DOCUMENTATION OF ULU TERENGGANU DIALECT AS A COMMUNICTION MEDIUM: A PRELIMINARY REVIEW ON SOME ASPECTS OF MORPHOLOGY

There are three dialect variants used as medium of communication among the Malays of Terengganu. The ‘pantai’ variant is spoken in almost all areas except in Setiu, Besut and Hulu Terengganu; the Kelantanese variant is spoken in some parts of Setiu and Besut; and the Ulu Terengganu variant is only spoken in the district of Ulu Terengganu. This dialect is currently facing extinction. This article intends to document the plimenary review on factors that contribute towards the unwidely spoken Ulu Terengganu dailect amongst its community members. Data for this article was obtained through interview sessions conducted with five informants. Three women and two men around the age of 60 were interviewed. In the introduction section of this article, explaination is given to some aspects of morphology of the Ulu Terengganu dailect, such as word and word formation process. Next, the factors that contribute towards the extinction of this dialects are discussed. This study shows that the use of Ulu Terengganu dialect among the younger generation is significantly reduced. This is due to several factors, such as outbound migration among the younger group members of the society for accupation purpose and inbound migration of foreign workers who make a living in the area, and as well as the low self-esteem to speak the Ulu Terengganu dailect among it’s society members. The intend of this plimenary review is that it triggers interest in researchers to study other areas of linguistics, such as phonology, syntax, semantic and dialectology.