Malaysian Malay


Malaysian Malay or Malaysian endonymically known as Standard Malay or simply Malay is a standardized form of the Malay language used in Malaysia and also used in Singapore and Brunei. Malaysian Malay is standardized from the Johor–Riau dialect of Malay, particularly a branch spoken in the state of Johor south of the Malay Peninsula. It is spoken by much of the Malaysian population, although most learn a vernacular Malay dialect or another native language first.

Terminology

In Malaysia

of Malaysia's Constitution as drafted in 1957 merely mentions "Malay" as the designation of its "national language" without any further definition, but the term bahasa Malaysia is used in official contexts from time to time. The latter term was endorsed by Tunku Abdul Rahman during his premiership.
The exact wording of either names above can be politically contentious. Between 1986 during Mahathir Mohamad's tenure and 2007, the term bahasa Malaysia was replaced by "bahasa Melayu"; even in 1999 the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka rejected the publication of some short stories as the preface to the publication used the term bahasa Malaysia instead of bahasa Melayu. In 2007, to recognize that Malaysia is composed of many ethnic groups, the term bahasa Malaysia became the government's preferred designation for the national language. The Ministry of Education's official communications used bahasa Malaysia from 2011 to 2015 but has preferred bahasa Melayu in its syllabi as of 2023.

Other countries

In Singapore, "the Malay language" in the "Roman script" is afforded the status of national language in part 13 of its constitution's general provisions. The term bahasa Melayu is used continuously in Singapore's educational literature and is considered to be identical to Malaysian Malay.
The national standard variety of Malay employed in formal communications of Brunei dubbed "Standard Brunei Malay" is observed to largely follow the Malaysian standard; the main differences being minor variation in pronunciation and some lexical influence from Brunei Malay, the local non-standard vernacular variety of Malay.

Writing system

The Latin alphabet, known in Malay as Rumi, is prescribed by law as the official script of Malaysian Malay, and the Arabic alphabet called Jawi is not legally prescribed for that purpose. Rumi is official while efforts are currently being undertaken to preserve the Jawi script and to revive its use in Malaysia. The Latin alphabet, however, is still the most commonly used script in Malaysia, for both official and informal purposes.

Borrowed words

While literary Malay throughout the region has mostly absorbed from Sanskrit, Tamil, Hindustani, Arabic, Persian, Portuguese and Sinitic languages; the variety spoken within British colonies that eventually make up Malaysia following the 1824 Anglo-Dutch Treaty borrowed majorly from English compared to Dutch as spread within the East Indies.
Since Malayan independence and later Federation formation, its own Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka followed a purist approach in lexicography away from Western loanwords as well as neologizing from native roots. In recent years, Malaysian has also been influenced lexically by the Indonesian variety largely through the popularity of neighbouring mass media like dramas, soap operas, and musicakin to the effect of American media towards other Englishes like those of Britain and Australia.
  1. Sanskrit: This language had a significant influence on the Malay language through trade and the spread of Hindu-Buddhist religions that arrived in the Malay Archipelago from the 1st to the 14th century. Borrowed words include bahasa, raja, syurga, neraka, desa.
  2. Arabic: With the arrival of Islam in the region during the 7th century, Arabic began influencing the Malay language, especially in religious and philosophical terminology. Examples include kitab, masjid, ilmu, iman, zakat.
  3. Tamil: The influence of the Tamil language came primarily through maritime trade between India and the Malay Archipelago. Borrowed words from Tamil include kedai, mangga, and vadai.
  4. Chinese: Trade relations between Chinese merchants and the local population led to the borrowing of words such as tauhu, mi, lombong.
  5. Portuguese: The Portuguese occupation of Malacca in the early 16th century introduced words like gereja, keju, jendela, sekolah, and almari.
  6. Dutch: Borrowing from Dutch occurred during the Dutch colonial period, including words like kabin, kontrak.
  7. English: The English language introduced many technical and modern words into Malay, especially during British colonial rule. Examples include telefon, komputer, bank, internet, and stesen.

    Grammar

Colloquial and contemporary usage

Colloquial and contemporary usage of Malay includes modern Malaysian vocabulary, which may not be familiar to the older generation, such as:
  • Awek.
  • Balak.
  • Cun.
New plural pronouns have also been formed out of the original pronouns popularly nowadays and the word orang, such as:
  • Korang.
  • Kitorang.
  • Diorang.
In addition, Arabic terms that is originally used in Standard Malay nowadays has been popularly changed where some of the words and pronunciations in the involved terms have been added by the local conservative Muslims by disputing the terms suggested by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, claiming that the involved terms with implementation of the additional words and pronunciations is the real correct terms as same as stated in the Qur'an, where it is predominantly used by the local Muslim netizens in the social medias nowadays. The several involved terms in comparison to Standard Malay that is popularly used, such as:
  • Ramadhan.
  • Aamiin to verify the prayer.
  • Fardhu.
  • Redha.
  • Mudharat.
  • Dhaif.
  • Zohor.
  • Hadith.
Code-switching between English and Malaysian and the use of novel loanwords is widespread, forming Bahasa Rojak. Consequently, this phenomenon has raised the displeasure of linguistic purists in Malaysia, in their effort to uphold use of the prescribed standard language.