Kelantan-Pattani Malay, often referred to in Thailand as Yawi or Jawi and in Kelantan as Baso Kelaté, is an Austronesian language of the Malayic subfamily spoken in the Malaysian state of Kelantan and the neighbouring southernmost provinces of Thailand. It is the primary spoken language of Thai Malays, but is also used as a lingua franca by ethnic Southern Thais in rural areas, Muslim and non-Muslim and the samsam, a mostly Thai-speaking population of mixed Malay and Thai ancestry. Kelantan-Pattani Malay is a highly divergent from other Malay varieties because of its geographical isolation from the rest of the Malay world by high mountains, deep rainforest and the Gulf of Thailand. In Thailand, it is also influenced by Thai. Kelantanese-Pattani Malay is distinct enough that radio broadcasts in Standard Malay cannot be understood easily by native speakers of Kelantanese-Pattani Malay, such as those in Thailand, who are not taught the standard language. Unlike Malaysia where Standard Malay is compulsory in the school curriculum, no one is required to learn Standard Malay in Thailand and so there is potentially less language influence from standard Malay but potentially more from Thai. It is also distinct from Kedah Malay, Pahang Malay and Terengganuan Malay, but those languages still have a close relationship with the Kelantanese-Pattani Malay language.
Writing system
Kelantanese Malay is written both in Latin and in the Jawi alphabet, based on the Arabic script, which is where the name "Yawi/Jawi" for the language comes from. This is in stark contrast to the rest of the general population of Malay speakers in both Malaysia and Indonesia that now use the Latin script, known in Malay as rumi, for daily communication. Today, Pattani Malay itself is generally not a written language, though it is sometimes written in informal settings or eye dialect. When writing is needed, an old-fashioned form of standard Malay is used rather than the local dialect. A phonetic rendering of Pattani Malay in the Thai alphabet has been introduced, but it has not met with much success, due to the socio-religious significance of Jawi to Muslim Malays.
Names
The language is often referred to in Thai as Phasa Yawi, which is a corruption of the Malay name for the modified Arabic alphabet for writing Malay, Jawi. It is also referred to in Thai as Phasa Malayu Pattani and similarly locally in Malay as Bahasa Malayu Patani. The language is often simply just called Bahasa Patani. Kelantanese is known in Standard Malay as Bahasa Kelantan, and in Kelantanese as Baso Kelaté. It is also known as Baso Besut or Kecek Kelaté-Besut in Besut and Setiu of Terengganu State. Other variant of Kelantan-Patani Language is Reman variant and also known as Bahasa Reman and inland Kedah. The Reman viarants are known in various names such as Bahasa Patani, Bahasa Patani Kedah-Perak, Basa Grik, Cakak Hulu, Basa Kapong, Basa Baling etc. It is also known as ""Dialect of Kedah Hulu" and "Dialect of Perak Hulu" but these two terms are only apply for political and geographical rather than linguistically. This Reman variant has many dialects and subdialects across the areas this variant spoken.
Phonology
There are 21 consonants and 12 vowels in Pattani Malay. The phonemes // and // only appear in some loanwords or proper names.
Variation
Kelantan-Pattani Malay can be divided into 3 major variants and several dialects thusly: Kelantan: Coastal, Central / River, Dabong / Inland Pattani: Yala, Saiburi, Bana Taning, Chenok / Chana, Nonthaburi / Bangkok Reman: Grik, Sik, Baling, Padang Terap, Batu Kugho / Selama, Southern Yala
The Reman variants of Kedah & Perak show some vocabulary influence from Perak Malay and Kedah Malay, ang / hang, ciwi.
Creole/Pidgin: Samsam Malay
Distribution
Kelantanese is spoken in the Malaysian state of Kelantan, as well as in Besut and Setiu districts of Terengganu and the Perhentian Islands. It is also spoken in the Merapoh township, in the Lipis district of Pahang since this town borders the state of Kelantan. Many people in the districts of Baling, Sik and Padang Terap in Kedah as well as Grik and Hulu Perak districts of Perak speak Kelantan-Patani language of Reman dialects, since most of the Malay people there are the descendants of Kelantanese migrants and Pattani refugees also former areas of Reman Kingdom of Patani. Pattani Malay is the main language of the Thai provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani where ethnic Malays make up the majority of the population, it is also spoken in some parts of Songkhla and Bangkok. It is less spoken in the province of Satun, where despite making up the majority, ethnic Malays generally speak Southern Thai and their Malay dialect is similar to Kedah Malay. It is also spoken in scattered villages as far north as Hat Yai. In the past, Malay was the main language as far north as the Isthmus of Kra, the traditional division between Central Thailand and Southern Thailand, based on the preponderance of etymologically Malay place names.
Differences between Yawi and Standard Malay
Kelantanese is different enough from Standand Malay that it is often unintelligible to speakers of the standard language. Differences include different vocabulary, but also involve regular sound changes. The influence of Southern Thai and Pattani Malay upon each other is great, and both have large numbers of loanwords from the other. The influence of the Thai language is one factor that makes comprehension between Pattani Malay and Standard Malay difficult. Pronunciation
final consonants are often only pronounced as a glottal stop.
:bukit بوکيت becomes buké’
words are distinguished between lengthened initial consonant
:bule vs. bːulɛ ; katok vs. kːatok ; siku vs. sːiku
Vocabulary Bahasa Kelantan-Pattani vs Bahasa Melayu Gapo / Apo /Namo vs Apa Sapo vs Siapa Bilo vs Bila Mano vs Mana Bakpo vs Kenapa/Mengapa Lagumano vs Bagaimana Joong vs Mendung Tebolah vs Cuai KATok vs Katak Katok vs Pukul / Ketuk Selalu / lALu vs Sekarang Sokmo vs Selalu
Bold word indicates stressed pitch that also does not exist in Standard Malay or any Malayan languages and Malay dialects except Terengganuan and Pahangnese Malay.
History
has continued to be a region affected by two cultural spheres: the mainly Buddhist, Thai-speaking Siamese kingdoms and the mainly Muslim, Malay-speaking sultanates. The region was a warehouse of trade where merchants from Europe, India, Arabia, China, Siam, and the other Malay world met. At first dominated by Hindu-Buddhist Indian influences, the great kingdom of Srivijaya would later fall in chaos. Islam was introduced by Arab and Indian traders in the 11th century and has been the dominant religion ever since, replacing the Buddhism and Hinduism that had held sway before. By the 14th century, the area became vassals to Ayutthaya, but the region was autonomous and never fully incorporated into the modern Thai nation-state till 1902. This political autonomy and isolation from the rest of the Malay world allowed for preservation of the Malay language and culture but also led to the divergence of the dialect.
