What language family is Malay?
History of the Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian language family. Over a period of two millennia, from a form that probably consisted of only 157 original words, Malay has undergone various stages of development that derived from different layers of foreign influences through international trade, religious expansion, colonisation and developments of new socio-political trends. The oldest form of Malay is descended from the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the earliest Austronesian settlers in Southeast Asia. This form would later evolved into Old Malay when Indian cultures and religions began penetrating the region. Old Malay contained some terms that exist today, but are unintelligible to modern speakers, while the modern language is already largely recognisable in written Classical Malay of 1303 CE.
Malay Indonesian
Sumatra is the homeland of the Malay languages, which today spans all corners of Insular Southeast Asia. The Indonesian language which is the country's official language and lingua franca was based on Riau-Lingga (or Johor-Riau) Malay. The Malay language has a long history, which has a literary record as far back as the 7th century AD. A famous early Malay inscription, the Kedukan Bukit Inscription, was discovered by the Dutchman M. Batenburg on 29 November 1920, at Kedukan Bukit, South Sumatra, on the banks of the River Tatang, a tributary of the River Musi. It is a small stone of 45 by 80 cm. It is written in Old Malay, a possible ancestor of today's Malay language and its variants. Most Malay languages and dialects spoken in Indonesia are mutually unintelligible to Standard Indonesian. The most widely spoken are Palembang Malay (3.2 million), Jambi Malay (1 million), Bengkulu Malay (1.6 million) and Banjarese (4 million) (although not considered to be a dialect of Malay by its speakers; its minor dialect is typically called Bukit Malay). Besides the proper Malay languages, there are several languages closely related to Malay such as Minangkabau, Kerinci, Kubu and others. These languages are closely related to Malay, but their speakers do not consider their languages to be Malay. There are many Malay-based creoles spoken in the country especially in eastern Indonesia due to contacts from the western part of Indonesia and during colonial rule where Malay replaced Dutch as a lingua franca. The most well-known Malay creoles in Indonesia are Ambonese Malay, Betawi, Manado Malay and Papuan Malay.
Malay language
Old Malay was influenced by the Sanskrit literary language of Classical India and a scriptural language of Hinduism and Buddhism. Sanskrit loanwords can be found in Old Malay vocabulary. The earliest known stone inscription in the Old Malay language was found in Sumatra, written in the Pallava variety of the Grantha alphabet and dates back to 7th century. Known as the Kedukan Bukit inscription, it was discovered by the Dutchman M. Batenburg on November 29, 1920 at Kedukan Bukit, South Sumatra, on the banks of the Tatang, a tributary of the Musi River. It is a small stone of .
Temuan language
Temuan language (Temuan: "Benua,Bual Uwang Hutarn, bual Mutan, Niap, Bahasak Temuan", ) is a Malayan language (part of the Austronesian language family) spoken by the Temuan people, one of the Orang Asli or indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia which can be found in the states of Selangor, Pahang, Johor, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan. Temuan is a separate language but has a degree of mutual intelligibility with the Malay language. It is written in a Latin alphabet, but no standard orthography has been made.
Malays (ethnic group)
There is considerable genetic, linguistic, cultural, and social diversity among the many Malay subgroups, mainly due to hundreds of years of immigration and assimilation of various regional ethnicity and tribes within Maritime Southeast Asia. Historically, the Malay population is descended primarily from the earlier Malayic-speaking Austronesians and Austroasiatic tribes who founded several ancient maritime trading states and kingdoms, notably Brunei, Kedah, Langkasuka, Gangga Negara, Chi Tu, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pahang, Melayu and Srivijaya.
Malayo-Sumbawan languages
The Malayo-Sumbawan languages are a proposed subgroup of the Austronesian languages that unites the Malayic and Chamic languages with the languages of Java and the western Lesser Sunda Islands, except for Javanese (Adelaar 2005). If valid, it would be the largest demonstrated family of Malayo-Polynesian outside Oceanic. The Malayo-Sumbawan subgroup is however not universally accepted, and is rejected e.g. by Blust (2010) and Smith (2017).
Languages of Malaysia
The indigenous languages of Malaysia belong to the Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian families. The national, or official, language is Malay which is the mother tongue of the majority Malay ethnic group, however English may take preference in many settings and is spoken by the majority of the population. The main ethnic groups within Malaysia comprise the Malays, Chinese and Indians, with many other ethnic groups represented in smaller numbers, each with its own languages. The largest native languages spoken in East Malaysia are the Iban, Dusunic, and the Kadazan languages. English is widely understood and spoken in service industries and is a compulsory subject in primary and secondary school. It is also the main language spoken in most private colleges and universities. English may take precedence over Malay in certain official contexts as provided for by the National Language Act, especially in the states of Sabah and Sarawak, where it may be the official working language.
Peranakan
The Peranakan Malay spoken by the Malaccan Peranakans community is strongly based on the Malay language as most of them can only speak little to none of the language of their Chinese forebears. Whereas in the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia, the Peranakans are known to not only speak a Hokkien version of their own but also Thai and Kelantanese Malay dialect in Kelantan, and Terengganu Malay dialect in Terengganu respectively. Unlike the rest of the Peranakans in Malaysia, Penang Peranakans in comparison are much heavily influenced by a variant of Hokkien dialect known locally as Penang Hokkien.
Kelantan-Pattani Malay
Kelantanese Malay has an older and a richer literary history than standard Malay. It is written in the Jawi alphabet, based on the Arabic script, which is where the name "Yawi/Jawi" for the language comes from. This is in stark contrast to the rest of the general population of Malay speakers in both Malaysia and Indonesia that now use the Latin script, known in Malay as rumi (رومي), for daily communication. Today, Pattani Malay itself is generally not a written language, though it is sometimes written in informal settings or eye dialect. When writing is needed, an old-fashioned variety of standard Malay is used rather than the local dialect. A phonetic rendering of Pattani Malay in the Thai alphabet has been introduced, but it has not met with much success, due to the socio-religious significance of Jawi to Muslim Malays, as well as because of numerous inconsistencies and inaccuracies.
Dua as a spoken language and not regional official language status of both areas. We can say that Kelantan-Pattani language is using Thai alphabets in Southern Thai and in Kelantan using mostly Rumi (Roman alphabets).
Malaysian Mandarin
As of 2014 93% of ethnic Chinese families in Malaysia speak varieties of Chinese, which includes Mandarin.
Malayisation
Despite being the source of the Indonesian national language, Malay itself has been degraded as a mere local dialect in Sumatra, equal in status with Minangkabau, Acehnese and Batak languages. Compared to local Malay dialects in Sumatra, Indonesian language develop further which absorbs rich terminology and vocabulary from other Indonesian native languages, also rich variations of local dialects across Indonesia.
Terengganuan Malay people
Terengganuan Malays are widely known for their unique spoken language called Terengganu Malay or in their native language as "Base Tranung" (which means "Terengganu language") or "Cakak Tranung" (which means "Speak Terengganu"). Terengganu Malay is closely related to Kelantanese Malay ("Baso Kelate") and Pahang Malay ("Base Pahang") and these three can easily communicated with each other despite phonological differences (As well as some vocabulary differences). However, not all Terengganuan Malay people in Terengganu use Terengganuan, in the districts of Besut and northern Setiu, Kelantanese Malay is much popular among the people there as their culture and customs are much closer to Kelantan than other parts of Terengganu. Terengganu Malay has several distinct dialects but it is divided into two major ones namely Coastal, or Terengganu Malay proper and Inland, also known as "Base Ulu" (Language of the inland) or "Base Kole Berang" (Kuala Berang language/dialect). Both varieties have a distinct phonology as well as some vocabulary and sometimes mutually unintelligible to one another (although Inland speakers are more exposed to Coastal dialects than vice versa). Coastal Terengganu Malay is further divided into several sub-dialects which only has minimal differences, mostly vocabulary.
