Aceh West Coast Dialects: A Key to Proto-Acehnese and its Link to Chamic

In this study, we argue that Acehnese West Coast dialects share phonological innovations with Proto-Chamic to a greater extent than Standard Acehnese shares with Proto-Chamic, suggesting that these dialects branched out from the Acehnese proto-form earlier than the SA. We compare the phonology and lexical items of the Acehnese Lamno, Acehnese Daya, Acehnese Teunom with PC and SA, and combine this with historical evidence, to proposes that; (1) the Acehnese language was first spoken around the west region of Banda Aceh, and was then absorbed into inner Aceh Jaya, Great Aceh, and the Pidie districts. (2) The modern or Standard Acehnese language, whose speakers are mostly centralized in the North Aceh region developed on the east coast, facing the Malacca Strait, possibly from a dialect in the Pidie region. (3) Despite its proximity with AcD and AcL, Acehnese Teunom is an underdeveloped SA dialect that integrated with the interior before the SA politeness system was restructured morphologically and prior to the south peninsular Malay influence in the 13th century CE. Therefore, Acehnese west coast dialects confirm Banda Aceh as the entry point of Chamic migrants inland. The Lamuri period in the late first millennium is the logical time of migration.