Sigulai language

The Sigulai language (also called Sibigo, Sikule, Ageumeui, or Wali Banuah) is an Austronesian language spoken on Simeulue island off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia.^[3] It belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages. Sikule is one of Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands languages, which are a sub-group of Western Malayo-Polynesian.^[4]

Sigulai
Dau Batu[1]
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Simeulue, Aceh
Native speakers	(undated figure of 20,000)[2]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands Northern Barrier Islands Nias–Sikule Sigulai
Language codes
ISO 639-3	skh
Glottolog	siku1242

Sikule is spoken in Salang, Alafan and Simeulue Barat district, on the northern of Simeulue island. It is apparently related to the Nias language.^[5] Ethnologue lists Lekon and Tapah as dialects.^[2]

Simeulue is spoken in the rest of Simeulue outside of Alafan, while Jamu (also called Kamano), related to Minangkabau, is spoken in the capital city of Sinabang.

Phonology

The vowel and consonant phonemes of Sikule are shown in the tables below.^[6]

Sikule vowel phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open		a

Sikule consonant phonemes

		Labial	Alveolar	Post-alveolar/ Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	t͡ʃ	k	(ʔ)
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ
Fricative			s		x	h
Approximant	central			j
	lateral		l
Trill			r

See also

• Simeulue language