Gis mapping of dialect variations in north Perak

The aim of this paper is to describe the variations of Malay dialects spoken in north Perak, and accordingly displaying their distribution in a geolinguistic map by employing a Geographical Information System (GIS) analytical tool. The analysis on dialect variations is based on phonological modifications of liquid segments word final . The data, which were collected in 24 different villages in the region, are manually transcribed and classified into variants based on their phonological realisations. These variants, which were initially recorded in the Excel Program, are then transferred into the GIS programme where the linguistic data are processed systematically. The GIS analytical tool produces geolinguistic maps demonstrating the distribution of dialect variations and the topographic profiling of the region. It is apparent that there is a correlation between the two where the latter plays a signif icant role in determining the former.