List of diglossic regions
In Brunei, Standard Malay (Bahasa Melayu) is promoted as the national language and is the H variety, while Brunei Malay is used very widely throughout society and it constitutes the L variety. One major difference between these dialects of Malay is that Brunei Malay tends to have the verb at the front, while Standard Malay generally places it after the subject. It has been estimated that 84% of core vocabulary in Brunei Malay and Standard Malay is cognate, though their pronunciation often differs very considerably. While Standard Malay has six vowels, Brunei Malay has only three: /a, i, u/.
Malaysia
Malaysia has its origins in the Malay kingdoms which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire when the Straits Settlements became British protectorates. Peninsular Malaysia was unified as the Malayan Union in 1946. Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963 to become Malaysia. In 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a large role in its politics. About half the population is ethnically Malay, with large minorities of Malaysian Chinese (the second largest community of Overseas Chinese in the world), Malaysian Indians, and indigenous peoples. The constitution grants freedom of religion but recognises Islam as the established religion of the state. The government system is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and the legal system is based on common law. The head of state is the king, known as the "Yang di-Pertuan Agong". He is an elected monarch chosen from the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states every five years. The head of government is the Prime Minister. The country's official language is Bahasa Melayu, commonly known as the Malay language. English remains an active second language. In 2017, English proficiency in Malaysia was ranked the 2nd best in Asia (after Singapore) and the 13th best in the world.
Iban people
The Iban language ("jaku Iban") is spoken by the Iban, a branch of the Dayak ethnic group formerly known as "Sea Dayak". They live in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, and in Brunei. The language belongs to Malayic languages, which is a Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. The Iban language is also related to Malay, and more closely to Sarawakian Malay. It is thought that the homeland of the Malayic languages is in western Borneo, where the Ibanic languages remain. The Malayan branch represents a secondary dispersal, probably from central Sumatra but possibly also from Borneo.
Orang Rimba people
The various Kubu languages belong to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. They are isolects of the Malay language (Bahasa Melayu) spoken in the upstream regions of Palembang and Jambi, Sumatra. All are similar to Bahasa Indonesia, which is based upon a variant of Malay.
Indonesian language
Indonesian is a standardized register of "Riau Malay", which despite its common name is not the Malay dialect native to the Riau Islands, but rather the Classical Malay of the Malaccan royal courts. Originally spoken in Northeast Sumatra, Malay has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for half a millennium. It might be attributed to its ancestor, the Old Malay language (which can be traced back to the 7th century). The Kedukan Bukit Inscription is the oldest surviving specimen of Old Malay, the language used by Srivijayan empire. Since the 7th century, the Old Malay language has been used in Nusantara (Indonesian archipelago), evidenced by Srivijaya inscriptions and by other inscriptions from coastal areas of the archipelago, such as those discovered in Java.
Comparison of Standard Malay and Indonesian
Malaysian and Indonesian are two standardised registers of the Malay language, used in Malaysia and Indonesia, respectively. Both varieties are generally mutually intelligible, yet there are significant differences in spelling, grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary, as well as the predominant source of loanwords. The differences can range from those mutually unintelligible with one another, to those having a closer familial resemblance. The regionalised and localised varieties of Malay can become a catalyst for intercultural conflict, especially in higher education.
Urheimat
The Malagasy language of Madagascar is not related to nearby African languages, instead being the westernmost member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. The similarity between Malagasy and Malay and Javanese was noted as long ago as 1708 by the Dutch scholar Adriaan van Reeland. Malagasy is related to the Malayo-Polynesian languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and more closely with the Southeast Barito group of languages spoken in Borneo except for its Polynesian morphophonemics.
Pahang Malay people
The distribution of Pahang Malay is predominantly in the Pahang state, although there are other Malayan language spoken, for example a unique dialect of Tioman Island closely related only to Sarawak Malay spoken across the South China Sea. An east coast dialect, Terengganu Malay is in fact native in certain areas primarily in narrow strip of sometimes discontiguous fishermen villages and towns along the coastline of Pahang. This complicated spatial layering of different Malay variants, often within a few kilometres radius between hamlets of Pahang Malay speakers along the riverine systems and the Terengganu-speaking coastal fishermen villages, is influenced by the historical movement of Terengganu Malays to that area. There are small Pahang-speaking community in the valley of the Lebir River in Kelantan and the upper portions of several rivers near the Perak and Selangor boundaries, descendants of fugitives from the civil war that ravaged their homeland in the 19th century.
Pahang Malay people
Pahang Malays are known for their unique spoken language called Pahang Malay, and natively referred as "Base Pahang" (which means "Pahang language") or "Cakak Pahang" (which means "Pahang speech"). This form of Malayan language is closely related to Terengganu Malay ("Base Tranung") and Kelantan Malay ("Baso Kelate") due to their common origin. These east coast dialects demonstrate a number a shared lexical, synctatic, and phonetics innovations and their speakers can easily communicate with each other, although there are still some phonological and vocabulary differences.
Malays (ethnic group)
The Malay language was historically written in Pallawa, Kawi and Rencong. After the arrival of Islam, Arabic-based Jawi script was adopted and is still in use today as one of the two official scripts in Brunei and as an alternative script in Malaysia. Beginning from the 17th century, as a result of British and Dutch colonisation, Jawi was gradually replaced by the Latin-based Rumi script and eventually became the official modern script for Malay language in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, and co-official script in Brunei.
Malay trade and creole languages
It is widely spoken as a second language in Makassar, but increasingly also as a first language in the younger generation.
Balinese Malay is a trade language of the island of Indonesia and the Nusa Islands. The current language status is threatened. 
The creoles of eastern Indonesia appear to have formed as Malays and Javanese, using lingua franca Malay, established their monopoly on the spice trade before the European colonial era. They have a number of features in common:
Malay trade and creole languages
Spoken since the 16th century by descendents of Tamil merchants of the Malacca Straits. It may be historically related to Sri Lanka Creole Malay. The current language status is moribund, due to inter-marriage and out-migration. There has been language shift towards Malay instead.
The Sri Lankan Creole Malay language is a unique mixture of the Sinhalese language and the Tamil language with Malay. Sri Lanka Malay (SLM) is a restructured vernacular of Malay base spoken by at least five different communities in Sri Lanka which has evolved to be significantly divergent from other varieties of Malay due to intimate contact with the dominant languages of Sinhala and Tamil. The Malays in Sri Lanka, whose ancestry include labourers brought by the Dutch and British, as well as soldiers in the Dutch garrison, now constitute 0.3% of the population, numbering some 46,000. It is spoken exclusively by the Malay ethnic minority in Sri Lanka.
Malay phonology
This article explains the phonology of the Malay language based on the pronunciation of Standard Malay, which is the official language of Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia (as Malaysian) and Indonesian (official language of Indonesia).
Demographics of Sabah
The indigenous languages of Sabah can be divided into four language families, i.e. Dusunic, Murutic, Paitanic and Sama–Bajau. Studies suggest that the only truly Bornean languages spoken in Sabah are those belonging to the Dusunic, Murutic and Paitanic language families while the Sama–Bajau languages originate from the southern Philippines. The Dusunic is the largest of the four families. It comprises the Kadazan Dusun language, which has dialects spread throughout the districts of Papar, Penampang, Kota Kinabalu, Tuaran, Ranau, Tambunan and Keningau. It is followed by the Murutic languages of southern Sabah, which are spoken mainly in Keningau, Tenom, Nabawan and Pensiangan. The Paitanic languages are spoken in the areas along the east coast rivers of Paitan, Kinabatangan and Segama. The Sama–Bajau are concentrated along parts of the West and East Coasts. Malay language is taught as the main language for conversation across different ethnicities in the state, although Sabahan creole is different from Sarawak Malay and Peninsular Malay. Sabah has its own slang for Malay which originated either from indigenous words, Brunei Malay, Suluk, Cocos Malay and Indonesian language.
