Kedah Malay or Kedahan (also known as Pelat Utara or Loghat Utara 'Northern Dialect') or as it is known in Thailand, Syburi Malay ( 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 The usage of Kedah Malay was historically prevalent in southwestern Thailand before being superseded by the Thai language.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. 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. 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.

[Distribution of Kedah Malay language

Dark Blue: Regions where Kedahan is currently spoken, Blue: Regions where Kedahan is historically spoken | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Kedah///Malay///Map.png]

Phonology

Consonants

Note(s):

Vowels

Monophthongs

Kedah Malay has eight monophthongs, unlike Standard Malay which has six with and not having phonemic status. Note(s):

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

Citations