Kedah Malay

Kedah Malay
بهاس ملايو قدح ภาษามลายูไทรบุรี
Pelat Utagha Bahasa Melayu Kedah, Bahasa Melayu Utara
Native to	Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia
Region	Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Perlis, northern Perak (Kerian, Manjung, Larut, Matang and Selama), Trang, Satun, Ranong, Tanintharyi, Langkat, Aceh
Ethnicity	Kedahan Malays Thai Malays Burmese Malays Jaring Halus Malays
Native speakers	2.6 million (2004)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (disputed) Malayic Kedah Malay
Dialects	Kedah Persisiran Kedah Utara Perlis-Langkawi Penang Northern Perak Satun Jaring Halus
Writing system	Latin script, Arabic script, Thai script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	meo
Glottolog	keda1251

Distribution of Kedah Malay language
Dark Blue: Regions where Kedahan is currently spoken, Blue: Regions where Kedahan is historically spoken

A young man speaks Kedah Malay

Kedah Malay or Kedahan (Malay: bahasa Melayu Kedah; also known as Pelat Utara or Loghat Utara 'Northern Dialect') or as it is known in Thailand, Syburi Malay (Thai: ภาษามลายูไทรบุรี Phasa Malāyū Saiburī) is a Malayic language mainly spoken in the northwestern Malaysian states of Perlis, Kedah, Penang, and northern Perak and in the southern Thai provinces of Trang 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 The usage of Kedah Malay was historically prevalent in southwestern Thailand before being superseded by the Thai language.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 in Myanmar; Ranong and Krabi in upper southern Thailand; Jaring Halus, Langkat and Aceh in Sumatra, Indonesia and up north in Bangkok, central Thailand, where most of the Kedah Malay speakers are descendants of historical settlers from Kedah.[2]

Kedah Malay can be divided into several dialects, namely Kedah Persisiran (Littoral Kedah; which is the de facto prestige dialect of Kedah Malay), Kedah Utara (Northern Kedah), Perlis-Langkawi, Penang and some others outside Malaysia.[3] Speakers in Trang 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.[4]

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Dorsal
Plosive	p b	t d	t͡ʃ d͡ʒ	k ɡ
Fricative		s		h
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Trill		r
Semivowel		l	j	w

Note(s):

• Word initially:
  • /r/ is pronounced as the velar fricative [ɣ] in the syllable onset.[5]
    • In certain loan words, /r/ is pronounced as an alveolar trill [r] such as in market [market] 'market'.
• Word finally:
  • Following /i/, velar nasal /ŋ/ is neutralised to /n/, so kucing /kut͡ʃiŋ/ 'cat' and kuning /kuniŋ/ 'yellow' are pronounced [kut͡ʃen] and [kunen] (even spelt accordingly in rare manuscript instances i.e. کوچين for the former[6]) though the final consonant is still underlyingly /ŋ/ as can be seen from the derived forms of these words such as kekuningan /kəkuniŋan/ 'yellowness' [kəkuniŋan] which still retains the [ŋ].[7]
  • /s/ is neutralised to /h/, so kurus /kurus/ 'thin' is pronounced [kughuʲh].[7][8]
    • After /a/, this /s/ is palatalised, so panas /panas/ 'hot' is pronounced [panaʲh].
  • /r/ is realised as a pharyngeal fricative [ʕ] so lapar /lapar/ 'hungry' is pronounced [lapaʕ].[5]

Vowels

Monophthongs

Kedah Malay has eight monophthongs, unlike Standard Malay which has six with /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ not having phonemic status.[9][10]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-Mid	e	ə	o
Open-Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open	a

Note(s):

• In open-ended final syllables and before a glottal stop (allophone of /k/ in the syllable coda) also in final syllables, /a/ is realised as [ɒ], so anak /anak/ 'son/daughter' and paksa /paksa/ 'to force' are pronounced [anɒʔ] and [paʔsɒ].

Diphthongs

Kedah Malay has four diphthongs /ai, au, oi, ui/ with /ui/ being a surplus diphthong that does not exist in Standard Malay.[11]

Comparison with Standard Malay

Below is a comparison between Kedah Malay and Standard Malay.[12]

Standard Malay Sound	Position	Kedah Malay correspondence	Example (Standard Malay ≙ Kedah Malay)
/il/	Word-final syllable	/e/	katil /katil/ 'bed'	≙	/kate/
/el/		/ɛ/	comel /t͡ʃomel/ 'cute'		/t͡ʃomɛ/
/oh/		/o/	bodoh /bodoh/ 'stupid'		/bodo/
/o/	Both syllables of two-syllable words	/ɔ/	sotong /sotoŋ/ 'squid'		/sɔtɔŋ/
	First syllable of certain two-syllable words	/u/	boleh /boleh/ 'can'		/buleh/
/i.a/	Anywhere	/a/	siapa /si.apa/ 'who'		/sapa/
		/ɛ/	biasa /bi.asa/ 'normal'		/bɛsa/
/u.a/		/o/	laut /la.ut/ 'sea'		/lot/
		/ɔ/	kuala /ku.ala/ 'estuary'		/kɔla/