Pahang Malay people
Pahang Malays (Malaysian: "Melayu Pahang", Pahang Malay: "Oghang Pahang", Jawi: أورڠ ڤهڠ) are a sub-group of Malay people native to the state of Pahang, in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. With population of approximately 1.08 million people, they constitutes 70% of Pahang state's population, making them the dominant ethnic group in the state. Their language, Pahang Malay is one of many Malayan languages spoken in the region that belong to the Malayo-Polynesian group of Austronesian family.
Kelantan-Pattani Malay
Kelantan–Pattani Malay is a highly divergent language of Malay because of the geographical isolation of the dialect from the rest of the Malay world by high mountains, deep rainforest and the Gulf of Thailand. In Thailand, it is influenced by Thai. Several varieties exist, but they are mutually comprehensible to the extent that native speakers of Pattani and Kelantanese often cannot differentiate each other.
Pahang Malay
Pahang Malay is almost exclusively spoken within the state of Pahang, though there are sizeable migrant communities of its native speakers in urban areas like Klang Valley, and other states of the peninsula. Nevertheless, within the state of Pahang, there are at least two other distinct Malay varieties traditionally spoken. Coastal Terengganu Malay, a relative variant with shared lexical, synctatic, and phonetics innovations, is spoken in narrow strip of sometimes discontiguous fishermen villages and towns along the coastline of Pahang. This complicated spatial layering of different Malay variants, often within a few kilometres radius between hamlets of Pahang Malay speakers along the riverine systems and the Terengganu-speaking coastal fishermen villages, is influenced by the historical movement of Terengganu Malays to that area. For centuries, the coastal line stretching from Terengganu border to the Endau of Johor, was the heaven for temporary settlements of fishermen from Terengganu and Kelantan who came there during fishing season. Over the time, a well established communities began to develop in areas like Beserah, Kuala Pahang, and Kuala Rompin. Another dialect not related to Pahang Malay, is spoken in Tioman island of Pahang and Aur Islands of Johor, and most closely related only to Sarawak Malay, spoken across the South China Sea in northwest Borneo. Despite the existence these foreign and isolated Malay variants, Pahang Malay remains as the de facto official dialect of the state, predominantly spoken along the lining of its vast riverine systems.
Malayo-Polynesian languages
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian people of the island nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia, going well into the Malay peninsula. Cambodia and Vietnam serve as the northwest geographic outlier. On the northernmost geographical outlier does not pass beyond the north of Pattani, which is located in southern Thailand. Malagasy is spoken in the island of Madagascar located off the eastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. Part of the language family shows a strong influence of Sanskrit and particularly Arabic as the Western part of the region has been a stronghold of Hinduism, Buddhism, and, since the 10th century, Islam.
Malay language in the Philippines
Malay is related to the native languages of the Philippines, being Austronesian languages. Many words in the Tagalog and various Visayan languages are derived from Old Malay.
Comparison of Standard Malay and Indonesian
The Malay language in Indonesia and Malaysia also differs in recognition, where in Malaysia it enjoys status as the national language (Malaysian language), while in Indonesia it is considered as a regional language in Malay-speaking areas such as the eastern coast of Sumatra and West Kalimantan. The term "Malay language" ("Bahasa Melayu") in Indonesia and Malaysia invites different perceptions from its respective people. To Malaysians, the Malay language is generally understood as the national language of Malaysia, with Malaysian language ("Bahasa Malaysia)" being a precise appellation for the Malay variety used in the country. Between 1986 and 2007, the term "Bahasa Melayu" was used instead of "Bahasa Malaysia", until the latter was reinstated, in order to instill a sense of belonging among Malaysians of all races, rather than just Malays. Therefore, there was no clear distinction between the use of the term Malay ("Bahasa Melayu") and the national language of Malaysia ("Bahasa Malaysia"). In Brunei, where Malay is also an official language, the language is known as "Bahasa Melayu" and in English as "Malay".
Cocos Malay
Cocos Malay derives from the Malay trade languages of the 19th century, specifically the Betawi language, with a strong additional Javanese influence. Malay is offered as a second language in schools, and Malaysian has prestige status; both are influencing the language, bringing it more in line with standard Malay. There is also a growing influence of English, considering the Islands having been an Australian territory and globalization drifting modern terms into the daily parlance.
List of official languages
Malay:
Bidayuh
Although classified as "Bidayuh" by the Malaysian government, the Salako and Lara culture have little resemblance to other Bidayuh groups and their oral tradition claim different descent and migration histories. Linguistically, the Salako belong to another language family tree which is of the Malayic Dayak family (the same family as the Iban). The Lara, although said to be more related to the Bidayuh (Jagoi-Singai), speak a language almost not mutually intelligible at all with the Bidayuh but belonged to the same language family tree which is the Land Dayak. Even their customary rituals and rites differ from the other Bidayuhs (all Bidayuhs share almost the same ritual and customary rites).
Racism in Malaysia
The battle to uphold the Malay Language as the national language raged on in 1968, Prof. al-Attas, as a member of the GERAKAN, engaged in a debate with Lim Kit Siang and the Opposition from the Democratic Action Party (DAP)6 on the subject matter of Indonesian literature being made as part of the corpus of Malay Language literature, and on the idea of a Malaysian Malaysia. Responding towards Lim Kit Siang’s claim that making the Malay Language the national language is racist and chauvinistic, Prof al-Attas, argued that Malays cannot be accused as racist because a Chinese who becomes a Muslim and speaks the Malay Language can be considered a Malay. A Malay, however, can never be a Chinese. By this definition, however, a Malay that renounces Islam is no longer a Malay.
Malaysian language
The Malaysian language (; Jawi: بهاس مليسيا‎) or Malaysian Malay () is the name regularly applied to the Malay language used in Malaysia (as opposed to the variety used in Indonesia, which is referred to as the Indonesian language). Constitutionally, however, the official language of Malaysia is Malay, but the government from time to time refers to it as Malaysian. Standard Malaysian is a normative register of the Johore-Riau dialect of Malay. It is spoken by much of the Malaysian population, although most learn a vernacular form of Malay or other native language first. Malay is a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools.
History of the Malay language
It is popularly claimed that the Old Malay of the Srivijayan inscriptions from South Sumatra is the ancestor of the Classical Malay. However, as noted by some linguists, the precise relationship between these two, whether ancestral or not, is problematical and remained uncertain. This is due to the existence of a number of morphological and syntactic peculiarities, and affixes which are familiar from the related Batak and Javanese languages but are not found even in the oldest manuscripts of Classical Malay. It may be the case that the language of the Srivijayan inscriptions is a close cousin rather than an ancestor of Classical Malay. Moreover, although the earliest evidence of Classical Malay had been found in the Malay peninsular from 1303, Old Malay remained in use as a written language in Sumatra right up to the end of the 14th century, evidenced from Bukit Gombak inscription dated 1357 and Tanjung Tanah manuscript of Adityavarman era (1347–1375).
