Minangkabau is an Austronesian language spoken by the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, the western part of Riau, South Aceh Regency, the northern part of Bengkulu and Jambi, also in several cities throughout Indonesia by migrated Minangkabau. The language is also a lingua franca along the western coastal region of the province of North Sumatra, and is even used in parts of Aceh, where the language is called Aneuk Jamee.
Minangkabau language in Arabic script on Minangkabau royal seal from the 19th century
Jawi is a writing system used for writing several languages of Southeast Asia, such as Acehnese, Malay, Mëranaw, Minangkabau, Tausūg, and Ternate. Jawi is based on the Arabic script, consisting of all of the original 31 Arabic letters, and six additional letters constructed to fit the phonemes native to Malay, and an additional phoneme used in foreign loanwords, but not found in Classical Arabic, which are ca, nga, pa, ga, va, and nya.
Letter from William Farquhar to Sultan Muhammad Kanzul Alam, the sultan of Brunei, dated 28 November 1819.
A tombstone in Aceh with Jawi inscription dated from 16th or 17th century. The inscription are: 1st row: bahwasanya inilah nisan kubur 2nd row: yang mulia bernama Meurah Meukuta 3rd row: bergelar orang kaya kapai
A copy of Undang-Undang Melaka ('Laws of Malacca'). The Malacca system of justice as enshrined in the text was the legal source for other major regional sultanates like Johor, Perak, Brunei, Pattani and Aceh.
Street name signs in Shah Alam, Malaysia include both Jawi and Latin script.
