Palembang language


Palembang, also known as Palembang Malay or Musi, is a Malayic language primarily spoken in about two thirds of South Sumatra Province in Indonesia, especially along the Musi River. It consists of two separate but mutually intelligible dialect chains: Musi and Palembang. The Palembang dialect is a koiné that was born in Palembang, the capital city of South Sumatra. It has become a lingua franca throughout major population centers in the province, and is often used polyglossically with Indonesian and other regional languages and dialects in the area. Since parts of South Sumatra used to be under direct Javanese rule for quite a long time, the speech varieties of Palembang and its surrounding area are significantly influenced by Javanese, down to their core vocabularies.

Phonology

Dunggio lists 26 phonemes for the Palembang dialect; specifically, there are 20 consonants and 6 vowels. However, another study by Aliana states that there are only 25 phonemes in Palembang, reanalyzing as and allophone of and instead.

Vowels

In closed syllables, and are realized as and, respectively.

Consonants