Languages of Singapore
Other varieties that are still spoken in Singapore include Bazaar Malay ("Melayu Pasar"), a Malay-lexified pidgin, which was once an interethnic "lingua franca" when Singapore was under British rule. Another is Baba Malay, a variety of Malay Creole influenced by Hokkien and Bazaar Malay and the mother tongue of the Peranakans, which is still spoken today by approximately 10,000 Peranakans in Singapore. Other Austronesian languages, such as Javanese, Buginese, Minangkabau, Batak, Sundanese, Boyanese (which is a dialect of Madurese) and Banjarese, are also spoken in Singapore, but their use has declined. Orang Seletar, the language of the Orang Seletar, the first people of Singapore and closely related to Malay is also spoken near the Johor Strait, between Singapore and the state of Johor, Malaysia.
Culture of Malaysia
The Malays, who account for over half the Malaysian population, play a dominant role politically and are included in a grouping identified as bumiputra. Their native language, Bahasa Malaysia, is the national language of the country. By definition of the Malaysian constitution, all Malays are Muslims. The Orang Asal, the earliest inhabitants of Malaya, formed only 0.5 percent of the total population in Malaysia in 2000, but represented a majority in East Malaysia, Borneo. In Sarawak and Sabah, most of the non-Muslim indigenous groups are classified as Dayaks, and they constitute about 40 percent of the population in the state. Many tribes have converted to Christianity. The 140,000 Orang Asli, or aboriginal peoples, comprise a number of different ethnic communities living in peninsular Malaysia.
The Chinese have been settling in Malaysia for many centuries, and form the second-largest ethnic group. The first Chinese to settle in the Straits Settlements, primarily in and around Malacca, gradually adopted elements of Malaysian culture and intermarried with the Malaysian community and with this, a new ethnic group called emerged, the "Peranakan" ("Straits Chinese"). These Chinese have adopted Malay traditions while maintaining elements of Chinese culture such as their largely Buddhist and Taoist religion. The more common Chinese varieties spoken in Peninsular Malaysia are Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainanese, and Fuzhou.
Malay language
Malay, like most Austronesian languages, is not a tonal language.
Kendayan people
Kanayatn languages encompass the Brahe, Badame, Jare, and Bang app languages. Socio-linguistically, it is very difficult to specify the language repertoire because it is used with various dialects and patois pronunciation. However, these languages are all considered a part of the Malayic language family which also includes Indonesia's official language, Malay.
Orang Kuala
The Duano' language belongs to the Malayan languages group, along with Indonesian language, Standard Malay language, Minangkabau language and many others. Along with other 35 languages,
it is credited with Malay (macrolanguage).
Malay Singaporeans
Linguistically, most Malays in Singapore speak the Johore-Riau dialect of Malay that is similar to that spoken in the southern part of west Malaysian peninsular and the Riau islands of Indonesia. Some of the older generation who migrated here or whose parents were immigrants can speak Javanese. However, most of the Malays here do not speak the language of their ancestors from Indonesia.
Sri Lankan Creole Malay
Sri Lankan Creole Malay (also known as "Sri Lankan Malay," "Bahasa Melayu, Ja basawa, and Java mozhi") is an Austronesian creole language formed through a mixture of Sinhala and Shonam (Sri Lanka Muslim Tamil), with Malay being the major lexifier. Sri Lankan Malay is a restructured vernacular of Malay base spoken by at least five different communities in Sri Lanka which has evolved to be significantly divergent from other varieties of Malay due to intimate contact with the dominant languages of Sinhala and Tamil. Sri Lankan Creole Malay originated as a means of communication between the incoming Malays and the Sri Lankan people in the 13th century. It is now exclusively spoken by Sri Lankan Malays, whose ancestry include exiles and labourers from Indonesia brought by the Dutch and British, as well as soldiers in the Dutch garrison. The majority of the speakers today reside in Northern Colombo. Sri Lankan Malays now constitute 0.3% of the Sri Lankan population, which is approximately 46,000 people.The exact number of speakers is unknown and there are no linguistic statistics available on the number of speakers living in or outside Sri Lanka. Based on the ethnic statistics of Sri Lankan Malays, the estimation of the number of Sri Lankan Creole Malay speakers is between 30,000 to 40,000.
Malay world
The broader concept of Malay world has its origin from the conceptualisation of Malay as a race by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. Blumenbach identified 'Malay' as a subcategory of both the Ethiopid and Mongoloid races, and expanded the term to include the native inhabitants of the Marianas, the Philippines, the Malukus, Sundas, Indochina, as well as Pacific Islands like the Tahitians. This broad conception of Malay was largely derived from the strong presence of Malay cultural influence, particularly in linguistic, throughout the Southeast Asia at the time of European colonisation. Malay language was one aspect of the prestige of the Malay sultanates, and considered as a language of the learned in Southeast Asia in the 17th and 18th century comments. An 18th century European account even suggests that one is not considered a very broadly educated man in the east, if he don't understand Malay.
Language education in Singapore
As Malays are the indigenous people of Singapore, the Malay language, specifically in Rumi (Roman script) rather than Jawi script, is ceremonially recognised as the national language of Singapore. Once the lingua franca of Southeast Asia, Malay is the home language of 82.7% of Malay Singaporeans, as of 2010.
Malay language in the Philippines
There are also misconceptions in the Philippines between Ethnic Malays and Malay race. While it is true that certain Filipino ethnic groups (namely the Visayans and Maguindanao) contain Malay ancestors; the ethnic Malays themselves are focused around Malay peninsular, eastern Sumatra, coastal Borneo and southern Thailand. The Malay race compasses a larger class of Austronesian ethnic groups in the entire Malay Archipelago. This results in false labels to pre-occupation rulers such as Lapu-Lapu, the famous native chief who killed Magellan as a Malay and a Muslim although he was ethnically Visayan who spoke old Cebuano and whose religious background is obscure.
Malay alphabet
* Many vowels are pronounced (and were formerly spelt) differently in Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra (where Malay is native): "tujuh" is pronounced (and was spelt) "tujoh", "rambut" as "rambot", "kain" as "kaen", "pilih" as "pileh", etc., [e] and [o] are also allophones of /i/ and /u/ in closed final syllables in peninsular Malaysian and Sumatran. Many vowels were pronounced and formerly spelt differently that way also in East Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia.
Malay trade and creole languages
Originally a contact language among tribes in Indonesian New Guinea (Papua and West Papua) for trading and daily communication, now a growing number of native speakers. Papuan and Irian declared Malay as their language since 1926, before the Sumpah Pemuda declaration. Nowadays, they tend to speak more formal Indonesian. This variant is also understood in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea near Indonesian border.
Malayic languages
It is thought that the homeland of the Malayic languages is in western Borneo, where the Ibanic languages remain. The Malayan branch represents a secondary dispersal, probably from central Sumatra but possibly also from Borneo.
Languages of Malaysia
Citizens of Minangkabau, Bugis or Javanese origins, who can be classified "Malay" under constitutional definitions may also speak their respective ancestral tongues. The native tribes of East Malaysia have their own languages which are related to, but easily distinguishable from, Malay. Iban is the main tribal language in Sarawak while Dusun and Kadazan languages are spoken by the natives in Sabah. Some of these languages remain strong, being used in education and daily life. Sabah has tenth sub-ethnic languages, Bajau, Bruneian, Murut, Lundayeh/Lun Bawang, Rungus, Bisaya, Iranun, Sama, Suluk and Sungai. There are over 30 native groupings, each of which has its own dialect. These languages are in danger of dying out, unlike the major ones such as Kadazandusuns which have developed educational syllabuses. Iban also has developed an educational syllabus. Languages on the peninsula can be divided into three major groups, Negrito, Senoi, and Malayic, further divided into 18 subgroups. The Semai is used in education. Thai is also spoken in northern parts of the peninsula, especially in Northern Kedah and Langkawi, Perlis, Northern Perak, Northern Terengganu, and Northern Kelantan.
