The Batak Toba language is an Austronesian language that originates from Northern Sumatra, in Indonesia, mostly west of Lake Toba. There are approximately 2,000,000 speakers worldwide. There is a traditional Batak Toba script alphabet referenced below.
Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk was involved in translating the Bible into Toba Batak.
Name of the language
The name of this traditional language arises from a rich and complex history of ethnic identity in colonial and post-colonial Indonesia. It is a generic name for the common language used by the people of the districts of Toba, Uluan, Humbang, Habinsaran, Samosir, and Silindung, centered upon the Island of Sumatra; more particularly, at Toba Lake. Linguistically and culturally these tribes of people are closely related. Other nearby communities such as Silalahi and Tongging may also be classified as speakers of Toba Batak.
The term "Toba Batak" is, itself, a derivation of the Toba Batak language. As such, it is used both as a noun and an adjective; both to describe a language, and also to describe the people who speak the language.
Among the aforementioned districts, Toba is the most densely populated and politically the most prominent district so that "Toba Batak" became a lable for all communities speaking a dialect closely akin to the diaect spoken in Toba. In contemporary Indonesia the language is seldom referred to as "Toba Batak" (bahasa Batak Toba), but more commonly and simply as "Batak" (bahasa Batak). The (Toba)-Batak refer to it in their own language as "Hata Batak". This "Batak" language is different from the languages of other "Batak" people that can be divided in speaking a northern Batak dialect (Karo Batak, and Pakpak-Dairi Batak – linguistically this dialect group also includes the culturally very different Alas people), a central Batak dialect (Simalungun) and closely related other southern Batak dialects such as Angkola and Mandailing.Description of the language
There are several dictionaries and grammars for each of the five major dialects of Batak (Angkola-Mandailing, Toba, Simalungun,Pakpal-Dairi, and Karo). Specifically for Toba Batak the most important dictionaries are that of Johannes Warneck (Toba-German) and Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk (Toba-Dutch).
Batak script
The Berkeley Script Encoding Initiative (accuracy challenged), http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/sei/index.html, states that
* the script is written from left to right, or vertically upon bamboo
* in most Batak communities only the datu (priests) are able to read and write script where it is mainly used for producing calendars and magical incantations
The Unicode Consortium described the Batak script in a first technical report proposal for computer coding of the Batak Toba Language at http://www.unicode.org/Public/TEXT/UTR-3.TXT. One must search the file for the term ("Batak") to find the reference; there are no page numbers. The Consortium referred to Neubronner van der Tuuk, H.: A Grammar of Toba Batak (1971; translated version of the original: Tobasche spraakkunst, 1864-1867, 2 vols.).
Unicode notes that the phonetic system of the script is similar to the scripts of the Philippines (Tagalog).
References
* Batak alphabets, including Batak Toba (published by Simon Ager, author of Omniglot)
* Toba Batak language at Ethnologue
* Truetype font for Batak Toba language (developed by Uli Kozok of the University of Hawaii)
* Example translation of Biblical Scripture (published by the Language Museum, a site published by Zhang Hong, an internet consultant and amateur linguist in Beijing China)
* Musgrave, Simon. Non-subject Arguments in Indonesian: Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. See page 112 (doc page 101) and reference to Cole, Peter & Gabriella Hermon (2000) Word order and binding in Toba Batak. Paper presented at AFLA 7, Amsterdam
* Sejara Indonesia An Online Outline of Indonesia History.
* Neubronner van der Tuuk, Hermanus. A grammar of Toba-Batak. The Hague, 1971. First English edition, first published in Dutch in 1864-1867. Translation J. Scott-Kemball, edited by A. Teeuw and R. Roolvink.
* Transtoba2 - transliteration software (roman to toba batak script), GNU GPL (by Uli Kozok and Leander Seige)
Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk was involved in translating the Bible into Toba Batak.
Name of the language
The name of this traditional language arises from a rich and complex history of ethnic identity in colonial and post-colonial Indonesia. It is a generic name for the common language used by the people of the districts of Toba, Uluan, Humbang, Habinsaran, Samosir, and Silindung, centered upon the Island of Sumatra; more particularly, at Toba Lake. Linguistically and culturally these tribes of people are closely related. Other nearby communities such as Silalahi and Tongging may also be classified as speakers of Toba Batak.
The term "Toba Batak" is, itself, a derivation of the Toba Batak language. As such, it is used both as a noun and an adjective; both to describe a language, and also to describe the people who speak the language.
Among the aforementioned districts, Toba is the most densely populated and politically the most prominent district so that "Toba Batak" became a lable for all communities speaking a dialect closely akin to the diaect spoken in Toba. In contemporary Indonesia the language is seldom referred to as "Toba Batak" (bahasa Batak Toba), but more commonly and simply as "Batak" (bahasa Batak). The (Toba)-Batak refer to it in their own language as "Hata Batak". This "Batak" language is different from the languages of other "Batak" people that can be divided in speaking a northern Batak dialect (Karo Batak, and Pakpak-Dairi Batak – linguistically this dialect group also includes the culturally very different Alas people), a central Batak dialect (Simalungun) and closely related other southern Batak dialects such as Angkola and Mandailing.Description of the language
There are several dictionaries and grammars for each of the five major dialects of Batak (Angkola-Mandailing, Toba, Simalungun,Pakpal-Dairi, and Karo). Specifically for Toba Batak the most important dictionaries are that of Johannes Warneck (Toba-German) and Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk (Toba-Dutch).
Batak script
The Berkeley Script Encoding Initiative (accuracy challenged), http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/sei/index.html, states that
* the script is written from left to right, or vertically upon bamboo
* in most Batak communities only the datu (priests) are able to read and write script where it is mainly used for producing calendars and magical incantations
The Unicode Consortium described the Batak script in a first technical report proposal for computer coding of the Batak Toba Language at http://www.unicode.org/Public/TEXT/UTR-3.TXT. One must search the file for the term ("Batak") to find the reference; there are no page numbers. The Consortium referred to Neubronner van der Tuuk, H.: A Grammar of Toba Batak (1971; translated version of the original: Tobasche spraakkunst, 1864-1867, 2 vols.).
Unicode notes that the phonetic system of the script is similar to the scripts of the Philippines (Tagalog).
References
* Batak alphabets, including Batak Toba (published by Simon Ager, author of Omniglot)
* Toba Batak language at Ethnologue
* Truetype font for Batak Toba language (developed by Uli Kozok of the University of Hawaii)
* Example translation of Biblical Scripture (published by the Language Museum, a site published by Zhang Hong, an internet consultant and amateur linguist in Beijing China)
* Musgrave, Simon. Non-subject Arguments in Indonesian: Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. See page 112 (doc page 101) and reference to Cole, Peter & Gabriella Hermon (2000) Word order and binding in Toba Batak. Paper presented at AFLA 7, Amsterdam
* Sejara Indonesia An Online Outline of Indonesia History.
* Neubronner van der Tuuk, Hermanus. A grammar of Toba-Batak. The Hague, 1971. First English edition, first published in Dutch in 1864-1867. Translation J. Scott-Kemball, edited by A. Teeuw and R. Roolvink.
* Transtoba2 - transliteration software (roman to toba batak script), GNU GPL (by Uli Kozok and Leander Seige)
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