Vocabulary

Pronouns[13]

Kedah Malay	Standard Malay	English Translation
hang	awak/kamu/kau	'you' (singular)
hangpå/hampå	kalian	'you' (plural)
cek/aku	saya/aku	'I'
cek	saya	'I' (young to old)
cek	kamu	'you' (old to young)
depå/lepå	mereka	'they'
sépå (In a few certain areas) / kitorang	kami	'we' (exclusive)

Question Words[14]

Kedah Malay	Standard Malay	English Translation
sapadiå, sapå	siapa/siapakah	'who'
apå,på,padiå,natangpå	apa/apakah	'what'
bilå,mengkalå	bila/bilakah	'when'
genå, lagumanå	bagaimana/bagaimanakah	'how'
manå	mana	'where'
pasaipå,sepå,awat, buatpå, sebabpå	mengapa	'why'
bapå	berapa	'how much'

Basic Words[13]

Kedah Malay	Standard Malay	English Translation
camcå	sudu	'spoon'
habaq	cakap	'talk'
mai	datang, mari	'come'
mau	nak	'want'
payah	susah	'difficult'
lå, lani	sekarang	'now'
lagu	macam	'sort'
cabai	cili/lada	'chilli'
hakap	tamak	'greedy'
pi	pergi	'go'
sat	sebentar, sekejap	'one second'
mengkalā	bila, apabila	'when'
ketegaq	degil, keras kepala	'naughty'
geghék,beskat	basikal	'bicycle'
mertun	tukul	'hammer'
lempaq	baling	'throw'
ghabat,ghagaih	memanjat	'climb'
ligan	kejar	'chase'
loqlaq	tak senonoh	'indecent'
ketit	gigit kecil	'bite softly'
tokak	gigit	'bite'
belemoih	comot	'messy'
cemuih	bosan	'bored'

References

Citations

1. Kedah Malay at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Asmah Haji Omar 2017, p. 38.
3. See Malayan languages for a comparison between Kedah Persisiran and Penang dialects.
4. Mohd Noor Aswad 2019.
5. Shahidi A. H. 2009, pp. 309–311.
6. Gallop, Annabel Teh (Dec 21, 2015). "A Malay manuscript artist unveiled: Datuk Muda Muhammad of Perlis". Asian and African Studies. The British Library. Retrieved Feb 23, 2024.
7. Ajid Che Kob 1997, pp. 40–42.
8. Shahidi A. H. 2009, pp. 310–311.
9. Yunisrina Qismullah Yusuf et al. 2021, p. 78-80.
10. Shahidi A. H. 2009, pp. 305–308.
11. Yunisrina Qismullah Yusuf et al. 2021, pp. 81–82.
12. Yunisrina Qismullah Yusuf et al. 2021, pp. 68–69.
13. Strife 2007.
14. Fazal Mohamed Mohamed Sultan & Nurulafiqah Suhaimi 2012, p. 490.

Bibliography

• Fazal Mohamed Mohamed Sultan; Nurulafiqah Suhaimi (2012). "Kata Soal Dalam Dialek Kedah" [WH Questions in Kedah Dialect]. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies (in Malay). 12 (2): 475–493.
• Nurul Shahida Jamil; Maslida Yusof (2015). "Analisis Deiksis Dialek Kedah". GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies (in Malay). 15 (1): 163–187. doi:10.17576/GEMA-2015-1501-10.
• Shahidi A. H. (2009). "Alternasi Dalam Fonologi Subdialek Kedah Utara". Jurnal Bahasa (in Malay). 9 (2): 302–325.
• Yunisrina Qismullah Yusuf; Stefanie Pillai; W. A. Wan Aslynn; Roshidah binti Hassan (2021). "Vowel Production in Standard Malay and Kedah Malay Spoken in Malaysia". Linguistics International Journal. 15 (1): 65–93.
• Asmah Haji Omar (2017). "Language in Kedah in Late 19th Century-Language Situation in a Malay State in Late 19th Century". Malaysian Journal of Languages and Linguistics. 6 (2): 36–47. doi:10.24200/mjll.vol6iss2pp36-47.
• Ajid Che Kob (1997). "Word Final Nasal in Malay Dialects". In Odé, Cecilia; Stokhof, Wim (eds.). Proceedings of Seventh International Conference on Austronesian. Amsterdam: Rodopi. pp. 35–43. ISBN 9789042002531.
• Mohd Noor Aswad (2 November 2019). "Getting to know the unique Baling dialect". New Straits Times. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
• Strife, Fiq (2 November 2007). "Kamus Dialek Melayu-Kedah" [Kedah Malay Dialect Dictionary]. Dunia Melayu Kedah (in Malay). Retrieved 22 May 2021.

External links

• Kedahan-Standard Malay Online dictionary