Bangka Malay
Bangka or Bangka Malay, is a Malayic language spoken in Indonesia, specifically on the island of Bangka in the Bangka Belitung Islands of Sumatra. It is primarily spoken by the native Malay people of Bangka, as well as by immigrants from other parts of Indonesia and the Bangka Chinese, who use it as their second language in addition to their native Hakka. Bangka Malay is spoken exclusively on the island of Bangka, although it is related to Palembang Malay and Belitung Malay spoken on neighboring islands. There are five different dialects of Bangka Malay: the Pangkalpinang dialect, Mentok dialect, Belinyu dialect, Sungailiat dialect, and Toboali dialect. Each of these dialects has its own subdialects. Additionally, the Bangka Chinese community speaks their own dialect of Bangka Malay, which is influenced by Hakka. The differences between each of these dialects are mostly lies in their phonology and morphology, except for the Bangka Cina dialect, which also has slight differences in vocabulary.
In Bangka, Bangka Malay serves as the lingua franca among the island's diverse ethnic groups. It has been influenced by Palembang Malay, owing to Bangka's historical association with the Palembang Sultanate, as well as by Hakka, introduced by Chinese migrants, and standard Indonesian, the national language of Indonesia. Bangka Malay exhibits notable phonological and lexical differences from standard Indonesian and other Malay dialects, while its morphological structures generally remain identical, facilitating mutual intelligibility. It incorporates distinctive vocabulary that distinguishes it from both standard Indonesian and other dialects.
Classification
Bangka Malay is a Malayic language. Speakers of Malayic language are spread from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Southern Thailand, to the southernmost part of the Philippines. Malay is a member of the Austronesian family of languages, which includes languages from Taiwan, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia. Malagasy, a geographic outlier spoken in Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, is also a member of this language family. Although these languages are not necessarily mutually intelligible to any extent, their similarities are often quite apparent. In more conservative languages like Malay, many roots have come with relatively little change from their common ancestor, Proto-Austronesian language. There are many cognates found in the languages' words for kinship, health, body parts and common animals. Numbers, especially, show remarkable similarities.Bangka Malay is closely related to other Malay dialects like Palembang Malay and Belitung Malay spoken on nearby islands, but closer to Loncong Malay spoken by nomadic sea gypsies from Belitung. However, Bangka Malay has its own distinct features in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation that set it apart from standard Indonesian and other Malay varieties.
Geographic distribution and usage
Bangka Malay is exclusively spoken on Bangka and its surrounding islands, as well as by the Bangka diaspora living in other parts of Indonesia. However, Bangka Malay is not the only language spoken on the island. The Chinese community in Bangka, who migrated from Guangdong due to the booming tin mining industry in the 19th century, primarily speak Hakka or Mandarin, though many also speak Bangka Malay as a second language. On the other hand, the Orang Laut, sea nomads inhabiting the coastal regions of Bangka and the surrounding islands, speak a distinct variety of Malay known as Loncong or Sekak. Additionally, due to transmigration policies enacted during the Dutch colonial era and continuing through the New Order, many immigrants from Java and other parts of Indonesia have settled in Bangka, bringing their own languages and cultures with them.Like other regional languages in Indonesia, Bangka Malay serves as an important and effective means of communication, especially within family settings, among peers, and in informal gatherings. In formal settings such as wedding parties, ceremonies, public meetings, and sermons in mosques or prayer rooms, people in Bangka almost always use Indonesian, sometimes mixed with Bangka Malay. Indonesian is also used in government offices, schools, and official ceremonies. While the language of instruction in schools is Indonesian, in the early grades of elementary school, teachers who are native to Bangka often use Bangka Malay to present lessons. In markets, Bangka Malay is generally used among Bangka people, while code-mixing with other regional languages, such as Palembang Malay, is common among people from outside Bangka. Additionally, with the growing influence of Indonesian as the national language, Bangka people are increasingly code-switching and code-mixing between Bangka Malay and Indonesian.
