So when we say "Al Lughatul Kedahi", we are refering to a Malay dialect as 
used in the state of Kedah - it's  phonology and vocabulary.

The idea of a page on the Kedah dialect was mooted in the early part 
of this year and the original thought was to compile a list of words that I have
encountered and used in the early part of my life in the kampung.
Nothing ambitious.

However, during a visit to the National Library recently, 
I found a book containing some interesting articles on the Kedah dialect by
the renowned Asmah Haji Omar. This spurred me to enlarge the scope
of this page to include sections of her writing which I find enlightening, 
in particular those treating on the subject of "Perception and 
Reality as reflected in the Kedah dialect."

)0(
The Malays and the Malay language

According to Anthropologists,
and banking on my memory of History lessons in school, the heartland 
of the Malay race was the Yunnan plateau in China. These "original" (Proto) 
Malays (descendants from the pre historical man known as Austranesian) migrated and settled in many parts of the peninsular, the adjacent islands and the 
coastal areas of Sumatera and Borneo some four to five thousand years ago. They were sea-farers and farmers, and their advances into the peninsular forced the Negritos into the hills and jungles. The Negrito aborigines were one of the earliest groups of people to inhabit the peninsular. The "later" (Deutro) Malays, are the
descendants of these original Malays mixed with Indian, Arabic, Chinese, and Siamese blood. By way of religion, the earlier animism was supplanted first by Hinduism and later, Islam. Today, being a Malay is anologous to 
being a Muslim. 

The Malaysian
constitution in Article 160, para 2 states that : 
"Malay" means a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually  speaks the Malay language, conforms to Malay custom and - (a) was before Merdeka Day born in the Federation or in Singapore or born of parents one of whom was  born in the Federation or in Singapore, or is on that day domiciled in the Federation or in Singapore; or (b) is the issue of such a person 

The earliest known evidence of "bahasa Melayu kuno" (ancient Malay language)
is the Batu Bersurat Kedukan Bukit (inscribed stone) in Palembang dated 683 a.d.
Inscribed in the ancient Southern Indian Palavi characters, it revealed
the widespread influence of the Malay language on Sanskrit.

As for the word "Melayu" itself, it was mentioned in a Chinese writing (as Mo-lo-yeu) as early as 644 a.d. I have yet to find the linguistic meaning of the word
"Melayu" though I have heard of the theory associating it with Gunung Jerai in Kedah (called Malai by the ancient Indians) .

)0(
Al Lughatul Kedahi

Language is the vehicle used by man to express his thoughts,
experiences and perceptions of his environment. It is the property of the 
Profane and the Learned, the Poor and the Rich, King and Subject.

The first
command received by the Prophet Muhammad was to recite :
"Recite ! In the name of your Lord..."
The name of the Lord was inscribed on the tablet of the Heart and uttered
by the tongue : Allah ! .. Allah ! .. Allah !

The Kedah dialect is a descendant of an older form of Malay - the 
"Parent Malay" (PM) as coined by Professor Asmah. It represents the
North-Western group of the peninsular Malay dialects and covers
Kedah, Perlis, Penang and North Perak. The other groupings 
are the North-Eastern group (the Kelantan dialect), the Eastern group
(the Trengganu dialect) and the Southern group that encompasses 
Johore, Melaka, Pahang, Selangor and central and southern 
Perak. The latter group also includes the dialect of 
Negri Sembilan as used before the advent of 
Minangkabau immigrants.

According to Professor Asmah, language is an index to the culture
of its speakers. "As such, the language of a people engaged in agriculture is
expected to be rich in the vocabulary of agriculture. For instance, in this language there will be a range of terms to denote a particular grain based on its shape, colour and taste, as has been attested by the vocabulary of the Malay dialect of Kedah.
Such a language may not have the terms for the different types of winds
and waves in the sea as do those languages of peoples  who are all
the time involved with the sea."

This influence of the environment shapes the unique worldview of a particular 
people - their perception of space, time, animateness versus inanimateness,
human versus non human, etc.

