Gayo is the spoken language of some 80,000 people (2010) in the mountain region of North Sumatra around Central Aceh 15-20%, Bener Meriah 15-20% and Gayo Lues 20 - 40%. It is classified as belonging to the Western Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages, but is not closely related to other languages. Ethnologue lists Deret, Lues, Lut, and Serbejadi-Lukup as dialects.Gayo is distinguished from other languages in Aceh.