Kristang language

Papia Kristang or Kristang is a creole language spoken by the Kristang, a community of people of mixed Portuguese and indigenous Malay ancestry, chiefly in Malaysia, Singapore and Perth, Western Australia.
In Malacca, the language is also called Cristão, Portugues di Melaka, Linggu Mai, or simply Papia. In Singapore, it is generally known as Kristang, where it is undergoing sustained revitalisation.
In Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger published by UNESCO, Kristang is classified as a "severely endangered" language, with only about 2,000 speakers. Up to 2014, linguists concerned with Kristang have generally accepted a combined speaker population of about 1,000 individuals or less. The language has about 750 speakers in Malacca. A small number of speakers also live in other Portuguese Eurasian communities in Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, and in other diaspora communities in Canada, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere.

Etymology

Its endonym Papia Kristang is taken from Portuguese papear cristão. The papia element of the name is cognate with Papiamento, another Portuguese-based creole spoken in the Dutch West Indies.

History

Origins

The Kristang language originated after the conquest of Malacca in 1511 by the Portuguese Empire. Until a takeover by the Dutch in 1642, Malacca served as one of the key ports in the trade and administration network of Portuguese establishments along with Goa and Hormuz, allowing Portugal control over main Asiatic trade routes. The lingua franca of Malacca then was a pidginised form of Malay known as Bazaar Malay or Melayu Pasar, used amongst the resident foreign population which then consisted mainly of Javanese, Tamils and Hokkien Chinese. The constant traffic of Portuguese and traders of other origins such as India eventually gave birth to Papia Kristang, one of many Portuguese-derived contact languages which resulted from Portuguese colonial expansion during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A pidgin Portuguese preceding the Kristang creole has also been proposed, whereby a reduced system based on Portuguese converges with other languages present in the contact situation.
The community of Kristang speakers descends mainly from interracial relationships between Portuguese men and local women, as well as a number of migrants from Portuguese India, themselves of mixed Indo-Portuguese ancestry. This was supported by Portuguese officials who advocated mixed marriages in the face of a labour shortage in the colonies, leading to the very first native speakers of Kristang as well as the development of the creole.
Even after Portugal lost Malacca and almost all contact in 1641, the Kristang community largely preserved its language. The demographics of Malacca in the mid-17th century was still predominantly made up of the Portuguese even under Dutch control. The Irmang di Greza, a manifestation of the bond between language and religion in the Kristang culture, acted as an intermediary between the priest and the remnants of the Portuguese population despite prohibition by the Dutch. Liturgy and pastoral sessions were conducted in Kristang in Malacca, which contributed to the longevity of the language into a period as late as the 20th century.
Kristang also had a substantial influence on Macanese, the creole language spoken in Macau, due to substantial migration from Malacca after its conquest by the Dutch.

Attrition of Kristang

The ceding of Malacca by the Dutch to the British via the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 directly caused the decline of the Kristang language. By the mid 19th century, many Kristangs flocked towards clerical and auxiliary positions provided by their new colonial masters. As such, the Kristang language saw a decline in use compared to English. In addition, the rising affluence of the region meant more job opportunities, resulting in many Kristangs moving away from Malacca. Moreover, the language is not taught at school, although there are still some Church services in Kristang.
In the context of Singapore, Kristang arrived in the 1820s due to the large influx of Eurasian immigrants from Malacca. However, there was little exposure and recognition of Kristang in Singapore, especially when English became entrenched as the sole language of education and the major language used in most spheres of society after the country gained independence in 1965. As a result, the intergenerational transmission of Kristang ceased almost completely.
The upkeep of Kristang can largely be attributed to its connection with the dominant religion of the Portuguese and their relative social standing in their communities between the 1600s to the late 1800s. The core Kristang-speaking communities gradually eroded due to better socioeconomic opportunities elsewhere. Post-World War Two, the new generation of Catholic priests that arrived to replace the pre-war priests who had been executed demonstrated little sensitivity towards the Kristang language and culture. Eventually, the bond between Kristang and religion was severed due to the association of the Portuguese Mission with the St Xavier's Church.
Migration overseas and intermarriage with other nationalities have also led to Kristang speakers leaving the Portuguese Settlement in order to live and work in other parts of Malaysia. Furthermore, the dominantly Kristang-speaking middle-class gradually began to speak English for practical reasons, altering the prestige of English with regards to Kristang. To many in the community, they grew to accept that speaking English was a key to employment instead of Kristang, facilitating a breakdown in the transmission of Kristang.

Revitalisation efforts

Papia Kristang is facing a steep decline in language use within the community. There has been an apparent language shift to English and Bahasa Malaysia due to the reduced prestige and accessibility of Kristang. However, revitalization efforts have begun in recent years in both the Portuguese Settlement in Singapore and Malacca. Such efforts have seen some success, nearly tripling the number of Kristang speakers of varying fluency.

Malacca

The Kristang-speaking community located at the Portuguese Settlement, or Padri sa Chang was able to undertake more sustained revitalisation efforts and publicise itself to non-Eurasian Malaysians, and the language. Notably with texts, stories and phrasebooks in Kristang produced by Joan Margaret Marbeck and through investments and interest from individuals and organisations outside the community. Joan Marbeck has produced three publications: Ungu Adanza, Linggu Mai and the Kristang Phrasebook. She is also credited with writing probably the only play in Kristang, called Seng Marianne and was also instrumental in staging a musical in Kristang – Kazamintu no Praiya which translates to 'Wedding on the beach'. Support was also received from the Lisbon-based Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which funded and published Marbeck's Kristang text.
Within the community, there were efforts made together with the help of academics to promote their culture and the Kristang language. In 1988, Alan Baxter published A Grammar of Kristang based on his fieldwork within the community. This was the first book which focused on the descriptive grammar of Kristang and established many core concept on Kristang linguistics. It also had a significant impact on many later studies on Kristang.

Vocabulary

The Kristang lexicon borrows heavily from Portuguese, but often with drastic truncation. Due to its largely Portuguese vocabulary, the Kristang lexicon has much in common with other Portuguese-based creoles, including the near-extinct creoles of Indonesia and East Timor. As it is primarily a creole, much of its vocabulary is also derived from Chinese, Indian and Malay languages to varying degrees.

Meaning	Kristang	Origin Word	Origin Word Language
shrimp paste	blacan	belacan	Malay
walking stick	tongkah	tongkat	Malay
hoe	changkol	cangkul	Malay
jellyfish	ampeh	ampai	Malay
loincloth	kachu	katchu	Tamil
lime	churutu	சுருட்டு curuṭṭu	Tamil
grandfather	tata	தாத்தா tāttā	Tamil
spatula	chengsi	煎匙 tsian-sî	Hokkien
lantern	aloleng	leng tsu	Hokkien
open-air restaurant	kolau	kou lau	Cantonese
convent	konventu	convento	Portuguese
hospital	ospital	hospital	Portuguese
toilet	kakus	kakhuis	Dutch
tombstone	kelda	kelder	Dutch

Metathesis was common in the derivation of the Kristang lexicon from Portuguese root words.
e.g.

Portuguese gordo → Kristang godru "fat"
Orthography

Polynomy

Kristang is a polynomic language, where standardisation of the language's spoken and written forms is dispreferred and the natural morphophonological and orthographic variation that Kristang developed as a result of its history and sociocultural context is preferred. This variation is usually concentrated around "famililects" spoken by families rather than geographical dialects, with Kristang famililects generally being categorisable into three distinct forms:
;1. A system based on Portuguese orthography
;2. A system based on a mixture of Portuguese, English and Malay
;3. A system based on Malay orthography