Northwest Sumatran languages

Northwest Sumatran
North Sumatran Northwest Sumatran – Barrier Islands
Geographic distribution:	Sumatra
Linguistic classification:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian Northwest Sumatran
Subdivisions:	—

The Northwest Sumatran languages are a putative group of languages spoken by the Batak and related peoples in the interior of northern Sumatra, and by the Nias, Mentawai, etc. on the barrier islands (Simeulue, Nias, and Mentawai Islands) off the western coast of Sumatra.

Classification

The languages normally included in North Sumatran are,

• Batak languages
• Gayo
• Enggano
• Mentawai
• Northern Barrier Islands: Nias, Sikule, Simeulue

However, a 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database^[1] found no support for a northern Sumatran family. Toba Batak and Gayo were found to fit in different branches of an expanded Malayo-Sumbawan family (along with other Sumatran languages), whereas Nias appeared to be closest to Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, though these outside connections were only moderately supported (85% confidence). Enggano was not considered, and it is not clear that language is even Austronesian.

References

1. ^ Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database