Reman Malay (Reman: ', Jawi: , ms, Bahasa Melayu Reman), also known by several names such as Patani, Baling, Grik and Tukugho, is a

Malayic 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 ...

language spoken in the states of

Kedah Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman and historically as Queda, is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area of over 9,000 km2, and it consists of the mainland ...

and Perak in northern

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

. In the state of Kedah it is spoken in the districts of

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

Padang Terap The Padang Terap District is a district in Kedah, Malaysia. It is governed by the Padang Terap District Council ( ms, Majlis Daerah Padang Terap). Etymology Padang Terap is named after the Terap tree (''Artocarpus elasticus'') which is a type o ...

, Sik and

Yan Yan may refer to: Chinese states * Yan (state) (11th century – 222 BC), a major state in northern China during the Zhou dynasty * Yan (Han dynasty kingdom), first appearing in 206 BC * Yan (Three Kingdoms kingdom), officially claimed indepe ...

while in Perak it is spoken in

Hulu Perak Hulu Perak District (Upper Perak) is a district in Perak, Malaysia. As the largest district in Perak, there are border to the east of the district is the state of Kelantan, to the west is Kedah, to the south is the district of Kuala Kangsar whil ...

but also in some areas within

Kerian The Kerian District (alternately Krian) is an administrative district in Perak, Malaysia. It covers the northwestern corner of Perak, bordering the states of Penang and Kedah to the north; the main town of Parit Buntar is located a mere southeast ...

and

Larut, Matang and Selama The Larut, Matang and Selama District is a district of Perak, Malaysia. Taiping is the capital town of this district. Larut, Matang and Selama used to be three small different districts and they merged into one larger district later. Larut, M ...

districts, especially in the towns of Batu Kurau and

Bukit Gantang Bukit Gantang ( Jawi: بوكيت ڬنتڠ; ) is a mukim and parliament constituency in Larut, Matang and Selama District, Perak, Malaysia. Bukit Gantang (as with Batu Kurau) is famous for its durian The durian (, ) is the edible fruit of se ...

. Despite being located within these two states, Reman Malay is not closely related to neighbouring Kedahan and Perakian varieties but instead more closely related or an offshoot of

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 ...

History and etymology

The name ''Reman'' comes from the Malay kingdom of

Reman The Kingdom of Reman or Kingdom of Rahman ( ms, Kerajaan Reman; Jawi: كراجأن رمان; ; ) was a landlocked semi-independent Malay kingdom established in northern Malay Peninsula. It was one of seven regions of Pattani Kingdom, an au ...

, a semi-independent kingdom which is part of the Greater Patani Confederation. Reman existed from the early 19th century until it was dissolved in 1902. This kingdom once ruled what is now northern Perak (

) as well as southern Yala (now part of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

). After the 1909 Treaty, the kingdom was divided into two parts, with the north becoming part of Siam while the south became part of Perak. This divided the Reman Malay community. The name Reman is still used today as a name of a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

in Yala province. Continuous conflicts between Siam and Patani in the 18th and 19th century led to many Patani Malays (including those from Reman) migrating westwards, into the state of Kedah. They became a majority in several districts of the state and mixing with Kedahan and Perakian locals, forming the modern Baling and Gerik dialects.

Variants

Despite its small geographical and population size, Reman Malay exhibits high dialectal varieties which differs not only between states and districts but also between towns and villages as well. There is no agreement as to how many varieties of Reman are there but they were usually classified based on geographical division that is Baling, Grik or Hulu Perak and Batu Kurau. Each of these varieties have their own unique vocabulary and phonology but are still closely related to each other. Due to its isolation and smaller number of speakers, it is not intelligible to Kedahan and Perakian speakers as well as speakers of Standard Malay language.

Comparison

Below are some of the comparisons between variants of Reman Malay as well as other Malayic languages and dialects in Peninsular Malaysia.

References

External links

Short film in Baling

Example of Baling Reman language

Song in Batu Kurau Patani language
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malay, Kedah, Language Agglutinative languages Malay dialects Languages of Malaysia Malayic languages