Malaysian Malay

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Short description: Standardized variety of Malay language
Malaysian Malay
Standard Malay
Bahasa Melayu Piawai
بهاس ملايو ڤياواي
Bahasa Melayu Malaysia
بهاس ملايو مليسيا
Bahasa Malaysia
بهاس مليسيا
Pronunciationms,ms
Native toMalaysia, Singapore, Brunei
SpeakersNative: Few (2022)e25
L2: Spoken by the vast majority of those in Malaysia, although most learn a local Malay dialect or another native language first.
Austronesian
  • Malayo-Polynesian
    • Malayic
Early forms
Old Malay
  • Classical Malay (Johor–Riau Malay)[1][2]
    • Pre-Modern Malay (British Malayan Malay)
Latin (Rumi)
Arabic (Jawi)[3]
Malaysian Braille
Manually Coded Malay
Official status
Official language in
  • Malaysia
  • Singapore
  • Brunei
Regulated byDewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Malaysian Institute of Language and Literature)
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei (Brunei Language and Literature Bureau)[4]
Majlis Bahasa Melayu Singapura (Singapore Malay Language Council)[5]
Language codes
ISO 639-3zsm
Glottologstan1306[6]
Linguasphere33-AFA-ab
Countries where Malaysian Malay is spoken:
  Malaysia
  Singapore and Brunei, where Standard Malay is an official language
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Malaysian Malay (Malay: Bahasa Melayu Malaysia) or Malaysian (Bahasa Malaysia)[7] – endonymically known as Standard Malay (Bahasa Melayu piawai) or simply Malay (Bahasa Melayu, abbreviated to BM) – is a standardized form of the Malay language used in Malaysia and also used in Singapore and Brunei (as opposed to the variety used in Indonesia, which is referred to as the "Indonesian" language). Malaysian Malay is standardized from the Johor–Riau dialect of Malay, particularly a branch spoken in the state of Johor south of the Malay Peninsula.[8] It is spoken by much of the Malaysian population, although most learn a vernacular Malay dialect or another native language first.[9]

Terminology

In Malaysia

Article 152 of Malaysia's Constitution as drafted in 1957 (revised in 1963) merely mentions "Malay" (Bahasa Melayu) as the designation of its "national language" without any further definition,[10] but the term bahasa Malaysia (lit. Malaysian language) is used in official contexts from time to time.[11] The latter term was endorsed by Tunku Abdul Rahman during his premiership.[12]

The exact wording of either names above can be politically contentious. Between 1986 during Mahathir Mohamad's tenure and 2007, the term bahasa Malaysia was replaced by "bahasa Melayu";[13] even in 1999 the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka rejected the publication of some short stories as the preface to the publication used the term bahasa Malaysia instead of bahasa Melayu.[14] In 2007, to recognize that Malaysia is composed of many ethnic groups (and not only the ethnic Malays), the term bahasa Malaysia became the government's preferred designation for the national language.[11][15][16][17] The Ministry of Education's official communications used bahasa Malaysia from 2011 to 2015 but has preferred bahasa Melayu in its syllabi as of 2023.[18][19]

Other countries

In Singapore, "the Malay language" in the "Roman script" is afforded the status of national language in part 13 of its constitution's general provisions.[20] The term bahasa Melayu is used continuously in Singapore's educational literature[21] and is considered to be identical to Malaysian Malay.[22]: 81

The national standard variety of Malay employed in formal communications of Brunei dubbed "Standard Brunei Malay"[23] (or internally "Standard Malay"[24]) is observed to largely follow the Malaysian standard; the main differences being minor variation in pronunciation and some lexical influence from Brunei Malay, the local non-standard vernacular variety of Malay.[22]: 72 [23]

Writing system

Comparison of the Malay language written in Rumi and Jawi with other languages
Traffic signs in Malaysian: Warning sign "Level crossing" and regulatory sign "Stop".

The Latin alphabet, known in Malay as Rumi (Roman alphabet), is prescribed by law as the official script of Malaysian Malay, and the Arabic alphabet called Jawi (or Malay script) is not legally prescribed for that purpose. Rumi is official while efforts are currently being undertaken to preserve the Jawi script and to revive its use in Malaysia.[25][26][27] The Latin alphabet, however, is still the most commonly used script in Malaysia, for both official and informal purposes.

Borrowed words

While literary Malay throughout the region has mostly absorbed from Sanskrit, Tamil, Hindustani (Hindi–Urdu), Arabic, Persian, Portuguese and Sinitic languages; the variety spoken within British colonies that eventually make up Malaysia following the 1824 Anglo-Dutch Treaty borrowed majorly from English (in particular many scientific and technological terms) compared to Dutch as spread within the East Indies.

