Nias language

Nias
Li Niha
Native toIndonesia
RegionNias and Batu Islands, North Sumatra
EthnicityNias people
Native speakers
770,000 (2000 census)[1]
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-2nia
ISO 639-3nia
Glottolognias1242
Distribution of Nias language speakers in the Nias and Batu islands (nia)
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A video of spoken Nias

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.

  1. ^ a b c Nias at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Brown 1997, p. 395.