Bengkulu (bəNG-kOO-LOOh; , ) is a Western Sumatran language native to the western coastal and inland Sumatran regions of Bengkulu and its adjacent. The Bengkulu language is a de facto co-official language of the Indonesian province of Bengkulu, originally and natively spoken by the indigenous Bengkulu ethnic group. It is the of the multiethnic community across Bengkulu.
Geographic distribution
The Bengkulu spoken by nearly 225,000 speakers throughout Indonesia, with main geograpical region concentrated around the region of Bengkulu in southwestern Sumatra. Natively, it is spoken in the districts of South Kaur, Central Kaur, Gading Cempaka, Ipuh, Teluk Segara, and Muara Bangkahulu in Bengkulu City; the districts of Pelalo and Taba Tinggi in Rejang Lebong regency; the districts of Tanjung Betuah and Merpas in Southern Bengkulu; all districts of Kepahiang regency; the districts of Ketahun, Air Lelangi, and South Mukomuko of North Bengkulu regency.
Phonology
Bengkulu is written in the Latin alphabet and sometimes in Rejang script.
Consonants
The letters , , and are used in loanwords from Indonesian.
Vowels
Bengkulu diphthongs are ai, au, ia and ua (where "ia" and "ua" are used in loanwords).
Varieties
According to the official national linguistic data of the Republic of Indonesia, the Bengkulu language has at least 9 main dialects spoken across the Bengkulu cultural regions. Five of the Bengkulu varieties has individual representative ISO 639-3 language codes, namely: Kaur Bengkulu Lembak Bengkulu Nasal Bengkulu Pekal Bengkulu Pasemah Bengkulu
Sample text
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The following texts are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Bengkulu along with the original declaration in English.