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 Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

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 Indon ...

mainly spoken in the northwestern

Malaysian states The states and federal territories of Malaysia are the principal administrative divisions of Malaysia. Malaysia is a federation of 13 states (''Negeri'') and 3 federal territories (''Wilayah Persekutuan''). States and federal territories Ele ...

Perlis Perlis, ( Northern Malay: ''Peghelih''), also known by its honorific title Perlis Indera Kayangan, is the smallest state in Malaysia by area and population. Located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it borders the Thai provinces o ...

Kedah Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area ...

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 Malay ...

, 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's ...

and in the southern

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

provinces of Trang and

Satun Satun (, , ms, Setul) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in southern Thailand, capital of the Satun Province. It covers the whole ''tambon'' Phiman of Mueang Satun. Satun lies 985 km south of Bangkok. As of 2005 it has a population of 21,498 ...

. 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 ...

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 C. Wells, Joh ...

;

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 (เขานิเ� ...

and

Krabi Krabi ( th, กระบี่, ) is the main town in the province of Krabi (''thesaban mueang'') on the west coast of southern Thailand at the mouth of the Krabi River where it empties in Phang Nga Bay. As of 2020, the town had a population of 3 ...

in upper southern Thailand; Jaring Halus,

Langkat The Sultanate of Langkat () was a Malay Muslim state located in modern Langkat Regency, North Sumatra. It predates Islam in the region, but no historical records before the 17th century survive. It prospered with the opening of rubber plantatio ...

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 s ...

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 Guine ...

and up north in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, 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 estima ...

, 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 The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...

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 Garnett ...

of Kedah Malay), ''Kedah Utara'' (Northern Kedah),

Langkawi Langkawi, officially known by its sobriquet Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah ( ms, Langkawi Permata Kedah ), is a duty-free island and an archipelago of 99 islands (plus five small islands visible only at low tide in the Strait of Malacca) locate ...

and some others outside Malaysia. Speakers in Trang as well as

are heavily influenced by the Thai language. However in the district of

Baling The Baling District is an Districts of Malaysia, administrative district in southeastern Kedah, Malaysia. Located about 110 km from Alor Setar, it borders Perak and Betong, Thailand, Betong, the southernmost town of Thailand. Name The name ...

, they speak a different

variant Variant may refer to: In arts and entertainment * ''Variant'' (magazine), a former British cultural magazine * Variant cover, an issue of comic books with varying cover art * ''Variant'' (novel), a novel by Robison Wells * " The Variant", 2021 e ...

more closely related to

Kelantan-Patani Malay Kelantan-Pattani Malay (; ; in Pattani; in Kelantan) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language of the Malayic languages, Malayic subfamily spoken in the Malaysian state of Kelantan and the neighbouring southernmost provinces of Thaila ...

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 A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, wh ...

, 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 A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...

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

* * * * * * * *

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