Malaysian Malay

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Malaysian
Bahasa Malaysia بهاس مليسيا
Native to	Brunei Malaysia Singapore
Native speakers	10.3 million native
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Nuclear MP Malayo-Sumbawan Malayic Malayan Malay Malay language Malaysian
Writing system	Rumi (Latin alphabet) and Jawi (Arabic script) ).
Official status
Official language in	Malaysia Singapore
Regulated by	Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Institute of Language and Literature)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	zsm
ISO 639-3	–

Malaysian or Standard Malay is the official language of Malaysia and a standardized form of the Malay language of the Austronesian family. It is over 80% cognate with Indonesian and is spoken natively by over 10 million people. As a second language, it is spoken by an estimated 18 million, mostly Malaysians from ethnic minorities.

History

In 1957, Article 152 of the Federation designated Malay as the official language. Between 1986 and 2007, the official term Bahasa Malaysia was replaced by "Bahasa Melayu". Today, Bahasa Malaysia is now once again the government's preferred designation for the "Bahasa Kebangsaan" (National Language). The language is sometimes simply referred to as Bahasa or BM.

Writing system

Main article: Malay alphabet

The Malaysian language is normally written using Latin alphabet called Rumi, although a modified Arabic script called Jawi also exists. Rumi is official while efforts are currently being undertaken to preserve Jawi script and to revive its use in Malaysia. The Latin alphabet, however, is still the most commonly used script in Malaysia, both for official and informal purposes.

Extent of use

The Malaysian language 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.

Sounds and grammar

Further information: Malay language

Borrowed words

Main article: List of Malay loanwords

The Malaysian language has many words borrowed from Arabic (mainly religious terms), Sanskrit, Tamil, Persian, Portuguese, Dutch, certain Chinese dialects and more recently, English (in particular many scientific and technological terms). Modern Malaysian malay also heavily influenced by Indonesian.

Colloquial and contemporary usage

Contemporary usage of Malay includes a set of slang words, formed by innovations of standard Malay words or incorporated from other languages, spoken by the urban speech community, which may not be familiar to the older generation, e.g. awek/cewek (girl); balak/cowok (guy); gak/nggak(tidak); no usha (survey); skodeng (peep); cun (pretty); poyo/slenge (horrible, low-quality) etc. New plural pronouns have also been formed out of the original pronouns and the word orang ("people"), i.e. kitorang (kita + orang, the exclusive "we", in place of kami); korang (kau + orang, "you"); diorang or derang (dia + orang, "they").

The Malaysian language-speaking community, especially in Kuala Lumpur, also code-switch between English and Malaysian in their speech, or use a large number of novel loanwords, forming Bahasa Rojak. Examples of the borrowings are: Bestlah tempat ni (This place is cool);kau ni terror lah (How daring you are; you're fabulous). Consequently, this phenomenon has raised the displeasure of language purists in Malaysia, in their effort to uphold the proper use of the national language.

The following are some contractions used by Malaysian-speaking youths of the early 21st century:

Non-formal Word	Formal Word	English Translation
bleh/leh	boleh/bisa	can, able to
takleh/tokleh	tidak boleh/tidak bisa	can not
ko	engkau/kamu	you
nape	kenapa	why
camne	macam mana/bagaimana	how
gi	pergi	go
kat	dekat/di	at
ne	mana	where
tau	tahu	know
je/aja	sahaja	only
a'ah	ya	that's right
awek/cewek/pompan	gadis	girl/girlfriend
balak/cowok/laki	pemuda	boy/boyfriend
skodeng	mengintai	peep
cun	cantik	awesome/cool/fly
jom/	mari/ayo/ayuh	let's go
poyo/selenge	teruk/buruk	horrible
blah	beredar	go away
meh	mari	come
apsal	apa pasal	why
tak yah/tak usah	tidak payah	not necessary
pastu	selepas itu/habis itu	after that
amik	ambil	take
pekena	makan/minum	to eat/drink

See also

• Differences between the Malaysian and Indonesian languages
• Indonesian language
• Jawi, an adapted Arabic alphabet for Malay
• Language politics
• Malaysian English, English language used formally in Malaysia.
• Rojak language
• Varieties of Malay

External links

• The Extent of the Influence of Tamil on the Malay Language: A Comparative Study - Dr. T.Wignesan(This paper was given at the VIIIth World Tamil Studies Congress, held in the Tamil University in Tanjavur, India, on December–January 1994-95 Now published in the critical collection: T.Wignesan. Sporadic Striving amid Echoed Voices, Mirrored Images & Stereotypic Posturing in Malaysian-Singaporean Literatures. Allahabad: Cyberwit.net, 2008, xix-244p.)
• Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Institute of Language and Literature Malaysia, in Malay only)
• Malay Online Web Application with 40 Interactive Free Lessons
• Malay - English Online Dictionary (from Malay to English only) from Webster's Dictionary
• Malay - English - Chinese Online Dictionary (cari.com.my)
• Online Malay Text-to-Speech Demo
• The Malay Spelling Reform, Asmah Haji Omar, (Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society, 1989-2 pp. 9–13 later designated J11)
• Pogadaev, V.A., Rott, N. V. Kamus Bahasa Russia - Bahasa Malaysia. Lebih kurang 30 000 perkataan. Moscow: Russky Yazik, 1986