Kedah Malay or Kedahan (); also known as ''Pelat Utara'' or ''Loghat Utara'' ('Northern Dialect') or as it is known in Thailand, Syburi Malay () is a
variety of the
Malayic languages
The Malayic languages are a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. The most prominent member is Malay, which is the national language of Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia; it further serves as basis for Ind ...
mainly spoken in the northwestern
Malaysian states of
Perlis,
Kedah,
Penang
Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the M ...
, and northern
Perak
Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand' ...
and in the southern
Thai provinces of
Trang Trang may refer to:
Places
* Trang province, Thailand
**Trang, Thailand, capital city of Trang province
**Trang Airport
** Trang railway station
** Trang River
*Trang, a sub-district of Mayo district, Pattani province, Thailand
* Trang (commune), ...
and
Satun. The usage of Kedah Malay was historically prevalent in southwestern Thailand before being superseded by the
Thai language. Enclaves of Kedah Malay can be found in
Kawthaung District
Kawthoung District ( my, ကော့သောင်ခရိုင်) is a district of Tanintharyi Region of Myanmar. The district covers an area of 9,178 km2, and had a population of 221,738 at the 2014 Census.
Administrative divisions ...
in
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
;
Ranong
Ranong ( th, ระนองPronunciation) is a town ('' thesaban mueang'') in southern Thailand, capital of the Ranong Province and the Mueang Ranong District. The town covers completely the area of the '' tambon'' Khao Niwet (เขานิ� ...
and
Krabi in upper southern Thailand; Jaring Halus,
Langkat and
Aceh
Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a ...
in
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...
and up north in
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
, central Thailand, where most of the Kedah Malay speakers are descendants of historical settlers from Kedah.
Kedah Malay can be divided into several dialects, namely ''Kedah Persisiran'' (
Littoral Kedah; which is the de facto
prestige dialect
Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.)
Prestige may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Films
* ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnet ...
of Kedah Malay), ''Kedah Utara'' (Northern Kedah),
Perlis-
Langkawi,
Penang
Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the M ...
and some others outside Malaysia. Speakers in
Trang Trang may refer to:
Places
* Trang province, Thailand
**Trang, Thailand, capital city of Trang province
**Trang Airport
** Trang railway station
** Trang River
*Trang, a sub-district of Mayo district, Pattani province, Thailand
* Trang (commune), ...
as well as
Satun are heavily influenced by the Thai language. However in the district of
Baling, they speak a different
variant more closely related to
Kelantan-Patani Malay than it is to Kedah Malay.
Phonology
Consonants
Note(s):
* Word initially:
** is pronounced as the velar fricative in the syllable onset.
*** In certain loan words, is pronounced as an alveolar trill such as in 'market'.
* Word finally:
** Following , velar nasal is neutralised to , so 'cat' and 'yellow' are pronounced and though the final consonant is still underlyingly as can be seen from the derived forms of these words such as 'yellowness' which still retains the .
** is neutralised to , so 'thin' is pronounced .
*** After , this is palatalised, so 'hot' is pronounced .
** is realised as a pharyngeal fricative so 'hungry' is pronounced .
Vowels
Monophthongs
Kedah Malay has eight
monophthongs, unlike Standard Malay which has six with and not having phonemic status.
Note(s):
* In open-ended final syllables and before a glottal stop (allophone of in the syllable coda) also in final syllables, is realised as , so 'son/daughter' and 'to force' are pronounced and .
Diphthongs
Kedah Malay has four
diphthongs with being a surplus diphthong that does not exist in Standard Malay.
Comparison with Standard Malay
Below is a comparison between Kedah Malay and Standard Malay.
Vocabulary
References
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
Kedahan-Standard Malay Online dictionary
Agglutinative languages
Malay dialects
Languages of Malaysia
Languages of Thailand
Languages of Myanmar
{{malayic-lang-stub
Malayic languages