Alas-Kluet, Alas, or Batak Alas is an Austronesian language of Sumatra. The three dialects, Alas, Kluet, and Singkil (Kade-Kade), may not constitute a single language; Alas may be closer to Karo, and the others closer to Dairi. By linguistic affiliation, Alas–Kluet belongs to the Batak subgroup. Ethnically, however, its speakers generally do not identify as Batak, mostly because of their religion, and also due to political reasons.[2]

Alas
Batak Alas
Native toIndonesia
RegionSumatra
Ethnicity
Native speakers
(200,000 cited 2000 census)[1]
Latin
Batak
Official status
Regulated byBadan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa
Language codes
ISO 639-3btz
Glottologbata1292

Phonology

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The phonology of Alas are as follows:[3]

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Dorsal Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t c k ʔ
voiced b d ɟ ɡ
Fricative s h
Approximant l j w
Trill ʀ
Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Open-mid ɛ ə o
Open a

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Alas at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Akifumi Iwabuchi (1994). The People of the Alas Valley: A Study of an Ethnic Group of Northern Sumatra. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-827902-7.
  3. ^ Akbar, Osra M. (1985). Kamus Alas-Indonesia Seri K (PDF) (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. pp. xv. Archived from the original on 2021-08-15. Retrieved 2025-07-17.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

Further reading

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  • Suhery, D.; Hasnain, S.I. (2018). "Social Contexts of Phonological Contrasts and Indexicality: Variability and Identity among Singkils". The 1st Annual International Conference on Language and Literature (AICLL). Vol. 3. pp. 178–190. doi:10.18502/kss.v3i4.1930. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  • Soravia, Giulio (2007). Alas Completo (PDF). Bologna University.