The Harah Acèh script was invented by Muhammad Ridha Ridwan as an alternative way to write Acehnese. The early development of this script was started in 2010, and it was published and presented at the 2017 6ᵗʰ Aceh Development International Conference (ADIC 2017), held at the Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) in Gombak in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia from 24ᵗʰ - 26ᵗʰ March 2017.
It can also be used to write Indonesian (or Malay) and Arabic since it also covers the Arabic sounds because of the strong relation and similarity between Acehnese and Arabic culture and language. The invention objectives of this script are to provide an alternative writing system to write Acehnese, and to build a distinctive identity for Aceh.
This script is written with a single horizontal line from left to right, by arranging the combination of isolated vowels, consonants, attached vowels and punctuation. Each words are separated by a space. Periods (full stops), question marks, exclamation marks and numerals are written exactly in the same as in Latin alphabet. The shapes of the letters themselves were mostly derived from the mixture of Latin, Cyrillic and Thai alphabets.
Harah hana meusu kayém ("frequent consonants"), are the letters most frequently used in Acehnese.
Harah hana meusu jareuëng ("uncommon consonants") are rarely used in Acehnese, but are used in words borrowed from Arabic.
Harah meusu are vowels. The ones on the right of slash are isolated forms, and are used when there is no preceeding consonants. The others are attached forms, which are used to attach vowels to consonants
Download alphabet charts for Harah Acèh (Excel)
Download a font for Harah Acèh
Attached vowels are used to combine the consonant with the sound of specific vowel, while the isolated vowels are used to write separated vowel that often used by words that begin with vowel.
Minyeuk ata (Perfume)
All Acehnese words ending with "k" are always read as a glottal stop (/ʔ/). It would retain the "k" sound when it's used to write another language.
Bèk gabuk (Don't be noisy)
Regarding the majority and relationship of Islamic culture and sharia in Aceh, there is a special combination of letter that should be used to write the word "Allah" or something that refers and still has the element of the letter used to write the word "Allah".
Allaahu Akbar (God is the Greatest)
In Harah Acèh, there is a way to distinguish the double consonant, either it is meant to say the Acehnese or the Arabic language.
kheuën mangat bagah khatam (recite it to quickly complete the reading)
Most words in Acehnese language use an emphasis of schwa "ë" at the end of the word. In Harah Acèh, it is necessary to add a letter "e" at the end of the word.
jeuët ta bloë (can be bought)
Sometimes the name of a person contains letter that is considered a long vowel. In Harah Acèh it is considered a doubled vowel, but remains short when it's read.
Mauliady ngön Babny (Mauliady and Babny)
Bandum ureuëng lahé deungön meurdéhka, dan deungön martabat dan hak nyang saban. Ngön akai geuseumiké, ngön haté geumeurasa, bandum geutanyoë lagèë syèëdara. Hak dan keumuliaan.
A recording of this text by Muhammad Ridha Ridwan
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Information about Acehnese | Numbers | Tower of Babel
Constructed scripts for: Ainu | Arabic | Chinese languages | Dutch | English | Hawaiian | Hungarian | Japanese | Korean | Lingala | Malay & Indonesian | Persian | Tagalog / Filipino | Russian | Sanskrit | Spanish | Taino | Turkish | Vietnamese | Welsh | Other natural languages | Colour-based scripts | Tactile scripts | Phonetic/universal scripts | Constructed scripts for constructed languages | Adaptations of existing alphabets | Fictional alphabets | Magical alphabets | A-Z index | How to submit a constructed script
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