Col language
Col (Chol), or Lembak, is a Malayan language of Sumatra. It is spoken by around 145,000 speakers (2000) with most speakers can be found in Lubuklinggau city, Bengkulu and the areas surround it all the way to Musi rawas in South Sumatra. The speakers of this language belongs to ethnic Lembak, a small ethnic group closely related to ethnic Malays, especially those of Bengkulu and Palembang Malays. Col is closely related to Palembang Malay and Bengkulu Malay with minor differences mostly in pronunciation, the Bengkulu Malay and Palembang Malay tend to end with "o" while Col usually ends with "e". Col language has its own ISO code that is "liw".
Kedahan Malay people
The Kedahan Malays have their own unique variety of Malay known as Kedah Malay or "Pelat Utagha" (northern dialect) as known by its native speakers. It is related to other varieties of Malay spoken in the peninsular but has its own unique pronunciation and also vocabulary. Kedahan Malay language can be divided into several sub-dialects, namely Kedah Persisiran (standard) or Kedah Hulu, Kedah Utara, Perlis-Langkawi, Penang and some others (sub-dialects spoken in Satun and Southern Myanmar). For instance instead of using "kamu" to denote as 'you', "hang" (English pronunciation: "hung") is used instead and "cek" for 'i/me' instead of "aku" in other Malay varieties in the peninsular. Besides proper Kedah Malay, another variety of Malay spoken is Baling Malay, which is distinct from Kedah Malay and more closely related to varieties of Malay spoken in Southern Thailand and East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Kedah Malay is considered distinct enough to have its own ISO code that is meo.
Malay language
Standard Malay, also called Court Malay, was the literary standard of the pre-colonial Malacca and Johor Sultanates, and so the language is sometimes called Malacca, Johor or Riau Malay (or various combinations of those names) to distinguish it from the various other Malayan languages. According to "Ethnologue" 16, several of the Malayan varieties they currently list as separate languages, including the varieties of Peninsular Malay, are so closely related to standard Malay that they may prove to be dialects. There are also several Malay trade and creole languages which are based on a lingua franca derived from Classical Malay as well as Macassar Malay, which appears to be a mixed language.
Iban language
The Iban language ("jaku Iban") is spoken by the Iban, a branch of the Dayak ethnic group formerly known as "Sea Dayak" who live in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan and in Brunei. It belongs to Malayic languages a Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family, and is related to Malay, more closely to Sarawakian Malay. It is thought that the homeland of the Malayic languages is in western Borneo, where the Ibanic languages remain. The Malayan branch represents a secondary dispersal, probably from central Sumatra but possibly also from Borneo. The Iban language is also a subject tested in PMR and SPM, the Malaysian public examination for Form 3 and Form 5 students respectively. Students comment that questions from these exams mostly cover the classic Iban language, making them a daunting task for many who are more fluent in the contemporary tongue. The language is mostly taught to students in rural areas with a majority Iban population, including Baleh (Kapit), Betong, Sri Aman, Saratok, Lubok Antu, Pelagus (Kapit), Pakan and Julau.
Malay language
The closest relatives of the Malay languages are those left behind on Sumatra, such as the Minangkabau language, with 5.5 million speakers on the west coast.
Multinational state
When it was formed on 16 September 1963, Malaysia comprised four independent, self-governing nations: Malaya, Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak. In 1965, Singapore seceded from the federation. Today, Malaya, Sabah, and Sarawak each have their own ethnic majority. Generally, however, Malaysia is considered to have three major ethnic groups: Malays, Chinese, and Indians. The Iban people are the majority in Sarawak, while Sabah is dominated by the Kadazan-Dusun, Murut, and Bajau peoples. Malay is the primary national language, followed by English. In Sabah and Sarawak, English is the official language, although many locals speak a dialect of Malay.
Orang Seletar
There is an alarming situation with the state of the Orang Seletar language. So far, representatives of senior and middle aged generations communicate with each other exclusively or mainly in their native language, but younger generations and people living outside the community are more likely to use Malay language. There was a situation where, with each generation, the caretakers of the Orang Seletar language became increasingly lesser, and what is even more disturbing is that lesser Seletar people are often teaching their mother tongue to their own children. Thus, there is a tendency towards the gradual displacement of the Orang Seletar language, similarly as well as the language of other indigenous Orang Asli peoples of Peninsular Malaysia, with the standard Malay language. It is no surprise that the UNESCO includes the Orang Seletar language into the number of languages that are at serious risk of disappearance.
Minangkabau people
The Minangkabau language ("Baso Minangkabau") is an Austronesian language belonging to the Malayic linguistic subgroup, which in turn belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch. The Negri Sembilan dialect of Malay used by people in the aforementioned state is closely related to it due to the fact many of the population are descendants of Minangkabau immigrants.
Malay language in the Philippines
Malay is spoken by a minority of Filipinos, particularly in the Palawan, Sulu Archipelago and parts of Mindanao, mostly in the form of trade and creole languages. Historically, Malay was spoken as a "lingua franca" prior to the Spanish colonization of the Philippines and Malay was the language spoken by the aristocracy. Ferdinand Magellan used a Malay servant Enrique of Malacca to converse with the Visayans. This variant is known as Old Malay.
Racism in Malaysia
Presently, Malay is the national language of Malaysia. While it is unique that more than four languages are spoken widely in Malaysia today (English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil), the ethnic languages are mainly used by the ethnic groups respectively. The divide is quite prominent since the Malays mostly attend the Malaysian national schools but the Chinese and also the Indians, have created their own schools, placing importance on their respective languages.
Malay language
Malay is spoken in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, East Timor, Singapore, parts of Thailand and southern Philippines. Indonesia regulates its own normative variety of Malay, while Malaysia and Singapore use the same standard. Brunei, in addition to Standard Malay, uses a distinct vernacular dialect called Brunei Malay. In East Timor, Indonesian is recognised by the constitution as one of the two working languages (the other being English), alongside the official languages of Tetum and Portuguese. The extent to which Malay is used in these countries varies depending on historical and cultural circumstances. Malay is the national language in Malaysia by Article 152 of the Constitution of Malaysia, and became the sole official language in Peninsular Malaysia in 1968 and in East Malaysia gradually from 1974. English continues, however, to be widely used in professional and commercial fields and in the superior courts. Other minority languages are also commonly used by the country's large ethnic minorities. The situation in Brunei is similar to that of Malaysia. In the Philippines, Malay is spoken by a minority of the Muslim population residing in Mindanao (specifically the Zamboanga Peninsula) and the Sulu Archipelago. However, they mostly speak it in a form of creole resembling Sabah Malay. Historically, it was the primary trading language of the archipelago prior to Spanish occupation. Indonesian is spoken by the overseas Indonesian community in Davao City, and functional phrases are taught to members of the Philippine Armed Forces and to students.
Malayisation
There is significant genetic, linguistic, cultural, and social diversity among modern Malay subgroups, mainly attributed to centuries of migration and assimilation of various ethnic groups and tribes within Southeast Asia. Historically, the Malays are descended from the Malayic-speaking Austronesians, various Austroasiatic tribes, Cham and Funan settlers of ancient polities in coastal areas of Malay peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo; Brunei, Old Kedah, Langkasuka, Gangga Negara, Old Kelantan, Negara Sri Dharmaraja, Malayu and Srivijaya.
