Nias | |
---|---|
Li Niha | |
Native to | Indonesia |
Region | Nias and Batu Islands, North Sumatra |
Ethnicity | Nias people |
Native speakers | 770,000 (2000 census)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
Latin | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | nia |
ISO 639-3 | nia |
Glottolog | nias1242 |
Distribution of Nias language speakers in the Nias and Batu islands (nia) | |
The Nias language is an Austronesian language spoken on Nias Island and the Batu Islands off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. It is known as Li Niha by its native speakers. It belongs to the Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands subgroup which also includes Mentawai and the Batak languages.[1] It had about 770,000 speakers in 2000.[1] There are three main dialects: northern, central and southern.[2] It is an open-syllable language, which means there are no syllable-final consonants.