Since Malayan independence and later Federation formation, its own Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka followed a purist approach in lexicography away from Western loanwords (even favouring established roots like Sanskrit and Arabic) as well as neologizing from native roots.[28] In recent years, Malaysian has also been influenced lexically by the Indonesian variety largely through the popularity of neighbouring mass media like dramas, soap operas, and music – akin to the effect of American media towards other Englishes like those of Britain and Australia.[29]

  1. Sanskrit: This language had a significant influence on the Malay language through trade and the spread of Hindu-Buddhist religions that arrived in the Malay Archipelago from the 1st to the 14th century. Borrowed words include bahasa (language), raja (king), syurga (heaven), neraka (hell), desa (village).
  2. Arabic: With the arrival of Islam in the region during the 7th century, Arabic began influencing the Malay language, especially in religious and philosophical terminology. Examples include kitab (book), masjid (mosque), ilmu (knowledge), iman (faith), zakat (almsgiving).
  3. Tamil: The influence of the Tamil language came primarily through maritime trade between India and the Malay Archipelago. Borrowed words from Tamil include kedai (shop), mangga (mango), and vadai (a type of snack).
  4. Chinese: Trade relations between Chinese merchants and the local population led to the borrowing of words such as tauhu (tofu), mi (noodles), lombong (mine).
  5. Portuguese: The Portuguese occupation of Malacca in the early 16th century introduced words like gereja (church), keju (cheese), jendela (window), and almari (cupboard).
  6. Dutch: Borrowing from Dutch occurred during the Dutch colonial period, including words like kabin (cabin), sekolah (school), kontrak (contract).
  7. English: The English language introduced many technical and modern words into Malay, especially during British colonial rule. Examples include telefon (telephone), komputer (computer), bank, internet, and stesen (station).

Grammar

Colloquial and contemporary usage

Colloquial and contemporary usage of Malay includes modern Malaysian vocabulary, which may not be familiar to the older generation, such as:

  • Awek (means girl, in place of perempuan).
  • Balak (means guy, in place of jantan).
  • Cun (means pretty, in place of cantik / jelita).

New plural pronouns have also been formed out of the original pronouns popularly nowadays and the word orang (person), such as:

  • Korang (kau + orang, "you all", in place of kalian / kamu semua).
  • Kitorang (kita + orang, the exclusive "we", in place of kami).
  • File:WIKITONGUES- Zairul speaking Malay.webmDiorang (dia + orang, the exclusive "they", in place of mereka).

In addition, Arabic terms that is originally used in Standard Malay nowadays has been popularly changed where some of the words and pronunciations in the involved terms have been added by the local conservative Muslims by disputing the terms suggested by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), claiming that the involved terms with implementation of the additional words and pronunciations is the real correct terms as same as stated in the Qur'an, where it is predominantly used by the local Muslim netizens in the social medias nowadays. The several involved terms in comparison to Standard Malay that is popularly used, such as:

  • Ramadhan (means the holy fasting month, in place of Ramadan).
  • Aamiin (means asking Allah (Islam) to verify the prayer (Du'a); real term is Ameen, in place of Amin).
  • Fardhu (means obligatory (in Islam), in place of Fardu).
  • Redha (means accepting, in place of Reda).
  • Mudharat (means harm, in place of Mudarat).
  • Dhaif (means poverty, in place of Daif).
  • Zohor (means mid-day or noon time, in place of Zuhur).
  • Hadith (means Prophet (Mohamed) terms or speeches, in place of Hadis).

Code-switching between English and Malaysian and the use of novel loanwords is widespread, forming Bahasa Rojak. Consequently, this phenomenon has raised the displeasure of linguistic purists in Malaysia, in their effort to uphold use of the prescribed standard language.

See also

  • Comparison of Standard Malay and Indonesian
  • Indonesian language
  • Jawi, an Arabic script based writing system for Malay
  • Language politics
  • Malaysian English, English language used formally in Malaysia.

