Gayo Language is the spoken language of about 300,000 people (2000) in the mountain region of North Sumatra around Takengon, Gayo Lues, Bener Meriah, Southeast Aceh, Genteng, and Lokop. It is classified as belonging to the Western Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages, but is not closely related to other languages.
Gayo is distinguished from other languages in Aceh. The art and culture of Gayo people and also significantly different compared with other Acehnese people.
In 1907, G.A.J. Hazeu wrote a first Gayo–Dutch dictionary for the colonial authorities of the Dutch East Indies.
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“For all symbols are fluxional; all language is vehicular and transitive, and is good, as ferries and horses are, for conveyance, not as farms and houses are, for homestead.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)