Bangka Malay holds a prestigious position among its speakers. This becomes apparent when students, university students, or officials returning from assignments outside Bangka converse with local elders or community leaders—they typically opt for Bangka Malay over Indonesian. This choice of language conveys a deeper respect to the elders and community leaders compared to using Indonesian. In fact, speaking Indonesian in such contexts after returning from outside Bangka can be seen as disrespectful.
Dialects
There are five recognized dialects of Bangka Malay, namely Mentok, Belinyu, Sungailiat, Pangkalpinang, and Toboali, each corresponding to administrative units in Bangka. The Mentok dialect is often referred to as the West Bangka dialect, the Belinyu dialect as the North Bangka dialect, and the Toboali dialect as the South Bangka dialect. Meanwhile, the Sungailiat and Pangkalpinang dialects are collectively known as the Central Bangka dialect. In addition, the Chinese community in Bangka speaks a distinct dialect of Bangka Malay infused with Hakka influences. Each of these dialects consists of several sub-dialects, which may differ from one district or village to another. Most of the differences among these dialects primarily lie in phonology and morphology, with vocabulary differences being relatively minor. For example, the Belinyu dialect shows significant phonological influence from Palembang Malay, where words that typically end with in standard Malay and Indonesian change to , such as apa 'what' becoming apo, kita 'we' becoming kito, and tiga 'three' becoming tigo. The Belinyu dialect also shares similar pronouns with Palembang Malay, such as kamek 'we '. Additionally, due to its interaction with Palembang Malay, the Belinyu dialect has adopted words from Javanese, including wong 'people' and lanang 'male'. Other Bangka Malay dialects, on the other hand, exhibit similarities with the Malay dialect spoken in Riau and Peninsular Malaysia, where words that typically end with change to , such as apa 'what' becoming ape, rasa 'taste' becoming rase, and so on.There are some lexical differences among different dialects, but they are limited, and each dialect is mostly mutually intelligible with the others. Below are examples of lexical differences in Bangka Malay across various dialects:
| Standard Indonesian | West Bangka | North Bangka | South Bangka | Central Bangka |
| hidup 'to live' | idup | idup | idup | idup |
| orang 'people' | orang | urang, wong | urong, urun | uran |
| kami 'we ' | kami | kamek | kami | kami |
| rumah 'house' | romah | ruma | ruma | rumah |
| pergi 'to go' | pegi | gi | gi | gi |
| tidur 'to sleep' | tidok | tiduk | tiduk | tiduk |
| anak 'kid' | budak | budak | berik | anak |
| semua 'all' | semue | semuo | hamue | gale, segale |
The Bangka Cina dialect, spoken by the Chinese community in Bangka, incorporates loanwords from Hakka. For example, amoi 'Chinese girls', which is derived from the Hakka word â-moi, cion 'beautiful', which is derived from the Hakka word chiâng, and hoklo 'rich person', which is derived from the Hakka word ho̍k-ló.
Phonology
Bangka Malay, like many other regional languages in Indonesia, lacks a standardized phonological system. Each dialect may also have unique phonological features not found in other dialects. Nevertheless, the phonological system of most Bangka Malay dialects is largely based on standard Indonesian orthography.Vowels
Like Indonesian, all Bangka Malay dialects have the same number of vowels, possessing six phonemic vowels: i, ə, e, a, o, and u.| Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | |||
| Mid | |||
| Open |
Notes:
- In writing, and are both represented as.
- Final in Baku Malay/Indonesian correspond to in Bangka Malay, so Baku Malay/Indonesian ada "to have" corresponds to Bangka Malay ade.
- Baku Malay/Indonesian and in closed syllables correspond to lower and in Bangka Malay, so Baku Malay/Indonesian pasir "sand" and taruh "to place" correspond to Bangka Malay paser and tarok.
- Unlike almost all other Malayic languages, Bangka preserves Proto-Malayic *ə in final closed syllables. This feature is also shared by Betawi and the Palembang Lama dialect, considered within a relic area.