Malay trade and creole languages

Malay trade and creole languages
Bahasa-bahasa Melayu Dagang dan Kreol
بهاس٢ ملايو داݢڠ دان کريول
Native toSoutheast Asia, South Asia and Australia
Ethnicityvarious
Creole
  • Malay trade and creole languages
Language codes
ISO 639-3
IETFcrp-035

In addition to its classical and modern literary form, Malay had various regional dialects established after the rise of the Srivijaya empire in Sumatra, Indonesia. Also, Malay spread through interethnic contact and trade across the south East Asia Archipelago as far as the Philippines. That contact resulted in a lingua franca ("trade language") that was called Bazaar Malay or low Malay and in Malay Melayu Pasar. It is generally believed that Bazaar Malay was a pidgin, influenced by contact among Malay, Hokkien, Portuguese, and Dutch traders.

Besides the general simplification that occurs with pidgins, the Malay lingua franca had several distinctive characteristics. One was that possessives were formed with punya 'its owner, to have'; another was that plural pronouns were formed with orang 'person'. The only Malayic affixes that remained productive were tər- and bər-.

Other common features:

  • Ada became a progressive particle.
  • Reduced forms of ini 'this' and itu 'that' (>ni, tu) before a noun.
  • The verb pərgi 'go' was reduced, and became a preposition 'towards'.
  • Causative constructions were formed with kasi or bəri 'to give' or bikin or buat 'to make'.
  • A single preposition, often sama, was used for multiple functions, including direct and indirect object.

For example,

  • Rumahku 'my house' becomes Aku punya rumah (lit. 'I have that house')
  • Aku pukul dia 'I hit him' becomes Aku kasi pukul dia (lit. 'I give a hit to him')
  • Ardi dipukul oleh Dani 'Ardi is hit by Dani' becomes Ardi kena pukul dek Dani

Bazaar Malay is used in a limited extent in Singapore and Malaysia, mostly among the older generation or people with no working knowledge of English. The most important reason that contributed to the decline of Bazaar Malay is that pidgin Malay has creolised and created several new languages. Another reason is due to language shift in both formal and informal contexts, Bazaar Malay in Singapore is gradually being replaced by English, with English and its creole Singlish being the lingua franca among the younger generations.

Baba Malay

Baba Malay
ملايو بابا ڽوڽا
RegionMelaka (in Malaysia) and Singapore
Native speakers
2,000 (2014)
Malay-based creole
Language codes
ISO 639-3mbf
Glottologbaba1267
ELPBaba Malay

Baba Malay is spoken by the Peranakans in Melaka (in Malaysia) and Singapore. A typical contact language between Hokkien male settlers and local Malay women, it has "more Hokkien grammar and more Malay lexicon". As of 2014, there are 1,000 speakers in Malaysia and another 1,000 in Singapore. It is mostly spoken among the older populations. In 1986, Pakir estimated there were 5,000 speakers in Singapore. A Baba Indonesian variant is also spoken in East Java.

Example (spoken in Melaka-Singapore):

  • Dia suka datang sini sembang.: He likes to come here and gossip.
  • Keliap-keliap, dia naik angin.: Slightly provoked, he gets angry.
  • Gua tunggu dia sampai gua k'ee geram.: I waited for him until I got angry.
  • Oo-wa! Kinajeet, dia pasang kuat.: Wow! Today he dresses stylishly!

Baba Indonesian

Baba Indonesian
Peranakan Indonesian
Bahasa Indonesia Peranakan
Basa Peranakan
بهاس ڤرانقن
RegionEast Java, Central Java. West Java, North Sumatra, West Kalimantan, and other pocket communities in Indonesia
Ethnicity
Native speakers
(20,000 cited 1981)
Malay-based creole
Language codes
ISO 639-3pea
Glottologpera1256

A kind of Baba Malay, locally called Peranakan from the ethnonym, is spoken among Chinese-Indonesian living in various regions of Indonesia, most visibly in Surabaya and Medan. It is a mixture of three languages: Indonesian (national language), a local languages and Chinese elements (ancestry/ethnic language, particularly for certain jargon or glossary such as family relations, business and commerce, and culinary fields). The most famous variety is found in East Java, especially in Surabaya and surrounding areas, called Basa Suroboyoan (Surabayan language), with a strong emphasis of low Javanese (ngoko Javanese) and informal tone, which is not only spoken by Chinese-Indonesian in Surabaya, but also by non-Chinese-Indonesians as well when conversing with the former.

