Dominance of Arabic in Acehnese

Abstract

Around 700 Arabic words have been absorbed by the Acehnese language. This absorption process of course influences changes in the phonetics and meaning of the words produced in the Acehnese language. This research discusses the process of spelling and meaning changes in the Acehnese language after the Arabic vocabulary was absorbed into it. The method used is the Agih Method and the Determining Element Sorting Technique. The results show that there was a change in the spelling of Acehnese loan words. The spelling change included several processes, such as dissimilation, metathesis, diphthongization, monophthongization, anaptyctic prosthesis, epenthesis, paragog, apheresis, syncope, and apocope. Apart from changes in spelling, there are also changes in the meaning absorbed from Arabic, namely: fixed meaning, narrowed meaning, and expanded meaning. However, the Acehnese language tends to have a fixed meaning in its absorption of Arabic. Keywords: language, Arabic, Acehnese