Urak Lawoi' language

Urak Lawoi’
อูรักลาโวยจ
Native to	Thailand
Region	Phuket, Langta islands
Ethnicity	Urak Lawoi’
Native speakers	5,000 (2012)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (disputed) Malayic Urak Lawoi’
Writing system	Thai script (usually oral)
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Thailand native to provinces of Phuket, Krabi, Satun
Regulated by	Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University
Language codes
ISO 639-3	urk
Glottolog	urak1238
ELP	Urak Lawoi'

Urak Lawoi’ or Urak Lawoc (Urak Lawoi': อูรักลาโวยจ, IPA: [ˈurʌk ˈlawʊjʔ]) 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.^[2]

Phonology and orthography

Vowels

• In closed syllables, some vowels change their quality:
  • /a/ becomes [ʌ] (/ˈrawak/ [ˈraˑwʌk] 'space').
  • /i/ becomes [ɪ] (/ˈbaliʔ/ [ˈbaˑlɪʔ] 'return').
  • /o/ becomes [ʊ] (/ˈproc/ [ˈprʊiʔ] 'stomach').
• Epenthetic /j/ and /w/ are added after high vowels /i/, /u/ respectively (/ˈsiˑjak/ 'light', /ˈbuˑwak/ 'to throw away').
• Vowels are somewhat allophonically lengthened in stressed open syllables.
• 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/ [məˈnãˑŋɛ̃h] 'to cry', /ˈɲawa/ [ˈɲãˑw̃ã] 'body, self').

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.

Consonants

• [t͡ɕ] and [t͡ɕʰ] allophones are influenced by Thai, whereas [d͡ʒ] is influenced by Malay.
• Aspirated consonants and /f/ only appear in loanwords (mostly from Thai).
• Phonetically, /-c/ and /-s/ is pronounced [-jʔ], and [-jh] (after back vowels and /a/) or [-h] (after front vowels), respectively, syllable-finally.
• /l/ becomes [l] after /i/, /ə/, otherwise [ɭ] in syllable-final positions (/ˈlihəl/ [ˈliˑhəl] 'space' vs. /ˈbumɔl/ [ˈbuˑmɔɭ] 'doctor').
• /ər/ is compensatorily lengthened to phonetically long [əə]. In stressed positions, the vowel cluster fluctuates between [ɽ], [ər], [rə].
• The coda stop /k/ after a front vowel becomes [kx] (/ˈkamek/ [ˈkaˑmekx] '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/ [səˈbwʊjʔ] 'to utter').

• /-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.

References

Further reading

• v
• t
• e

Languages of Thailand

Official language

• Thai

Other Thais

Lao–Phutai	Isan Phu Thai
Chiang Saen	Northern Thai Tai Lü Phuan Thai Song
Sukhothai	Southern Thai
Northwestern	Khün Shan Tai Nüa

Minority
by languages groups

Austroasiatic	Bru Chong Chung Jahai Kensiu Khmer Northern Western Kintaq Kuy Mlabri Mon Nyah Kur Palaung Ten'edn Thavung Vietnamese
Austronesian	Cham Malay Bangkok Malay Pattani Malay Satun Malay Moken Moklen Urak Lawoi’
Hmong-Mien	Hmong Iu Mien
Sino-Tibetan	Akha Eastern Pwo Lisu Sinitic Cantonese Teochew Hakka Hokkien Hainanese Hokchew Nuosu Mpi Northern Pwo Phrae Pwo Red Karen (Eastern Kayah) S'gaw Karen Ugong

Non-Indigenous

Immigrant language	Burmese Hindi Punjabi Russian Southwestern Mandarin
Working language	English Japanese Korean

Sign languages

• Thai Sign Language
• Ban Khor Sign