Kerinci language

 ( Languages Of Indonesia ) 

The Indonesian Agency for Language Development and Cultivation identifies approximately 130 dialects of the Kerinci language, consisting of seven major dialects, which are Gunung Raya, Danau Kerinci, Sitinjau Laut, Sungai Penuh, Pembantu Sungai Tutung, Air Hangat, and Gunung Kerinci. The Gunung Raya dialect is spoken in the Pengasih Lama village in the Bukitkerman District. The Danau Kerinci dialect is spoken in the Koto Tuo Ujung Pasir village and the Seleman village in the Danau Kerinci District. The Sitinjau Laut dialect is spoken in the Hiang Tinggi village in the Sitinjau Laut District. The Sungai Penuh dialect is spoken in the Koto Lebu village and the Koto Lolo village in the Pondong Tinggi District. The Pembantu Sungai Tutung dialect is spoken in the Sungaiabu village in the Kerinci District. The Belui Air Hangat dialect is spoken in the Belui village, in the Air Hangat Timur District. The Gunung Kerinci dialect is spoken in the Mukai Tinggi village and the Sung Betung Ilir village in the Gunung Kerinci District.

The Kerinci language dialects can be very different between villages even though they are very close, such as Tanah Kampung, Kemantan, and Dusun Baru, which are only separated by a river. Administratively, these three villages belong to different districts and regencies. Dusun Baru Lempur and Kemantan are located in the Kerinci Regency but are in different districts, while Tanah Kampung is part of Sungai Penuh. Although part of Sungai Penuh, the inhabitants of Tanah Kampung use a different dialect, specifically the Tanah Kampung dialect. Kemantan Raya is included in the Air Hangat Timur District of Kerinci Regency, where the community uses the Tanah Kemantan dialect. Meanwhile, Dusun Baru Lempur is in the Gunung Raya District of Kerinci Regency, and its inhabitants use the Dusun Baru dialect. This dialect is not to be confused with another dialect spoken in Dusun Baru near the town centre of Sungai Penuh. Next to the latter Dusun Baru speech area, the Sungai Penuh dialect is spoken, separated by a market from Pondok Tinggi. In turn, the Koto Renah dialect is spoken only a market away from Pondok Tinggi, while Koto Keras is almost contiguous with Koto Renah. The Kerinci dialect has various variations that differ in both Phonology and lexical aspects among the dialects. However, the dialects are generally mutually intelligible with one another. The Kerinci language is also known for its phonological variations, such as the sound at the end position before . In the Sungai Penuh, changes to , in Pondok Tinggi it becomes , while in Lempur and Semurup it remains , and in Dusun Baru, it changes to . An illustration of phonological distinctions across Kerinci dialects can be observed in the pronunciation of the word "girl". In Sungai Penuh dialect, it may be pronounced as or , in Tanjung Pauh as or , and in Koto Keras as or .

The following table compares several dialects spoken in the vicinity of Sungai Penuh (less than 7-kilometre from the town centre):

In addition, Kerinci language spoken in Malaysia has diverged from its original form and is no longer spoken as it is by native Kerinci speakers in Indonesia. The Kerinci language in Malaysia has been significantly influenced by local languages such as Malay language, thus deviating from the Kerinci language spoken in the Kerinci region in Jambi.

Pondok Tinggi and in have the allophones of and , respectively. The latter two vowels, however, are phonemic in the Sungai Penuh dialect.

Pondok Tinggi Kerinci has a rich inventory of —that is, sequences of vowels within the same syllable that can be considered a single V segment. Ernanda lists a total of 12 diphthongs for the Pondok Tinggi dialect, given in the table below according to whether the sequences are opening or closing (i.e., whether they are moving towards open/low vowels or closed/high vowels). Diphthongs and are only found in .

Sungai Penuh dialect has a fewer inventory of contrastive diphthongs, with the total number of 7.

All diphthongs appear only in final syllables. Other Kerinci dialects may distinguish different sets of vowel phonemes; cf. Tanjung Pauh Mudik with 9 plain vowels and 7 diphthongs, or Semerap with 7–8 plain vowels and 8 diphthongs.

Sungai Penuh consonant inventory is identical to that of Pondok Tinggi with the addition of , which is a native phoneme (not borrowed) historically derived from medial cluster, cf. Standard Malay kelongsong vs. Sungai Penuh kaluzɔŋ/kaluzon 'wrapper'.

This process is still productive in modern Pondok Tinggi Kerinci. For example, if the Passive voice prefix di- (which contains a voiced obsturent) is attached to a K-word, the word would turn into a G-word and changes its final rime. However, this change would be blocked if the initial consonant of the root is also an obstruent.

If a G-word loses its voiced obstruent due to prefixation, it would become a K-word and its final rime changes accordingly. This happens, for example, when the Active voice prefix N- alters the initial obstruent of a root to a homorganic nasal.