Malaita
Malaitans speak a variety of languages within the Malaitan language family, a subbranch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages. The diversity is not as great as once thought, and some of the groups are mutually intelligible. Some of the exaggeration in the number of languages may be due to the inappropriateness of lexicostatistical techniques and glottochronological analysis, given the widespread use of word taboo and metathesis as word play. According to Harold M. Ross, from north to south along the island's axis, the linguistic groups are roughly the Northern Malaita languages (more properly a collection of dialects without a standard name, generally To'abaita, Baelelea, Baegu, Fataleka, and Lau), Kwara'e in the hilly area between the ridges, Kwaio in about the geographic center of the island, and 'Are'are to the south. Each of these spreads across the width of the island. In addition, there is the Langalanga in a lagoon on the west coast between the Kwara'ae and Kwaio regions, and Kwarekwareo on the western coast between the Kwaio and 'Are'are regions, which may be a dialect of Kwaio. Sa'a, spoken on South Malaita, is also a member of the family. Mutual intelligibility is also aided by the large degree of trade and intermarriage among the groups.
Languages in censuses
The national or official language is Malay which is the mother tongue of the majority Malay ethnic group. The main ethnic groups within Malaysia comprise the Malays, Chinese and Indians, with many other ethnic groups represented in smaller numbers, each with its own languages. The largest native languages spoken in East Malaysia are the Iban, Dusunic and the Kadazan languages. English is widely understood in service industries and is a compulsory subject in primary and secondary school. It is also the main language spoken in most private colleges and universities. Beside that, English may take precedence over Malay in certain official contexts as provided for by the National Language Act, especially in the states of Sabah and Sarawak, where it may be the official working language.
Wuvulu-Aua language
The Wuvulu-Aua language is in the family of Austronesian language family. After that, it belongs to Malayo-Polynesian which is one of the major Nuclear Austronesian language family. Next, based on the location, The Wuvulu-Aua is in the Eastern Malayo-Polynesian family. If we classify it more explicitly, it is the member of Oceanic Western Admiralty island language family. In fact, Wuvulu-Aua is made up of two languages, Wuvulu and Aua. These two languages vary in the pronunciation of certain consonants like /r/.
List of lingua francas
Malay is currently used primarily in Malaysia (officially called Bahasa Melayu) and Brunei, and to a lesser extent in Singapore and parts of Sumatra. One of Singapore's four official languages, the Malay language or 'Bahasa Melayu' was the lingua franca for Malays in Singapore prior to the introduction of English as a working and instructional language, and remains so for the elder generation.
Ketuanan Melayu
Ethnic Malays which make up the majority population of Malaysia at 50.4%, are an ethnic group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations. The true origin of ethnic Malays is still the subject of studies among historians, anthropologists and linguists. A popular theory suggested that the people who spoke Austronesian languages first arrived in Maritime Southeast Asia between 2,500BCE and 1,500BCE, as a part of Austronesian expansion from Taiwan to South East Asia.
Austronesian languages
The Austronesian languages are a language family that is widely dispersed throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, Madagascar and the islands of the Pacific Ocean, with a few members in continental Asia. Austronesian languages are spoken by about 386 million people (4.9%), making it the fifth-largest language family by number of speakers. Major Austronesian languages with the highest number of speakers are Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanese, and Filipino (Tagalog). The family contains 1,257 languages, which is the second most of any language family.
Kedang language
Kédang (Kdang, Dang, Kedangese) is a language of Lembata Island, east of Flores, in Indonesia. The language belongs to the Austronesian family and its sub-family, Malayo-Polynesian. More specifically, the language is within the Flores-Lembata sub-group.
Demographics of Malaysia
Malaysia's population comprises many ethnic groups. People of Austronesian origin make up the majority of the population, and are known as the Bumiputras. Large Chinese and Indian minorities also exist. Malays, as Bumiputra, see Malaysia as their land, and since race riots in 1969 Bumiputra have been especially privileged in Malaysia – top government positions are reserved for Malays, and the Malays received cheaper housing, priority in government jobs as well as business licenses. However, since the riot racial stability has prevailed, if not full harmony, and mixed marriages are on the rise. The following are the twenty-five largest ethnolinguistic groups in Malaysia; speakers of distinct dialects of a language may be grouped separately, for example Terengganu Malay and Kelantan Malay are grouped into East Coast Malay:
Ministry of Education Language Centre
The Bishan MOELC offers the French language, German language and the Japanese language while the Newton MOELC offers the French language, Spanish language and the Japanese language under the Foreign Language Programme. The Malay language is not included in both as it is generally considered a mother tongue. The Malay language courses have both a Malay (Special Programme) and a Higher Malay track for different degrees of advancement in the language. Students of Higher Malay language are able to cede two points off their O-level score (a lower number is considered better in total O-level scoring) as long as some other minimal requirements are fulfilled.
Sarawak
Although the official form of Malay, Bahasa Malaysia, is spoken by the government administration, it is used infrequently in colloquial conversation. The local dialect of "Bahasa Sarawak" (Sarawak Malay) dominates the vernacular. Bahasa Sarawak is the most common language of Sarawak Malays and other indigenous tribes. The Iban language, which has minor regional variations, is the most widely spoken native language, with 34 percent of the Sarawak population speaking it as a first language. The Bidayuh language, with six major dialects, is spoken by 10 percent of the population. The Orang Ulu have about 30 different language dialects. While the ethnic Chinese originate from a variety of backgrounds and speak many different dialects such as Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Fuzhou, and Teochew, they also converse in Malaysian Mandarin.
Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian languages
The Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian languages are a putative branch of the Austronesian family, proposed by Zobel (2002), that are thought to have dispersed from a possible homeland in Sulawesi. They are called "nuclear" because they are the conceptual core of the Malayo-Polynesian family, including both Malay and Polynesian. Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian is found throughout Indonesia (apart from central Borneo, Sabah, and the north of Sulawesi), and into Melanesia and the Pacific.
Malayisation
There is a sizeable Malay community in Sri Lanka, descended from soldiers, convicts, and political exiles brought from Dutch and British colonies of East Indies and Malaya. The Sri Lankan Creole Malay varieties spoken by the community, are currently endangered as they are no longer spoken by the younger generation. However, in recent years, there are efforts in sharpening the sense of Malay identity by promoting the usage of 'standard Malay' language. This move was ideologically favoured by the urban segment of the community as it enables them to feel linked to the larger Malay groups in Southeast Asia. The community's effort to teach standard Malay to its members is largely aided by the Malaysian government through its high commission in Colombo. The high commission conducted courses in standard Malay, exclusively for members of the Malay community, and those who fared best were trained as language teachers in Malaysia. They were then expected to teach 'standard' Malay to their respective communities in Sri Lanka. These initiatives were welcomed and appreciated by the community. The language programmes and trips to Malaysia were made possible through the offices of the "Gabungan Persatuan Penulis Nasional" (GAPENA - the Federation of National Writers' Association of Malaysia). The Malays of Sri Lanka are constantly wooed by the Malaysian government, which chose to conduct the second GAPENA conference in Colombo in 1985, arranges periodic visits by representatives of the Malaysian government to the Malay Club in Colombo where grants are given for various community projects, and finances occasional trips to Malaysia for members of the community to attend conferences and seminars at the expense of the Malaysian state. The Indonesian government, however, does not seem to have similar aggressive efforts through its embassy in Colombo. As a result, although the Sri Lankan Malays are predominantly of Indonesian origins (especially Javanese), an attempt by a Sri Lanka 'Indonesian' Organization to reconstitute them as 'Indonesians', was declined.
Filipinos of Malay descent
It is understood in Malaysia and Indonesia that Malays, as in the ethnic group, are those who speak Malay a native language. In Indonesia, Malay and Indonesian are regarded as two different languages. The Malay race, on the other hand, is not the same as the ethnic group, and simply refers to the Austronesian natives of Maritime Southeast Asia. Though the ethnic Malays are part of the bigger Malay Race.