References

  1. Adelaar, K. Alexander (2000). "Malay: A Short History". Oriente Moderno 19 (2): 234. 
  2. Mukhlis Abu Bakar (2019). "Sebutan Johor-Riau dan Sebutan Baku dalam Konteks Identiti Masyarakat Melayu Singapura" (in ms). Issues in Language Studies 8 (2): 61–78. doi:10.33736/ils.1521.2019. http://publisher.unimas.my/ojs/index.php/ILS/article/view/1521. 
  3. "Kedah MB Defends Use of Jawi on Signboards" (in en). The Star Online. 26 August 2008. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/26/nation/22168989&sec=nation. 
  4. Clynes, Adrian; Deterding, David (2011). "Standard Malay (Brunei)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association 41 (2): 259–268. doi:10.1017/S002510031100017X. 
  5. "Standard Malay made simple / Liaw Yock Fang - BookSG - National Library Board, Singapore". https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/printheritage/detail/aaea743c-7917-47f6-afb8-019b69e1a509.aspx. 
  6. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds (2017). "Standard Malay". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/stan1306. 
  7. Asmah Haji Omar (1992). "Malay as a pluricentric language". in Clyne, Michael G.. Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations. Contributions to the sociology of language 62. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 403–4. ISBN 3-11-012855-1. 
  8. Ibid. pp. 402, 413–417.
  9. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named e25
  10. Federal Constitution of Malaysia 
  11. 11.0 11.1 Wong, Chun Wai; Edwards, Audrey (4 June 2007). "Back to Bahasa Malaysia" (in en). The Star Online. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2007/06/04/back-to-bahasa-malaysia/. 
  12. "English must continue – Tengku". The Straits Times: p. 1. 22 October 1966. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19661022-1.2.3. ""At the same time, greater importance and more time must be given to the use of the national language in the schools and elsewhere. I would rather prefer to call it the Malaysian language (or bahasa Malaysia), rather than the national language (or bahasa kebangsaan)..."" 
  13. "Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Malaysia? As Putrajaya tightens reins on national language, linguistic experts argue why it should be the former". 12 February 2024. https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/02/12/bahasa-melayu-or-bahasa-malaysia-as-putrajaya-tightens-reins-on-national-language-linguistic-experts-argue-why-it-should-be-the-former/112951. 
  14. Tay, Eddie (October 2001). "Unsettling Ways of Exile". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore 1 (1). http://www.qlrs.com/essay.asp?id=141. Retrieved 2 October 2022. 
  15. "Mahathir Regrets Govt Focussing Too Much on Bahasa". Daily Express. 2 October 2013. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=86783. 
  16. "Bahasa Rasmi" (in ms). Government of Malaysia. https://www.malaysia.gov.my/portal/content/30118?language=my. "Perkara 152 Perlembagaan Persekutuan menjelaskan bahawa bahasa Melayu yang dikenali juga sebagai bahasa Malaysia adalah bahasa rasmi yang tidak boleh dipertikai fungsi dan peranannya sebagai Bahasa Kebangsaan." 
  17. Encik Md. Asham bin Ahmad (8 August 2007). "Malay Language Malay Identity". http://www.ikim.gov.my/new-wp/index.php/2007/08/08/malay-language-malay-identity/. 
  18. (in ms) E-Katalog Buku Teks. Ministry of Education Malaysia. 2023. pp. 2–3. https://www.moe.gov.my/storage/files/shares/Banner/E-Katalog%20Buku%20Teks%20KPM.pdf. 
  19. "Soalan Lazim Berkaitan Dasar Memartabatkan Bahasa Malaysia Memperkukuh Bahasa Inggeris (MBMMBI)" (in ms). http://www.moe.gov.my/v/soalan-lazim-view?id=150&cat=28&keyword=&page=1&. 
  20. "Constitution of the Republic of Singapore - Part 13: General Provisions" (in en). Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore. https://sso.agc.gov.sg/act/cons1963?ProvIds=P113-#pr153A-. 
  21. Kamsiah Abdullah (8-9 November 2006). "Penyelidikan bahasa Melayu di Singapura (1959-2000): Satu refleksi dan tinjauan selayang pandang". Prosiding Persidangan Antarabangsa Pengajian Melayu. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. https://repository.nie.edu.sg/server/api/core/bitstreams/20acb46e-229c-49d4-aaa0-372204df80db/content. 
  22. 22.0 22.1 Steinhauer, Hein (2005). "Colonial History and Language Policy in Insular Southeast Asia and Madagascar". The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar. London: Routledge. pp. 65–86. ISBN 9780700712861. https://books.google.com/books?id=BAShwSYLbUYC&pg=PA72. 
  23. 23.0 23.1 Clynes, Adrian (2001). "Brunei Malay: An Overview". Occasional Papers in Language Studies (Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics, Universiti Brunei Darussalam) 7: 11–2. 
  24. Clynes, Adrian; Deterding, David (2011). "Standard Malay (Brunei)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association 41 (2): 259–268. doi:10.1017/S002510031100017X. ISSN 0025-1003. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44527038. 
  25. "Malay" (in en). https://www.baystateinterpreters.com/ContentDetail.aspx?MenuID=162. 
  26. "Use of Jawi Should Be Encouraged, Not Condemned – Faidhur Rahman Abdul Hadi and Fatihah Jamhari" (in en). Malay Mail. 18 December 2014. https://www.malaymail.com/news/what-you-think/2014/12/18/use-of-jawi-should-be-encouraged-not-condemned-faidhur-rahman-abdul-hadi-an/804615. 
  27. "Khat to Be Included in School Curriculum" (in en). The Star. 30 July 2019. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/07/30/khat-to-be-included-in-school-curriculum#azQeRsS58eKTSuTb.99. 
  28. Coluzzi, Paolo (Mar 2017). "Language planning for Malay in Malaysia: A case of failure or success?". International Journal of the Sociology of Language (244): 24–6. doi:10.1515/ijsl-2016-0055. ISSN 1613-3668. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/ijsl-2016-0055/html. 
  29. Sneddon, James N. (2003). The Indonesian Language: Its History and Role in Modern Society. Sydney: UNSW Press. pp. 157. ISBN 0-86840-598-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=A9UjLYD9jVEC&pg=PA157. 

Further reading

Template:Greater North Borneo languages




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