This worldview of the Kedah people is sampled as follows :-

Perception of reality in relation to Space
(summarised from Asmah Haji Omar's article)

"to throw"
(i) tauk- throw with arm moving forward
(ii) hempas - throw down
(iii) baling - throw with arm full circle
(iv) punggai - throw with arm raised upward in back to ffoorward movement
(v) tengalung - throw with arm in full circle but with grreeater force than baling
(vi) buang- throw away

With the exception of buang, all the above words denote physical distance
differentiated by the type of force that accompanies  the action. Buang merges
physical and psychological distance, in that, in addition to throwing, it may 
also be used to mean "disowning"

"to cut"
(i) tebang- cut down (a standing object e.g. tree)
(ii) cantas - cut raised objects which are small and wiitth rapidity
(iii) cincang - cut in very small pieces with rapid speedd<
(iv) hiris - cut into thin pieces as in slicing meat
(v) belah - cut into two
(vi) kerat- cut into big pieces or chunks
(vii) rincik - cut into very thin pieces with rapid speeedd with the 
 knife point hardly leaving the cutting board
(viii) tetas - cut the seams (in sewing)
(ix) takok - cut on the surface with the knife raised iin perpendicular
position but it does not go right through; chunks are taken out so 
that the result is a caved-in impression
(x) kelar - cut on the surface with the knife in perppeendicular position
but it does not go right  through the object, such as cutting the 
surface of the body of the fish before seasoning it
(xi) takek - cut on the surface with the knife raised oobliquely to the
right or left, but it does not go through; the effect is a caved-in
impression
(xii) tebas - cut off low lying objects with neutral sppeeed
(xiii) tebang - cut off highly raised objects
(xiv) tetak - cut on the surface with force without cavveed-in impression

The above can be divided into two components : one, the action of cutting right through; and two, the action of cutting that just affects the surface. Each 
component can further be divided according to texture and position of 
objects affected, speed of action, result of action, etc.

"to beat"; "to hit"
(i) pukul - to beat (in general) animate or inanimatee objects
(ii) tibai - to beat a person on the body with thin sttiicks such as sticks 
from coconut leaves
(iii) balun - to beat a person on the body with a stickk of some size and
hardness
(iv) katok - to hit a person on the head or an animal ((or any part 
of its body) or a thing, with a piece of wood or such like objects
(v) tabuh - to hit a person on the back with the fistt<
(vi) tumbuk - a] to hit a person, an animal or a thing wwith the fist;
b] to pound
(vii) puk - to slap a baby gently
(viii) sepak (pronounced  Sir pak) - to slap on the face
(ix) tampar - to slap on any part of the body except thhee face and head
(x) luku - to hit the head with the knuckles
(xi) jentik - to hit with the forefinger moving from toouuching the thumb
to the target object
(xii) sepak - to kick a person, an animal or a thing
(xiii) tendang - to kick a person, an animal or a thing wiitth greater force
than sepak
(xiv) terajang - to kick a person, an animal or a thing wiitth greater
force than tendang
(xv) sigung - to hit with the elbow

Differentiations in the various actions above result from types of instrument,
types of target and force employed; and refined with considerations of body 
parts and target members. This goes to show the sharpness of perception
of reality among the speakers of the dialect.

  IN KEDAH, THERE ARE MORE WAYS TO BEAT A PERSON (he..he..he)

I have always thought and used tampar to mean "slap on the face". It
appears that I am wrong.   -AB

Perception of Physical Time

"The perception of time as seen in terms of the number of months in a year
and so on is not indigenous to the Kedah speech community...This mode
of perceiving the passage of time is brought from outside, through Islam 
and the western influence...In the Kedah dialect, cyclicity of time is seen 
through the cyclicity of season - musim hujan and musim timur .."

Musim hujan (rainy season) - rice planting season
Musim timur - harvesting time
The word timur refers to the dry northeast winds that make it possible
for the farmers to winnow their rice. For children, it is the time
for flying kites.
A cycle of two seasons is called temekuap which is equivalent to a calendar 
year.
A point to note here is that the above definition of time has changed.
Padi planting in many parts of the state are now carried out twice in
a year due to the availability of regulated water supply and 
modern combined harvesters make the dependence on the wind
no longer a neccessity - AB

Within a single temekuap the passage of time is interpreted according
to the sighting of the full moon, hence
bulan sudah (last month)
bulan ini (this month)
bulan timbul (next month)

The concept of the "week" as comprising seven days is alien and the names
of the days in a week are Arabic, not indigenous. Counting the days from one bulan to another is not of much significance to the life they lead as compared to the time that is immediate to the present, as can be seen below :
Kemarin dulu balik sana<--Kemarin dulu <--Kemarin--Hari ini -->Esok-->Lusa-->Tulat-->Tungging-->Tungging buyung
The work in the fields has got to be properly planned
and in lieu of the names in a week,  the above succession of time
is extremely important.

Cyclicity of time is also seen according to the movement of the sun.
SIANG = Pagi,Rembang,Tengah hari, Petang
MALAM = Malam, Tengah malam

"Terms for tastes"

There are eleven main terms describing taste in the Kedah dialect
and these are : tawar (tasteless), pahit (bitter), kelat (astringent), masam (sour),
manis (sweet), pedas (chilli hot), masin (salty), payaw (a taste that is slightly
sour), hayai (a taste between tastelessness and sweetness), lemak (taste of milk or coconut milk) and pedar (taste of lemon rind)

Pahit+Masam = Kelat
Tawar + Masin + Kelat = Payau
Manis + Tawar = Hayai
Kelat + Masam = Pedar

The degrees of intensity of these tastes are described as :
masam cuak (extremely sour)
manis melecaih (extremely sweet)
pahit bedengung (extremely bitter)
masin pa(h)it (extremely salty
tawar heber (really tasteles)

"Cuak" and "melecaih" do not have any specific meanings. Presumaly they are
the noice produced when tastebuds are in contact with extreme masam 
and manis. "Bedengung" means "having resonance" and by
virtue of this "Pahit bedengung" literally means "the bitter
taste which echoes in the ears"....

"Masin pa(h)it ? I dont know.... I am used to Masin Pang " -AB

Concept of size

The Kedah peasants have their own system of measuring padi :
(i) jemput = quantity contained in the space formed when five fingers
are merged together
(ii) genggam = a handful
(iii) kepoi = the capacity of half of a small coconut
(iv) kai = two kepoi
(v) cupak = two kai
(vi) gantang = four cupak
(vii) nalih = sixteen gantang
(viii) kunca = ten nalih

In measuring land, the system consists of the following :
(i) depa = an arm's length
(ii) jemba = eight depa
(iii) rantai = four jemba
(iv) penjuru = two rantai
(v) relung = four penjuru

Classification of Padi Grains

There are two main divisions of padi : padi jawi (non glutinous) and 
padi pulut (glutinous). The former is the staple food of the Malays,
while the later is used in the making of secondary dishes and cakes.

These two categories in turn, may be sub-divided by taking into consideration
texture, shape, size, taste and colour of the husk. Padi jawi, for
instance, have varieties such as the following : padi didik, padi mayang
sesat, padi mayang tok semai, padi mayang ikal, padi mayang pendek,
padi mayang pulau, padi ranggung, padi muda cik Ali, padi rami hitam,
padi jarum emas, padi radin, padi pahit hitam, padi sembilan tangkai,
padi mayang bilah, padi pot....(and padi Cik Minah Bakar - AB)

For Padi pulut, we have pulut bunga melung, pulut bunga tebu, pulut
kuku burung and pulut sutera minyak.

In addition to the already mentioned characteristics, the progenitors
of the nomenclatures also employed comparisons of the grains to
other objects of nature. The Pulut, due to its soft texture is likened
to the delicateness of flowers (flowers of the crinum plant,
sugar cane) or the softness of silk. A rather hard variety is likened
to the bird's claws !

Grains are also named based on the charateristics of the stalks and
also names of persons. Today, grains conceived in the laboratories
such as Malinja, Mahsuri and A1 replaced most of the mentioned
varieties due to their adaptability to the annual double cropping scheme.

SAY THAT AGAIN....

Finally let us look at phonology
General rules :
S replaced by H
L replaced by Y
R replaced by R1

Examples :-
Terkapar (Std Malay) ----> TerkapaR (Kedah)
Kapal ----> Kapay
bakar ----> bakaR
bakal ----> bakay
lepas ----> lepayh
tikus ----> tikuyh
habis ----> habeh
tebal ----> tebay
bakul ----> bakoy

I am, Salim
.

HOME