Southeast Asia is home to many distinct groups of sea nomads, some of which
are known collectively as Orang (Suku) Laut. Those located between Sumatra and
the Malay Peninsula are all Malayic-speaking. Information about their speech is
paltry and scattered; while starting points are provided in publications such as
Skeat and Blagden (1906), Kähler (1946a, b, 1960), Sopher (1977: 178?180), Kadir
et al. (1986), Stokhof (1987), and Collins (1988, 1995), a comprehensive account
and description of Malayic Sea Tribe lects has not been provided to date. This
study brings together disparate sources, including a bit of original research, to
sketch a unified linguistic picture and point the way for further investigation.
While much is still unknown, this paper demonstrates relationships within and
between individual Sea Tribe varieties and neighbouring canonical Malay lects.
It is proposed that Sea Tribe lects can be assigned to four groupings: Kedah, Riau
Islands, Duano, and Sekak.