Example (spoken in Surabaya):

  • Kamu mbok ojok gitu!: Don't act that way!
  • Yak apa kabarnya si Eli?: How's Eli?
  • Ntik kamu pigio ambek cecemu ae ya.: Go with your sister, okay?
  • Nih, makanen sakadae.: Please have a meal!
  • Kamu cariken bukune koko ndhek rumahe Ling Ling.: Search your brother's book in Ling Ling's house.

Apart from East Javan Chinese-Indonesian, other Chinese-Indonesians tend to speak the language varieties of the places in which they live, such as the Central Javan Chinese-Indonesian can speak with formal/high Javanese (krama Javanese) when necessary, while in daily conversation they will use Indonesia-Javanese-Chinese pidgin. West Javan Chinese-Indonesian tend to mix Sundanese in their vocabulary, and Medan (North Sumatran) Chinese-Indonesian have more Hokkien words mixed in.

Betawi Malay

Betawi, also known as Betawi Malay, Jakartan Malay, or Batavian Malay is the spoken language of the Betawi people in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is the native language of perhaps 5 million people; a precise number is difficult to determine due to the vague use of the name.
Betawi Malay is a popular informal language in contemporary Indonesia, used as the base of Indonesian slang and commonly spoken in Jakarta TV soap operas and some animated cartoons (e.g. Adit Sopo Jarwo). The name "Betawi" stems from Batavia, the official name of Jakarta during the era of the Dutch East Indies. Colloquial Jakarta Indonesian, a vernacular form of Indonesian that has spread from Jakarta into large areas of Java and replaced existing Malay dialects, has its roots in Betawi Malay. According to Uri Tadmor, there is no clear border distinguishing Colloquial Jakarta Indonesian from Betawi Malay.

Malaccan Creole Malay

The Malay Chetty creole language (also known as Malaccan Creole Malay, Malacca Malay Creole and Chitties/Chetties Malay) is a Malay-based creole spoken by the Chetties, a distinctive group of Tamil people found mainly in Malacca in Malaysia and Singapore, who are also known as the "Indian Peranakans" and have adopted Chinese and Malay cultural practices whilst also retaining their Hindu heritage.

Sri Lanka Malay

Sri Lankan Malay (also known as Sri Lankan Creole Malay, Bahasa Melayu, Ja basawa and Java mozhi) is a creole language spoken in Sri Lanka, formed as a mixture of Sinhala and Shonam (Sri Lankan Muslim Tamil), with Malay being the major lexifier. It is traditionally spoken by the Sri Lankan Malays and among some Sinhalese in Hambantota. Today, the number of speakers of the language have dwindled considerably but it has continued to be spoken notably in the Hambantota District of Southern Sri Lanka, which has traditionally been home to many Sri Lankan Malays.

Singapore Bazaar Malay

Singapore Bazaar Malay, also known as Bazaar Malay, Pasar Malay, or Market Malay, is a Malay-lexified pidgin, which is spoken in Singapore. Tamil and Hokkien contributed to the development of Bazaar Malay, with Hokkien being the dominant substrate language of Bazaar Malay, with Malay being the lexifier language. However, there are many input languages spoken by immigrants that also contributed to the development of Bazaar Malay, including languages spoken by Malays, Chinese, Indians, Eurasians, and Europeans. Singapore Bazaar Malay emerged along with the opening of Singapore's free trade port in 1819, to overcome barriers in communication and business transactions. Since Singapore has only four official languages (English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil), Singapore Bazaar Malay not only is a lingua franca in interethnic communication, it is also used in intra-group communication. Singapore Bazaar Malay is mostly spoken by elders and middle-aged workers today, but its language status is declining due to education policies and language campaigns with less than 10,000 speakers.

Sabah Malay

Sabah Malay
RegionSabah, Sulu Archipelago, Labuan, North Kalimantan, south Palawan
Native speakers

3 million L2 speakers (2013)
Malay–based pidgin
Language codes
ISO 639-3msi
Glottologsaba1263

A pidginised variant of standard Malay, Sabah Malay is a local trade language. There are a large number of native speakers in urban areas, mainly children who have a second native language. There are also some speakers in the southernmost parts of the Philippines, particularly in the Sulu Archipelago as a trade language, also spoken in south Palawan. There are loanwords from Tausug,Sama-Bajau languages, Chabacano, and native languages of Sabah & North Kalimantan.

