Malay languages

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Malay
Geographic distribution:	South East Asia
Genetic classification:	Austronesian  Malayo-Polynesian (MP)   Nuclear MP    Malayo-Sumbawan     Malayic      Malayan       Malay
Subdivisions:

The Malay languages are a group of closely related languages that developed from Malay outposts across Malaysia and Indonesia. They include Malay proper (Malaysian and Indonesian), Bacanese Malay, Bengkulu, Berau Malay, Cocos Islands Malay, Jambi Malay, Kedah Malay, Kota Bangun Kutai Malay, Loncong, Pattani Malay, Kelantanese Malay, Sabah Malay, Terengganese Malay, Tenggarong Kutai Malay, and Kedayan/Bukit Malay (Brunei Malay, quite divergent from standard Malay).

[edit] History

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. Bahasa Melayu 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.

In Singapore, Malay was historically the lingua franca among people of different nationalities. Although this has largely given way to English, Malay still retains the status of national language and the national anthem, Majulah Singapura, is entirely in Malay. In addition, parade commands in the military, police and civil defence are given only in Malay.

Most residents of the five southernmost provinces of Thailand — a region that, for the most part, used to be part of an ancient Malay kingdom called Pattani — speak a dialect of Malay called Yawi (not to be confused with Jawi), which is similar to Kelantanese Malay, but the language has no official status or recognition.

Owing to earlier contact with the Philippines, Malay words — such as dalam hati (sympathy), luwalhati (glory), tengah hari (midday), sedap (delicious) — have evolved and been integrated into Tagalog and other Philippine languages.

By contrast, Indonesian has successfully become the lingua franca for its disparate islands and ethnic groups, in part because the colonial language, Dutch, is no longer commonly spoken. (In East Timor, which was governed as a province of Indonesia from 1976 to 1999, Indonesian is widely spoken and recognized under its Constitution as a 'working language'.)

Besides Indonesian, which developed from the Riau dialect, there are many Malay dialects spoken in Indonesia [1], divided into western and eastern groups. Western Malay is predominantly spoken in Sumatra, and known as Sumatran dialects, such as: Riau, Langkat, Palembang and Jambi. Minangkabau and Bengkulu are believed to be Sumatran Malay descendants. Meanwhile Jakarta dialect (known as Betawi) also belongs to the western Malay group.

The eastern dialects are spoken in the easternmost part of the Indonesian archipelago and include: Manado dialect [2] (in north Sulawesi) and Maluku, North Maluku and Papua dialects.

The differences among both groups are quite observable. For example the word 'kita' means "we, us" in western, but means "I, me" in Manado, whereas "we, us" in Manado is 'torang' and Ambon 'katong' (originally abbreviated from Malay 'kita orang' (means "we people"). Another difference is the lack of possessive pronouns (and suffixes) in eastern dialects. Manado uses the verb 'pe' and Ambon 'pu' (from Malay 'punya', meaning "to have") to mark possession. So "my name" and "our house" are translated in western Malay as 'namaku' and 'rumah kita' but 'kita pe nama' and 'torang pe rumah' in Manado and 'beta pu nama', 'katong pu rumah' in Ambon dialect.

The pronunciation may vary in western dialects, especially the pronunciation of words ending in the vowel 'a'. For example Malaysian pronounce 'kita' as /kitə/, Riau /kita/, Palembang /kito/ and Betawi as /kitɛ/.

Betawi and eastern dialects are sometimes regarded as Malay creole, because the speakers are not ethnically Malay.

[edit] Comparison of Malay varieties

A comparison of various varieties of Malay, plus three Para-Malay languages:

English = Where are you going on the bicycle? May I go with you?

Language	Sentence	Spoken In
Malay Languages
Standard Malayan Malay (formal)	Ke mana kamu mahu pergi dengan basikal itu? Bolehkah saya ikut?	Malaysia
Standard Indonesian Malay (formal)	Ke mana kamu mau pergi dengan sepeda itu? Bisakah/bisa saya ikut?	Indonesia
Indonesian (informal)	Lu mau naik sepeda ke mana? Boleh ikut nggak?	Jakarta (Indonesia)
Singapore Malay	Ke mana awak hendak pergi dengan basikal itu? Boleh saya ikut?	Singapore
Johor/Kuala Lumpur dialect	Kau nak pergi ke mane dengan basikal itu? Boleh saye ikut?	Central and Southern States of Peninsular Malaysia including Pahang and Southern Perak
Bengkulu	Kau ndak pergi mano kek sepedo tu? Bulih ikuik idak?	Bengkulu (Indonesia)
Jambi	Kanti mau pergi ke mano dengan sepeda tu? Biso ikut dak?	Jambi (Indonesia)
Palembang	Kau nak pergi ke mano ngan sepedo tu? Pacak melok dak?	South Sumatra (Indonesia)
Terengganu dialect	Mung nok gi mane naik basikal? Buleh ikut?	Terengganu (Malaysia)
Kelantan dialect	Demo nok gi mano naik basika tuh? Buleh kawe turuk?	Kelantan (Malaysia), Eastern part of Southern Thailand
Perak dialect	Mike nak ke mane naik sika tu? Teman nak ngekor buleh?	Perak (Malaysia)
Penang dialect	Hang nak pi mana naik basikal tu? Aku ikut boleh tak?	Penang and Northern Perak (Malaysia)
Kedah dialect	Hang nak pi mana naik gerek tu? Aku ikut buleh dak?	Northern States of Peninsular Malaysia, Western part of Southern Thailand
Brunei Malay	Kamana kau babasikal ah? Bulih ku ikut?	Brunei Darussalam
Sarawak Malay	Ke sine kitak maok make basikal? Boleh sik kamik ngekot?	Sarawak (Malaysia)
Sabah Malay	Mana ko mo pigi sama itu beskal? Buli sia ikut ka?	Sabah and Labuan (Malaysia)
Para-Malay languages
Minangkabau	Kau andak pai kama jo kareto angin tu? Buliah ikuik indak?	West Sumatra (Indonesia), Negeri Sembilan (Malaysia)
Negeri Sembilan	Ekau nak poie mano naik basikal tu? Boleh den ikut?	Negeri Sembilan (Malaysia)
Rawa	Kao nak poie mano nek basika to? Buleh ikoiyt ko indo?	Gopeng (Malaysia)