In Pondok Tinggi, truncation may affect most parts of speech and all kinds of sound. Ernanda observes that it generally happens in unstressed syllables, frequently deleting the initial syllable, or its syllable onset (particularly if it is bilabial). It can happen on a phrasal level, and for longer words, there is a tendency to elide the word-medial syllable. Truncation also interferes with the phonological alternation between K-words and G-words. For example, K-words that have been changed to G-words due to the addition of voiced obstruent's from prefixation will not revert back to their original forms when truncated:

In the dialect of Tanjung Pauh Mudik, the truncated monosyllabic forms are very common in naturalistic speech, to the point that the full forms found in the oral literary register (such as that of the kunaung) are considered archaic by its speakers.

• ba- + lahai 'run': balahoi 'to be running'
• ba- + tanak 'livestock': batanak 'to raise livestock'
• ba- + buloy 'fur': babuloy furry'
• ba- + sataw 'one': basataw 'unite'

Examples of the prefix di-:

• di- + bli 'buy': dibli 'be bought'
• di- + bene 'right': dibene 'be fixed'
• di- + rusak 'damage': dirusak 'be damaged'
• di- + saain 'rival': disaain 'be rivaled'

Examples of the prefix N-:

• N- + udud 'cigarette': ngudud 'to smoke'
• N- + buka 'open': mukak 'to open'
• N- + antak 'drop', 'send': ngantak 'to drop off'
• N- + gawe 'do': ngawe 'to do'

Examples of the prefix ta-:

• ta- + panggang 'burn': tapanggang 'burnt'
• ta- + panjang 'long': tapanjang 'longest'
• ta- + pandak 'short': tapandak 'shortest'
• ta- + lemak 'delicious': talemak 'most delicious'

Examples of the prefix pa-:

• pa- + tinggay 'tall': patinggay 'make taller'
• pa- + mace 'read': pamace 'reader'
• pa- + minan 'drink': paminan 'drinker'
• pa- + malayh 'lazy': pamalayh 'lazy person'

Examples of the prefix ma-:

• ma- + lumpak 'jump': malumpak 'to jump'
• ma- + pahalawh 'smoothen': mapahalawh 'to smoothen'
• ma- + rapak 'get close': marapak 'to get close'
• ma- + inak 'remember': mainak 'to remember'

Examples of the prefix ka-:

• ka- + lapo 'hungry': kalapo 'feeling hungry'
• ka- + dingin 'cold': kadingin 'feeling cold'
• ka- + ragun 'doubtful': karagun 'feeling doubtful'
• ka- + teih 'up': kateih 'upstairs'

Examples of the prefix sa-:

• sa- + ilaêk 'good': sailaêk 'as good as'
• sa- + dusen 'hamlet': sadusen 'entire hamlet'
• sa- + paneh 'hot': sapaneh 'as hot as'
• sa- + gantang 'bushel': sagantang 'a bushel'

Examples of the suffix -lah :

• Kainan lah jeleh-jeleh sebelum ngambik kaputusan. 'Think calmly before making a decision'
• Dateng lah sakalai-sakalai kumah kamai. 'Come to our house once in a while'
• Biua woe lah nyo nangaih luo kamar. 'Just let her cry outside the room'
• Mamok kamai ie lah gepeuk nga gdon tinggai. 'Our uncle is fat and tall'

Examples of the infix -ar-:

• -ar- + ayei 'water': barayei 'watery'
• -ar- + agi 'yeast': baragi 'yeasty'
• -ar- + ameh 'gold': barameh 'golden'
• -ar- + adeik 'younger sibling': baradeik 'have a younger sibling'

• maco-maco 'to skim through'
• manjat-manjat 'to climb around'
• aloy-aloy 'to look around'

Examples of verb-forming reduplication that means doing something with enjoyment are shown below:

• minan-minan 'to drink casually'
• masak-masak 'to cook casually'
• tidew-tidew 'to sleep casually'

Examples of verb-forming reduplication that means mutual action are shown below:

• batangoyh-tangoyh 'to cry together'
• baragoyh-ragoyh 'to share together'

There are two types of noun reduplication, which are noun-forming reduplication that means 'many' and noun-forming reduplication that means 'like' or 'resembling'. Examples of noun-forming reduplication that means 'many' are shown below:

• anak-anak 'kids'
• gloyh-gloyh 'glasses'
• pisan-pisan 'bananas'

Examples of noun-forming reduplication noun-forming reduplication that means 'like' or 'resembling are shown below:

• kudow-kudow 'horse'
• umoh-umoh 'house'

There are three types of adjective reduplication, which are adjective-forming reduplication that denotes plurality, adjective-forming reduplication that indicates atmosphere, and adjective-forming reduplication that expresses condition. Examples of adjective-forming reduplication that denotes plurality are shown below:

• gduê-gduê 'very large'
• panja-panja 'very long'
• putaêh-putaêh 'very white'

Examples of adjective-forming reduplication that indicates atmosphere are shown below:

• bagduê-gduê 'on a large scale'

Examples of adjective-forming reduplication that expresses condition are shown below:

• sakayk-sakayk 'frequently sick'
• payah-payah 'persistently difficult'
• pnak-pnak 'continuously exhausted'

There is only one type of numeral word reduplication, which is the numeral-forming reduplication that indicates formation. Examples are:

• tigeê-tigeê 'three-three' or 'formation of three-three'
• dueê-dueê 'two-two'

• apuêk mley bajew 'dad is buying clothes'
• nyo makan pisa 'he's a eating a banana'
• anok toh gadoy h 'that child is a girl'
• kakak minum ubuêk 'elder sibling is eating medicine'

Inflectional nouns are derived from basic words that undergo phoneme changes when the basic word is modified by another word, such as:

• pisa dalon pingga 'banana on a plate'
• pisan kunan toh dalon pingga 'that yellow banana is on a plate'
• jawow sitow 'cow over there'
• jawi putaêh sitow 'that white cow over there'

Derivative nouns are combinations of the prefix pa- with nouns, verbs, or adjectives, such as:

• pa- + tani 'farm': patani 'farmer'
• pa- + daguê 'trade': padaguê 'merchant' or 'trader'
• pa- + tulayh 'writer': patulayh 'writer'
• pa- + baceê 'read': pabaceê 'reader'

In addition, pluralization of nouns in the Kerinci language can be expressed by reduplication and numerals, such as:

• sawoh-sawoh 'lots of farms'
• umah-umah 'lots of houses'
• duwo uha 'two person'
• tujuh umoh 'seven houses'

• tulayhlah 'write it'
• baceêlah 'read it'
• agoylah 'give it'
• tidewlah 'go sleep'

Inflectional verbs are basic verbs used as intransitive or transitive verbs. These verbs undergo phoneme changes from the basic verb. Inflectional verbs occur due to the combination of prefixes and basic verbs, such as:

• nyo nulayh 'he is writing'
• nyo manjak 'he is climbing'
• nyo macaê 'he is reading'

• mangkao 'to hack using a hoe'
• babaoêk 'to get close with each other'
• nakawk 'to scare'
• malemah 'to weaken'

• ita nya 'so black'
• tingay nya 'so tall'
• nya pandak 'the short one'
• lebih tinggay 'taller'
• nya barsoyh 'the clean one'
• samo brot 'same weight'

Inflected adjectives are basic adjectives that undergo phonemic changes when modified by the modifier sangat or liwak, which both means 'very', such as:

• sangat itan 'very black'
• sangat bersih 'very clean'
• liwak pande 'very short'
• liwak tinggay 'very tall'

• sataw 'one'
• dueê 'two'
• mpak 'four'
• limao 'five'
• limo pulaoh 'fifty'
• limo ratawh 'five hundred'

Indefinite numerals are numerals that do not indicate a specific quantity, such as:

• banyuêk 'many'
• dikoyk 'little'

Definite numerals like pulaoh 'tens', ratowh 'hundreds', ribu 'thousands', and juta 'millions' when given the prefix ba- can be classified into indefinite numerals, such as: bapulaoh 'tens of', baratawh 'hundreds of', baribu 'thousands of', and bajuta 'millions of'. In its usage, numerals can have the form of cardinal numerals and ordinal numerals. The basic numeral words denoting units, such as: sataw 'satu', na 'enam', tujeuh 'tujuh', salapa 'delapan', and so forth, in inflected forms can be added with numeral words pulawh 'puluh', ratawh 'ratus', ribu 'ribu', jutea 'juta', like:

• sapulawh 'ten'
• duwo ratewh 'two hundred'
• nan ribu 'six thousand'
• sajuta 'one million'

Cardinal numerals can be used in reduplcation, such as:

• sataw-sataw 'one by one'
• dueê-dueê 'two by two'
• tigeê-tigeê 'three by three'
• na-na 'six by six'

Numerals can also be prefixed with /pa-/, such as:

• padueê 'to make into two'
• patigeê 'to make into three'
• pampak 'to make into four'
• pabanyuêk 'to make into many'

• twao ('eldest sibling'), twaruwao ('eldest uncle), taruwao ('eldest aunt')
• tngah ('second oldest sibling'), twarengah ('second oldest uncle'), tarengah ('second oldest aunt')
• nsaw ('youngest family member'), twansaw ('youngest uncle'), tansaw ('youngest aunt')

For third person singular and plural pronouns, the following words are usually used: no 'he/she', diyuê 'he/she (respectful)', uha 'they'.

Examples of interrogative pronouns for objects or people in Kerinci language are: apo 'what', sapo 'who'.

Examples of Demonstrative for objects are itoh 'that', ineh 'this'.