 °. the dialect of Pëdir;
4 °. the dialect of Pasei.
The first dialect is regarded by the Atjehers as the civilized pronunciation of the Atjehsch. Near the kraton, the mentioned mukims were regarded as the focal point of the civilization, industry, power, trade and wealth of the Atjehsche realm.
We will therefore discuss this dialect here, since we have not yet been able to make any special study of the others and as a result are unable to give up the difference between them. The difference is not great, however, since, if the civilized dialect is known, there is no difficulty in understanding the rest.
Regarding the geographic spread of the dialects, the following can also be noted. The first dialect is still spoken in the so-called Southern settlements of the IV and VI Mukims (Liepong, Lëhong and Kloewang) and in the landscapes of the East and West coast, which owes their origin to settlements from the XXV and XXVI Mukims *).
The Pedirsch dialect is spoken on the North coast of Aceh, from Koewala Lampanas to the corner of Lok Simawé, 'Paseisch in the so-called Paseistreek.

PHONETICS

CHAPTER I SPELLING

The Aceh alphabet is Arabic with the same modifications, which have made it ready for the Malay language. That many sounds can not be returned with it, they themselves acknowledge. A civilized Atjeher indicated this to us in the following manner: "bhasa Aceh hana toek roekoen, han geunap haraf saoempama gëtanjoi pëmëged hana génap alat" the Aceh language does not possess sufficient tools (means) nor enough letters (to give the pronunciation again ), it is also as if we want to manufacture something without sufficient tools.

No detailed treatment of that alphabet is expected here. Those who are unfamiliar with this are referred to the well-known works of Robinson, the Dutchman and Pijnappel. Only attention will be paid to the particular differences in spelling and pronunciation of the letters in the Acehseh, in the case of Malay.
The letters are all consonants and the Arabic sound symbols are only used in citations from the Qur'an and Arabic scriptures. In the lack of vowels one tries to provide by the letters ا, و and ي.
As a general rule, it can be assumed that the (only in open, while also in closed syllables, e.g.
As a general rule one can assume that the ا is only open while the ي  and و also occur in closed syllables, e.g.
ناريت narit
جاروم jarôm
كهوڠ khueng
ركوڠ reukueng
بوڠوڠ bungông
چيچيم cicém

ا is used to express the long or stretched a-sound in open syllables, e.g.

اݢم agam
انق aneuk
اسو asè
مالو malè
جالڠ jalang
مالڠ malang

Furthermore, to give back the short ë-sound in through a consonant closed initial syllables e.g.

اڠكوة eungköt
انچيت euncit
انچين euncien

In the middle of a word, if the syllable starts with a vowel, the place is used instead of the ا , ء
سيئت siat
تؤة teuôt
فئيده faidah
لؤة laôt
سؤة seuôt
سؤن seuôn
جؤه jiôh
سؤم seu-uem
the و is used to express the sound o and the diphthong in open and closed syllables, e.g.

رو rô
جودو judô
رنوب ranub

In open end-syllables she is pronounced as one in Acehsche and in far-flung Malay words

اولو ulè
اسو asè
ابو abè
بجو bajè
بتو batè

But in the same case it retains the u and aw sound in some unaltered words taken from the Malay

ادو adu
دادو dadu
ريندو rindu
ربو rabu
بيرو biru

ي in open and closed syllables represents the long or drawn i-sound بينه binèh
بيسا bisa
بيت bit
تريب treb

رامى ramè
ڤانى panè
ڤاكري pakri
جينى jinoe
اوري uroe