Reman Malay (';
Jawi: ; ), also known by several names such as Patani, Baling, Grik, and Tukugho, is a
Malayic language spoken in the states of
Kedah
Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman (دار الأمان; Arabic for 'The Safe Abode') and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of ...
and
Perak
Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, 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, Kel ...
in northern
Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...
. 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 e ...
,
Padang Terap,
Sik, and
Yan, while in Perak it is spoken in
Hulu Perak,
but also in some areas within
Kerian and
Larut, Matang and Selama districts, especially in the towns of
Batu Kurau and
Bukit Gantang. 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–Pattani 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, as well as in Besut and Setiu districts of Terengg ...
.
History and etymology
The name ''Reman'' comes from the Malay kingdom of
Reman, 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 (
Hulu Perak) as well as southern
Yala (now part of
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
). 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, municip ...
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 BalingExample of Baling Reman languageSong in Batu Kurau Patani language
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malay, Kedah, Language
Agglutinative languages
Malay dialects
Languages of Malaysia
Malayic languages