Native to Indonesia Native speakers 290,000 (2000 census) | Region Sumatra Writing system Kaganga, Latin | |
Language family Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian (MP)
Nuclear MP
Malayic
Malayan
Kerinci Dialects Ulu
Mamaq
Akit
Talang
Sakei | ||
Kerinci (Karinchi or Kincai) is a Malayan language spoken in Jambi province, Sumatra especially in Kerinci Regency and Sungai Penuh city. It has a high dialectical diversity, with dialects consists of Ulu, Mamaq, Akit, Talang and Sakei.
Lempur Malay and Rantau Panjang Malay, two recently described divergent Malay varieties spoken in the western part of Jambi province, share features with both Kerinci and Jambi Malay.
Van Reijn (1974) notes that Kerinci shares many phonological similarities with Austroasiatic languages, such as sesquisyllabic word structure and vowel inventory.
References
Kerinci language Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA