In today's world, Urak Lawoi' language has become a topic of great relevance and interest to many people. Whether due to its impact on society, its relevance in history, or its influence on popular culture, Urak Lawoi' language is a topic that does not go unnoticed. Over the years, Urak Lawoi' language has been the subject of numerous studies, debates and analyses, demonstrating its importance in different areas. In this article, we will further explore the importance of Urak Lawoi' language and its impact in various areas, in order to better understand its relevance in today's world.
Urak Lawoi’ or Urak Lawoc (Urak Lawoi': อูรักลาโวยจ, IPA:[ˈurʌkˈlawʊjʔ]) is a Malayic language spoken in southern Thailand.
The Orang (Suku) Laut who live between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula speak divergent Malayic lects, which bear some intriguing connections to various Sumatran Malay varieties.
Vowels other than /ə/ are slightly nasalized after nasal consonants. If the following syllable has /w/,/j/ as the onset, this onset is also nasalized (/məˈnaŋɛh/ 'to cry', /ˈɲawa/ 'body, self').
Orthography (ordered according to Latin letters)
Thai (long & short)
Latin
IPA
◌า
◌ั
a
/a/
แ◌
แ◌
ä
/ɛ/
เ◌อ
เ◌ิ
e
/ə/
เ◌
เ◌
ë
/e/
◌ี
◌ิ
i
/i/
โ◌
โ◌ or absent
o
/o/
◌อ
◌อ
ö
/ɔ/
◌ู
◌ุ
u
/u/
Notes: In the Thai script, the left column represents diacritics for open syllables, while the right one for closed syllables. For syllables with vowel ö, before consonants k, m, n, ng, p, and t, the vowel is not written. Similarly, the diacritic for a is not used before q. Any vowels with separate closed syllable diacritics have an inherent value of /-ʔ/ when not used with a succeeding consonant.
and allophones are influenced by Thai, whereas is influenced by Malay.
Aspirated consonants and /f/ only appear in loanwords (mostly from Thai).
Phonetically, /-c/ and /-s/ is pronounced , and (after back vowels and /a/) or (after front vowels), respectively, syllable-finally.
/l/ becomes after /i/,/ə/, otherwise in syllable-final positions (/ˈlihəl/ 'space' vs. /ˈbumɔl/ 'doctor').
/ər/ is compensatorily lengthened to phonetically long . In stressed positions, the vowel cluster fluctuates between ,,.
The coda stop /k/ after a front vowel becomes (/ˈkamek/ 'sheep').
Syllable-initial stops /p/,/b/, with the same syllable containing a back vowel and coda /c/, are labialized to /pw/ and /bw/ respectively (/səˈboc/ 'to utter').
Finals
IPA
/-k/
/-ŋ/
/-t/
/-n/
/-p/
/-m/
/-j/
/-c/
/-s/
/-w/
/-h/
/-l/*
Thai
-ก
-ง
-ด
-น
-บ
-ม
-ย
-ยจ
-ยฮ
-ว
-ฮ
-ล*
Latin
-k
-ng
-t
-n
-p
-m
-y
-c
-s
-w
-h
-l*
/-j/ and /-w/ can be treated as a part of diphthongs or triphthongs.
/-l/ only exists in the Phuket dialect.
Stress and intonation
Urak Lawoi' does not have tones, except in Thai loans. Words are usually stressed in penultimate syllable, except if the expected stress is placed on the pre-syllable (e.g. open syllables containing /ə/, but not /ər/) the stress moves into the next syllable. Urak Lawoi' also has global intonation — for instance, interrogative sentences have rising intonation and negative sentences have lower-pitch intonation.
Hogan, David W. (1976). "Urak Lawoi' (Orang Laut)". In Smalley, William A. (ed.). Phonemes and Orthography: Language Planning in Ten Minority Languages of Thailand. Pacific Linguistics C – 43. Canberra: The Australian National University. pp. 283–302. doi:10.15144/PL-C43. hdl:1885/146593. ISBN0-85883-144-9.
Hogan, David W. (1988). Urak Lawoi': Basic Structures and a Dictionary. Pacific Linguistics Series C No. 109. Canberra: The Australian National University. doi:10.15144/PL-C109. hdl:1885/146628. ISBN0-85883-385-9.
de Groot, Jacob Y. (2012). Urak Lawoi’: Language and Social History. Phuket: Prince of Songkla University, Phuket Campus.