Malay language

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Not to be confused with the Malayalam language, spoken in Kerala, India.

{{language |name=Malay |nativename=Bahasa Melayu, بهاس ملايو |familycolor=Austronesian |states=Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, southern Thailand, southern Philippines, adjacent parts of Indonesia |region=Southeast Asia |speakers=20–30 million |rank=54 |fam2=Malayo-Polynesian (MP) |fam3=Nuclear MP |fam4=Sunda-Sulawesi |fam5=Malayic |fam6=Malayan |fam7=Local Malay |nation=Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore |agency=Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Institute of Language and Literature) |iso1=ms|iso2b=may|iso2t=msa |lc1=msa|ld1=Malay (generic)|ll1=none |lc2=mly|ld2=Malay (specific)|ll2=none |lc3=btj|ld3=Bacanese Malay |lc4=bve|ld4=Berau Malay |lc5=bvu|ld5=Bukit Malay |lc6=coa|ld6=Cocos Islands Malay |lc7=jax|ld7=Jambi Malay |lc8=meo|ld8=Kedah Malay |lc9=mqg|ld9=Kota Bangun Kutai Malay |lc10=xmm|ld10=Manado Malay |lc11=max|ld11=North Moluccan Malay |lc12=mfa|ld12=Pattani Malay |lc13=msi|ld13=Sabah Malay |lc14=vkt|ld14=Tenggarong Kutai Malay}}

The Malay language, also known locally as Bahasa Melayu, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who reside in the Malay peninsula, southern Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands, and parts of the coast of Borneo. It is an official language of Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. It is also used as a working language in East Timor. It is very similar to (and mutually intelligible with) Bahasa Indonesia, the official language of Indonesia, but differentiated in name for political reasons. The official standard for Malay, as agreed upon by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, is Bahasa Baku, the language of the Riau Islands, long considered the birthplace of the Malay language.

In Malaysia, the language is known as Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Malaysia, which means the Malay, or Malaysian, language. The latter term, which was introduced by the National Language Act 1967, was predominant until the 1990s, when most academics and government officials reverted to the older term, which is used in the Malay version of the Federal Constitution. Indonesia adopted a form of Malay as its official language upon independence, naming it Bahasa Indonesia. In Singapore and Brunei it is known simply as Malay or Bahasa Melayu. The reason for adopting these terms is political rather than a reflection of linguistic distinctiveness, as standard Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia are mutually intelligible. However, many Malay dialects are not as mutually intelligible: for example, Kelantanese pronunciation is difficult even for some Malaysians to understand, while Javanese Malay tends to have a lot of words unique to it which will be unfamiliar to other speakers of Malay. The language spoken by the Peranakan (Straits Chinese, a hybrid of Chinese settlers from the Ming Dynasty and local Malays) is a unique patois of Malay and the Chinese dialect of Hokkien, which is mostly spoken in the former Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. The use of this interesting language is dying out, however, with the Peranakan now choosing to speak either Hokkien or English. A significant number of Malay words were borrowed from Sanskrit, Tamil and Arabic langguages. This is due to the fact that the disputed "Father of Modern Malay", Munshi Abdullah, was a Tamil Muslim and was fluent in all those three languages.

Malay is normally written using the Roman alphabet, although a modified Arabic script called Jawi also exists. It is an agglutinative language, meaning that the meaning of the word can be changed by adding the necessary prefixes or suffixes. Root words are either nouns or verbs, e.g. masak (to cook) yields memasak (cooks, is cooking, etc.), memasakkan (cooks, is cooking for etc.), dimasak (cooked - passive) as well as pemasak (cook - person), masakan (cooking, cookery). Many initial consonants undergo mutation when prefixes are added: e.g. sapu (sweep) becomes penyapu (broom); panggil (to call) becomes memanggil (calls, is calling, etc.), tapis (sieve) becomes menapis (sieves, is sieving, etc.)

Another distinguishing feature of Malay is its use of measure words (penjodoh bilangan).

Extent of use

The extent to which Malay is used in these countries varies depending on historical and cultural circumstances. Bahasa Melayu is the national language in Malaysia by article 152 of the Malaysian Constitution, and became the sole official language in West Malaysia in 1968, and in East Malaysia gradually from 1973. English continues, however, to be widely used in professional and commercial fields and in the superior courts. Chinese, Indian and 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 races and 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. 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.

By contrast, Bahasa Indonesia 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, Bahasa Indonesia is widely spoken and recognised under its Constitution as a 'working language'.)

Malaysians are easily identified due to the fact that they change their speaking styles in accordance with the person being spoken to. They may adopt a completely different set of slangs and accents when speaking to someone of a different race, or of a similar race. This is not, however, a form of discrimination -- it is considered casual and endearing.

Phonology

Consonants				Vowels & diphthongs
Letter	English Approximation	IPA		Letter	English Approximation	IPA
b	b	[[[Template:IPA]]]		a	ah	[[[Template:IPA]], Template:IPA]
c	ch	[[[Template:IPA]]]		e	eh	[[[Template:IPA]], Template:IPA], [[[Template:IPA]]]
d	d	[[[Template:IPA]]]		i	ee	[[[Template:IPA]]]
dz	th, dh	[[[Template:IPA]]]		o	oh	[[[Template:IPA]], Template:IPA]
f	f	[[[Template:IPA]]]		u	oo	[[[Template:IPA]]]
g	hard g (as in go)	[[[Template:IPA]]]
h	h	[[[Template:IPA]]]		ai	bye	[[[Template:IPA]], Template:IPA]
j	j	[[[Template:IPA]]]		au	bough	[[[Template:IPA]], Template:IPA]
'k	k	[[[Template:IPA]]]		ua