Malay Dialect Toponym of Village Name in Yala Province

Abstract

The Malay dialect is the language that is spoken in the daily lives of most people in the three southern border provinces namely Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. This article aims to study the meaning, distribution of generic term of village names in Malay dialect and analyze the relationship of the generic terms of villages and geographical features of Yala province. By studying the name of the village, Malay dialect, meaning 194 names in Yala province. The study indicated that toponym of the village name can be classified according to 4 types of meaning : geographical features 88 names, water source 28 names, plants 25 names, and about 11 names related to persons. The name of the Malay dialect village are found in all 8 districts of Yala province. The district that found the name of the most local Malay language village is Raman district, numbering 38 names. The village name reflects the geographical features of village site. Although this study does not cover all provinces that have the name of Malay dialect village in the south but at least helps those interested in studying the toponym and geographic terms in the Malay dialect better.