Borderland Malays: Obstruent-homorganic consonants deletion in Patani Malay dialect

Patani Malays politically belong to Thailand. Yet their affinity with Malays of northern Peninsular Malaysia make them more identifiable with Malaysia than with Thailand. One fundamental aspect of this affinity with Malaysian Malays is their dialect. This study analysed linguistically the phonological issues of deletion of consonants in Patani Malay dialect. The deletion phenomena studied were the lost of consonants in the nasal obstruent homorganic cluster. The phonological issues discussed were analyzed using the CV Model of the Autosegmental Theory. Data were collected from speakers of Patani Malay dialect of the Nasa village, Mayo District of Pattani, Thailand. The study showed that the deletion of a consonant in the nasal obstruent homorganic cluster was related to the [+/- voicing] factor and as a result of delinking rule. Data showed that if the obstruent clusters present in the feature is [+ voicing], the obstruent will be deleted, but if the obstruent clusters present in the feature is [- voicing], nasal consonant will be removed. Data from this study showed that the issues of the removal of nasal consonants have been fully explained using the CV Model of the Autosegmental Theory.