30/04/19

Bahasa Melayu Bahasa Malaysia

Malaysian
bahasa Malaysia بهاس مليسيا‎
Pronunciation	[baˈhasə malajˈsiə]
Native to	Malaysia
Spoken by the vast majority of those in Malaysia, although most learn a local Malay dialect or other native language first.^[1]
Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Malayo-Sumbawan ? Malayic Malayan Malay Malacca ('Riau') Malay Malaysian
Latin (Rumi) Arabic (Jawi)^[2] Malaysian Braille
Bahasa Malaysia Kod Tangan
Official status
Malaysia
Regulated by	Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Institute of Language and Literature)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`zsm`
Glottolog	`stan1306`^[3]

Bahasa Melayu Bahasa Malaysia English
Bahasa Melayu Bahasa Malaysia Malaysia

The Malaysian language (Malay: bahasa Malaysia; Jawi: بهاس مليسيا‎) or Malaysian Malay (Malay: bahasa Melayu Malaysia) is the name regularly applied to the Malay language used in Malaysia (as opposed to the lect used in Indonesia, which is referred to as the Indonesian language). Constitutionally, however, the official language of Malaysia is Malay, but the government from time to time refers to it as Malaysian. Standard Malaysian is a normativeregister of the Johore-Riau dialect of Malay. It is spoken by much of the Malaysian population, although most learn a vernacular form of Malay or other native language first.^[1] Malay is a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools.^[4]

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Status[edit]

Article 152 of the Federation designates Malay as the official language. Between 1986 and 2007, the official term Bahasa Malaysia was replaced by 'Bahasa Melayu'. Today, to recognize that Malaysia is composed of many ethnic groups (and not only the ethnic Malays), the term Bahasa Malaysia has once again become the government's preferred designation for the 'Bahasa Kebangsaan' (National Language) and the 'Bahasa Persatuan/Pemersatu' (unifying language/lingua franca).^[5] Moreover, the language is also referred to as BM or simply Bahasa.^[6]English continues, however, to be widely used in professional and commercial fields and in the superior courts.

Writing system[edit]

Traffic signs in Malaysian: Warning sign 'Level crossing' and regulatory sign 'Stop'.

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

Borrowed words[edit]

The Malaysian language has most of its borrowings absorbed from Sanskrit, Tamil, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Dutch, Sinitic languages, Arabic and more recently, English (in particular many scientific and technological terms). Modern Malaysian Malay has also been influenced lexically by the Indonesian variety, largely through the popularity of Indonesian dramas, soap operas, and music.^[7]

Colloquial and contemporary usage[edit]

Colloquial and contemporary usage of Malay includes modern Malaysian vocabulary, which may not be familiar to the older generation, such as awek (girl), balak (guy) or cun (pretty). New plural pronouns have also been formed out of the original pronouns and the word orang (person), such as kitorang (kita + orang, the exclusive 'we', in place of kami) or diorang (dia + orang, 'they'). 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 normative language.