History of the Malay language
During the first "Kongres Pemuda" of Indonesia held in 1926, in the "Sumpah Pemuda", Malay language was proclaimed as the unifying language for the nation of Indonesia. In 1945, the language which later renamed "Bahasa Indonesia" in 1928 became the national language as enshried in the constitution of an independent Indonesia. Later in 1957, Malay language was elevated to the status of national language for the independent Federation of Malaya (later reconstituted as Malaysia in 1963). Then in 1959, Malay language also received the status of national language in Brunei, although it only ceased to become a British protectorate in 1984. When Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965, Malay became the national language of the new republic and one of the four official languages. The emergence of these newly independent states paved the way for a broader and widespread use of Malay (or Indonesian) in government administration and education. Colleges and universities with Malay as their primary medium of instructions were introduced and bloomed as the prominent centres for researches and production of new intellectual writings in Malay. After East Timor independence, Indonesian language become one of the working languages.
Malay trade and creole languages
Baba Malay or Peranakan Malay, once a diverse group of pidgins, is spoken in Melaka but is now almost extinct. These are Malay varieties spoken by the Peranakan, descendants of Chinese settlers who have lived in Melaka since the 15th Century. Baba Malay is close to the trade pidgins which became creolised across the Malay Archipelago, producing the variety of Malay creoles seen today. A kind of Baba Malay, called Peranakan, is spoken among Chinese living in East Java. It is a mixture of Malay or Indonesian with local Javanese (East Javanese dialect) and Chinese elements (particularly Hokkien). This particular variety is found only in East Java, especially in Surabaya and surrounding areas. While other Chinese tend to speak the language varieties of the places in which they live (the Chinese of Central Java speak High or Standard Javanese in daily conversation even among themselves; in West Java, they tend to speak Sundanese), in Surabaya younger ethnic Chinese people tend to speak pure Javanese (Surabaya dialect) and learn Mandarin in courses.
Malaysians
Malaysia contains speakers of 137 living languages, 41 of which are found in Peninsula Malaysia. Malaysian, or Standard Malay, is the official language, while English is considered the de facto language for business. The Bumiputeras speak various Austronesian and Austroasiatic languages as well as smaller language families such as Tai-Kadai and Creoles. Chinese Malaysians predominantly speak varieties of Chinese from the southern provinces of China. The more common varieties in the country are Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainanese, and Fuzhou. Tamil is the predominant among Indian Malaysians, though languages like Telugu, Malayalam and Punjabi are also spoken.
History of the Malay language
The Indonesian language as the unifying language for Indonesia is relatively open to accommodate influences from other Indonesian ethnics' languages, most notably Javanese as the majority ethnic group in Indonesia, Dutch as the previous coloniser, and English as the international language. As a result, Indonesian has wider sources of loanwords, as compared to Malay used in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. It was suggested that the Indonesian language is an artificial language made official in 1928. By artificial it means that Indonesian was designed by academics rather than evolving naturally as most common languages have, to accommodate the political purpose of establishing an official unifying language of Indonesia. By borrowing heavily from numerous other languages it expresses a natural linguistic evolution; in fact, it is as natural as the next language, as demonstrated in its exceptional capacity for absorbing foreign vocabulary. This disparate evolution of Indonesian language led to a need for an institution that can facilitate co-ordination and co-operation in linguistic development among countries with Malay language as their national language. The first instance of linguistic co-operation was in 1959 between Malaya and Indonesia, and this was further strengthened in 1972 when MBIM (a short form for "Majlis Bahasa Indonesia-Malaysia" - Language Council of Indonesia-Malaysia) was formed. MBIM later grew into MABBIM ("Majlis Bahasa Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia" - Language Council of Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia) in 1985 with the inclusion of Brunei as a member and Singapore as a permanent observer. Other important institution is Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka established in 1956. It is a government body responsible for co-ordinating the use of the Malay language in Malaysia and Brunei.
Minangkabau people
The Minangkabau language is a member of the Austronesian language family, and is closest to the Malay language, though when the two languages split from a common ancestor and the precise historical relationship between Malay and Minangkabau culture is not known. Until the 20th century the majority of the Sumatran population lived in the highlands. The highlands are well suited for human habitation, with plentiful fresh water, fertile soil, a cool climate, and valuable commodities. It is probable that wet rice cultivation evolved in the Minangkabau Highlands long before it appeared in other parts of Sumatra, and predates significant foreign contact.
Pahang
The Malay language spoken in Pahang can be further divided into several varieties of Malay dialects. Pahang Malay is the most dominant Malay dialect spoken along the vast riverine systems of Pahang, but it co-exists with other Malay dialects traditionally spoken in the state. Along the coastline of Pahang, Terengganu Malay is spoken in a narrow strip of sometimes discontiguous fishermen villages and towns. Another dialect spoken in Tioman Island is a distinct Malay variant and most closely related to Riau Archipelago Malay subdialect spoken in Natuna and Anambas islands in the South China Sea, together forming a dialect continuum between the Bornean Malay with the Mainland Peninsular/Sumatran Malay. Kelantanese and Kedahan, along with other Malay dialects are also spoken by immigrants from other Malaysian states.
Sumatra
There are over 52 languages spoken, all of them (except Chinese and Tamil) belong to the Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian sub-branch of Malayo-Polynesian which in turn is a branch of the Austronesian language family. Within Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian, they were divided into several sub-branches that is Chamic (which are represented by Acehnese in which its closest relatives are languages spoken by Ethnic Chams in Cambodia and Vietnam), Malayic (Malay, Minangkabau and other closely related languages), Northwest Sumatran (Batak languages, Gayo and others), Lampungic (includes Proper Lampung and Komering) and Bornean (represented by Rejang in which its closest linguistic relatives are Bukar Sadong and Land Dayak spoken in West Kalimantan and Sarawak (Malaysia)). Northwest Sumatran and Lampungic branches are endemic to the island. Like all parts of Indonesia, Indonesian (which was based on Riau Malay) is the official language and the main Lingua franca. Although Sumatra has its own local Lingua franca, variants of Malay like Medan Malay and Palembang Malay are popular in North and South Sumatra, especially in urban areas. Minangkabau (Padang dialect) is popular in West Sumatra, some parts of North Sumatra, Bengkulu, Jambi and Riau (especially in Pekanbaru and areas bordered with West Sumatra) while Acehnese is also used as an inter-ethnic means of communication in some parts of Aceh province.
Indonesian language
Malaysian Malay claims to be closer to the classical Malay of earlier centuries, even though modern Malaysian has been heavily influenced, in lexicon as well as in syntax, by English. The question of whether High Malay (Court Malay) or Low Malay (Bazaar Malay) was the true parent of the Indonesian language is still in debate. High Malay was the official language used in the court of the Johor Sultanate and continued by the Dutch-administered territory of Riau-Lingga, while Low Malay was commonly used in marketplaces and ports of the archipelago. Some linguists have argued that it was the more common Low Malay that formed the base of the Indonesian language.
Languages of Malaysia
As with Malaysian youths of other ethnicities, most Chinese youth are multilingual and can speak at least three languages with at least moderate fluency - Mandarin, English, and Malay, as well as their Chinese regiolect and/or the dominant Chinese regiolect in their area. However, most Chinese regiolects are losing ground to Standard Chinese, due to the prestige of Standard Chinese and its status as language of instruction in school. Some parents speak exclusively in Putonghua/Guoyu/Hanyu/Huayu with their children. Some of the less-spoken regiolects, such as Hainanese, are facing extinction.
