Symbols
63Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Alphabet
One row per letter in Indonesian alphabetical order. É é, the clear e marked in Gayo dictionaries, sits beside plain E. F, Q, V, X and Z appear mainly in loanwords and names.
Punctuation
Gayo has no standard punctuation of its own; Indonesian practice is followed, with curly double quotation marks. The rupiah is written Rp and has no Unicode sign.
Where it's spoken
The central highlands of Aceh province, Indonesia.
Gayo in emoji
Gayo coffee, Lake Lut Tawar and its depik fish, the clapping of Saman and didong, kerawang embroidery and the mosque.
On the map
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Gayo language letters: Latin script, A–Z and vowel marks
Gayo (bahasa Gayo) is commonly written in the Latin script, but it has no standard orthography; descriptions use Indonesian-based spellings, sometimes with added vowel diacritics. The basic Latin A–Z is used. Gayo words of their own rarely need F, Q, V, X or Z; those turn up in Indonesian and Arabic loanwords and in names. Digraphs such as ng (as in Takengon), ny, and sy or kh in Arabic loanwords follow Indonesian-based conventions.
Like Indonesian, Gayo has two different vowels that unmarked spelling may write with the same letter e: the short neutral vowel, like the a in English 'about', and a clear /e/ vowel, close to the vowel in English 'bed' or French 'été'. Some linguistic descriptions mark the clear one as é and leave the short neutral one as plain e; Gayo has no standard orthography, so conventions vary. That is why É and é sit under E in the grid.
Where the Gayo language is spoken
Gayo is the language of the Gayo people (urang Gayo) in the central highlands of Aceh province, Indonesia, around Lake Lut Tawar and the town of Takengon in Central Aceh, in Bener Meriah, and in Gayo Lues with its main town Blangkejeren. CLDR estimates about 340,000 speakers, all of them in Indonesia, and most of them also speak Indonesian, which is the language of school, government and most print.
Gayo is a language of its own, not a dialect of Acehnese. Its lowland neighbour Acehnese belongs to the Chamic branch, related to Cham in Vietnam and Cambodia, while Gayo is a separate Austronesian language of Sumatra; linguists still debate exactly which Sumatran languages it is closest to. If you write in the languages around it, see the Acehnese Alphabet & Letters, with its é, è, ë, ô and ö, and the Indonesian, Malay and Batak Toba collections.
How to type é on Windows, Mac and phone
On Windows, hold Alt and type 0233 on the number pad for é, or 0201 for É. With the US-International keyboard layout, press the apostrophe key and then e. On a Mac, press OptionE, let go, then press e (add Shift on the second key for É).
On Android and iPhone keyboards, long-press the e key and slide to é. In HTML write é and É. Gayo has no standard punctuation of its own, so writers follow Indonesian practice and use double quotation marks, “like this”, which word processors make automatically from the straight " key.
Gayo in emoji: coffee, the lake and the Saman dance
The Gayo highlands are best known abroad for their coffee: Arabica grown on the slopes around Takengon is sold worldwide as Gayo coffee (kopi Gayo), so is the first emoji most people reach for. stands for Lake Lut Tawar, the lake at Takengon, and for depik, the small fish found only in that lake and a favourite local dish.
belongs to the Saman dance from Gayo Lues, in which a row of kneeling men sing and clap, slap their chests and thighs and sway in tight unison; UNESCO added it to its list of intangible heritage in need of urgent safeguarding in 2011. Clapping also drives didong, the Gayo art of sung verse performed by competing groups. is for kerawang Gayo, the embroidered motifs on Gayo cloth and dress, and for the Muslim faith of the Gayo people. Gayo prices are written in Indonesian rupiah as Rp followed by the amount; the rupiah has no Unicode sign of its own.
How to use them
5 situationsClick to copyGayo Language Letters combos
10Worth knowing
- The Saman dance of the Gayo was inscribed on UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2011.
- Gayo and Acehnese are spoken in the same province but are not closely related: Acehnese's nearest relatives are the Chamic languages of mainland Southeast Asia.
- Depik, the little fish of Lake Lut Tawar, lives nowhere else in the world.
- Gayo has no standard orthography: it is commonly written in Latin script, and linguistic descriptions use added vowel marks such as é to show pronunciation.
Questions people ask
6What is the Gayo language?
Gayo (bahasa Gayo) is the Austronesian language of the Gayo people in the central highlands of Aceh, Indonesia, spoken by an estimated 340,000 people around Takengon, Bener Meriah and Gayo Lues. It is a separate language from Acehnese.
What alphabet does the Gayo language use?
Gayo is commonly written in Latin script, with spellings often based on Indonesian, but it has no standard orthography. Some linguistic descriptions use added vowel marks, including é for /e/; conventions vary.
Is Gayo the same as Acehnese?
No. Both are spoken in Aceh province, but Acehnese is a Chamic language and Gayo is a different Austronesian language of Sumatra; speakers of one do not understand the other without learning it.
Where is bahasa Gayo spoken?
In Aceh province, Indonesia: Central Aceh (around Takengon and Lake Lut Tawar), Bener Meriah and Gayo Lues, with smaller communities elsewhere in Aceh.
How do I type é?
Windows: Alt0233 (É is Alt0201), or apostrophe then e on US-International. Mac: OptionE, then e. Phone: long-press e. HTML: é.
What does Gayo mean in Gayo coffee?
It names the Gayo highlands of central Aceh and the Gayo people who grow the coffee there, around Takengon and Bener Meriah.