Comparison of Standard Malay and Indonesian
In Malaysia, the terms "Indonesian Malay" and "Malaysian Malay" are sometimes used for Indonesian and Malaysian as spoken in Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Indonesian Malay" usually refers to the vernacular varieties of Malay spoken by the Malay peoples of Indonesia, that is, to Malay as a regional language in Sumatra, though it is rarely used. "Bahasa Malaysia" and "Bahasa Melayu" are used interchangeably in reference to Malay in Malaysia.
Jakun people
Jakuns speak Jakun language, a Malayic language of the Malayo-Polynesian languages group, closely related to Malay. Perhaps it should be considered as one of the archaic dialects of the Malay language. It does not have its own written language, is gradually replaced by Malay and is under threat of disappearance.
Malaysian Chinese
Those who attend Malay-language national schools are Malay-educated and have the highest proficiency in the Malay language of all three groups after 11 years of Malay language education. Those who attend Malay national schools speak very little Mandarin Chinese though most are able to converse in other varieties of Chinese such as Hokkien and Cantonese at the elementary level and not proficiently.
Demographics of Malaysia
Citizens of Minangkabau, Bugis or Javanese origins, who can be classified "Malay" under constitutional definitions may also speak their respective ancestral tongues. The native tribes of East Malaysia have their own languages which are related to, but easily distinguishable from, Malay. The Iban is the main tribal language in Sarawak while Dusunic languages are spoken by the natives in Sabah. A variant of the Malay language that is spoken in Brunei is also commonly spoken in both states.
Malay trade and creole languages
Bazaar Malay is used in a limited extent in Singapore and Malaysia, mostly used among the older generation or people with no working knowledge of English. The most important reason that contributed to the decline of Bazaar Malay is that pidgin Malay has creolised and created several new languages.Another reason is due to language shift in both formal and informal contexts, Bazaar Malay is gradually being replaced by English, with English being the lingua franca among the younger generations.
Malayic languages
The Malayic languages are a branch of the Austronesian family. They include Malay, the national language of Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia; Minangkabau in central Sumatra; and Iban in northern Borneo.
Peranakan
Members of this community in Malaysia address themselves as "Baba Nyonya". "Nyonya" is the term for the women and "Baba" for the men. It applies especially to the Han populations of the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java and other locations, who have adopted Nusantara customs—partially or in full—to be somewhat assimilated into the local communities. Many were the elites of Singapore, more loyal to the British than to China. Most have lived for generations along the straits of Malacca. They were usually traders, the middleman of the British and the Chinese, or the Chinese and Malays, or vice versa because they were mostly English educated. Because of this, they almost always had the ability to speak two or more languages.
Sasak language
Austronesian linguist K. Alexander Adelaar classified Sasak as one of the Malayo-Sumbawan languages group (a group he first identified) of the western Malayo-Polynesian family in a 2005 paper. Sasak's closest sister language is Sumbawa and, with Balinese, they form the Balinese-Sasak-Sumbawa (BSS) subgroup. BSS, Malayic (which includes Malay, Indonesian and Minangkabau) and Chamic (which includes Acehnese) form one branch of the Malayo-Sumbawan group. The two other branches are Sundanese and Madurese. This classification puts Javanese, previously thought to belong to the same group, outside the Malayo-Sumbawan group in a different branch of the western Malayo-Polynesian family.
Malayan languages
The extent to which Malay and related Malayan languages are used in the countries where it is spoken varies depending on historical and cultural circumstances. Malay is the national language in Malaysia by Article 152 of the Constitution of Malaysia, and became the sole official language in West Malaysia in 1968, and in East Malaysia gradually from 1974. English continues, however, to be widely used in professional and commercial fields and in the superior courts. Other minority languages are also commonly used by the country's large ethnic minorities. The situation in Brunei is similar to that of Malaysia.
Malays (ethnic group)
Srivijaya's influence spread over all the coastal areas of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, western Java and western Borneo, as well as the rest of the Malay Archipelago. Enjoying both Indian and Chinese patronage, its wealth was gained mostly through trade. At its height, the Old Malay language was used as its official language and became the lingua franca of the region, replacing Sanskrit, the language of Hinduism. The Srivijayan era is considered the golden age of Malay culture.
Austronesian hypothesis
The Austronesian languages is a language family that is widely dispersed throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, Madagascar, most of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, and continental Asia. It is one of the world’s largest and primary language families. The Austronesian language used to be called the Malayo-Polynesian language family. These languages are spoken in many Indonesian islands; including all of the Philippines, Madagascar, and most of the islands of the Central and South Pacific, Malaysia, parts of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Taiwan. This language family is so unique because it has one of the world’s largest geographic spreads, comprising about one-fifth of the world’s languages.
Helong language
Helong is an Austronesian language, a group of languages spoken in Polynesia, an area north of Australia. Helong belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of Austronesian languages, placing it among languages totaling over 385 million speakers Helong shares its repetition of words in other words like "dua~dua" (English: pair) with the nuclear Malayo-Polynesian languages. Some languages in this family include Hawaiian, Samoan, Tahitian, and Fijian. The Endangered Languages Project has classified Helong as "vulnerable", based on the most recent data from 1997. The largest threat to Helong is a dialect of Malay spoken in Kupang, called Kupang Malay, as the native Helong speakers often visit Kupang, and use that dialect when there.
Kelantan-Pattani Malay
The language is often referred to in Thai as "Phasa Yawi" (Thai: ภาษายาวี ), which is a corruption of the Malay name for the modified Arabic alphabet for writing Malay, Jawi (Yawi: جاوي, Rumi: Jawi, ). It is also referred to in Thai as "Phasa Malayu Pattani" (Thai: ภาษามลายูปัตตานี ) and similarly locally in Malay as "Bahasa Malayu Patani" (Jawi: بهاس ملايو ڤطاني, Rumi: Bahasa Melayu Patani, ). The language is often simply just called "Bahasa Patani".
Kelantanese is known in Standard Malay as , and in Kelantanese as "Baso Kelaté". It is also known as "Baso Besut" or " Kecek Kelaté-Besut" in Besut and Setiu of Terengganu State.
Other variant of Kelantan-Patani Language is Reman variant and also known as "Bahasa Reman" (according to area of these speakers and spoken areas were under Reman state of "Pattani Kingdom that abolished in 1909" in which areas of Batu Kurau, inland Perak (Gerik, Pengkalan Hulu, Lenggong) and inland Kedah (Sik, Baling, Padang Terap). The Reman viarants are known in various names such as "Bahasa Patani", "Bahasa Patani Kedah-Perak", "Basa Grik", "Cakak Hulu", "Basa Kapong", "Basa Baling" etc. It is also known as """Dialect of Kedah Hulu"" (for those in Kedah) and ""Dialect of Perak Hulu"" (for those in Perak) but these two terms are only apply for political and geographical rather than linguistically. This Reman variant has many dialects and subdialects across the areas this variant spoken.
Malay trade and creole languages
There are currently fewer 1,000 Baba Malay speakers in Melaka, and fewer than 1,000 Baba Malay speakers in Singapore. Baba Malay is mostly spoken among the older populations.
Singapore
Malay was chosen as a national language by the Singaporean government after independence from Britain in the 1960s to avoid friction with Singapore's Malay-speaking neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia. It has a symbolic, rather than functional purpose. It is used in the national anthem "Majulah Singapura", in citations of Singaporean orders and decorations, and in military commands. In general, Malay is spoken mainly within the Singaporean Malay community, with only 17% of all Singaporeans literate in
it and only 12% using it as their native language. While Singaporean Malay is officially written in the Latin-based Rumi script, some Singaporean Malays still learn the Arabic-based Jawi script as children alongside Rumi, and Jawi is considered an ethnic script for use on Singaporean Identity Cards.