Makassar Malay

Makassar Malay
Native toIndonesia
RegionMakassar, South Sulawesi
Native speakers
None
Second language: 1.9 million (2000)
Language codes
ISO 639-3mfp
Glottologmaka1305

Makassar Malay is a creole-based mixed language, which is built of Bazaar Malay lexicon, Makassarese inflections, and mixed Malay/Makassarese syntax.

It is now widely spoken as the first language in Makassar City and its surrounding areas, especially those who were born after 1980's. It has widely spread to the entire region in southern part of Sulawesi island, including in the provinces of Sulawesi Selatan, Sulawesi Tenggara, and Sulawesi Barat as regional lingua franca or as second language due to contact or doing business with people from Makassar City.

Makassar Malay used as a default dialect or neutral language when communicating with people from other tribes or ethnicities whom do not share the same local language to the native local speakers in those three provinces. It appears that Makassar Malay also used as the first language of younger generation who live in the cities or regencies' capital across those three provinces.

Furthermore, apart from those three provinces in the southern part of Sulawesi island, Makassar Malay also used by people in some parts of Sulawesi Tengah Province, especially when communicating with people from those three provinces. It can also be used when communicating with people from other people from other provinces in Eastern Indonesia and in the province of Kalimantan Timur.

Balinese Malay

Balinese Malay
Omong Kampung الماليزية البالية ᬒᬁᬢᬶᬬᬂ
Native toIndonesia
RegionBali
Ethnicity
Native speakers
25,000 (2000 census)
Malay-Balinese-Based Creole language
Latin script
Jawi script
Balinese script
Language codes
ISO 639-3mhp
Glottologbali1279

Balinese Malay is a dialect of Malay spoken in the island of Bali. It is also known as Omong Kampung ("village speak") by its speakers. Balinese Malay is the primary language of ethnic Malay who live in the northwestern part of the island, mainly in the districts of Melaya and Negara, Jembrana Regency. The current language status is threatened.

Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin

Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin is a pidgin that sprang up in Broome, Western Australia in the early 20th century to facilitate communication between the various groups working in the pearling industry there—Japanese, Malays, Torres Strait Islanders, Koepangers, Hakka Chinese, Filipinos, Sri Lankans of Sinhalese and Tamil descent, a small number of Koreans, and local Indigenous Australians, mainly of the Bardi people but also Nyulnyul, Jabirr Jabirr, Jukun, Yawuru and Karajarri people. The name derives from the boats used for pearling, known as pearling luggers.

Chirikurok -kaa hokurok -kaa peke kriki.
English: "three o'clock" Japanese: "or" English: "four o'clock" Japanese: "or" Malay: "go" English: "creek"
"We will enter the creek at three or four o'clock."

Eastern Indonesian Malay

The creoles of eastern Indonesia appear to have formed as Malays and Javanese, using lingua franca Malay, established their monopoly on the spice trade before the European colonial era. They have a number of features in common:

  • ə becomes a, e, or assimilates to the following vowel
  • i, u lowered to e, o in some environments, especially when it is at the end of a syllable
  • there is a loss of final plosives p, t, k, and n the neutralisation of final nasals in part of the lexicon
  • the perfective marker juga reduces to ju or jo
  • the perfective marker lebih reduces to le
  • the perfective marker mau reduces to mo
  • the perfective marker mana reduces to ma (as this only occur on Kupang Malay).
  • the perfective marker dan reduces to deng
  • the perfective marker pun reduces to pung
  • the perfective marker sudah reduces to su or so

For example,

  • makan becomes makang
  • pərgi becomes pigi or pi,pe
  • tərkəjut becomes takajo
  • ləmbut becomes lombo
  • dapat becomes dapa
  • jangan becomes jang
  • pada becomes pa
  • lupa becomes lu

Bacan (next) is perhaps the most archaic, and appears to be closely related to Brunei Malay (which is still a creole).

There is a loss of diphthongs:

  • the diphthong "au" become to "o"
  • the diphthong "ai" reduces to "e"
  • the letter" u" become "o"

There are many affixes that the pronunciation is simplified:

  • The prefix "mə(N)" reduces to "ma"
  • The prefix "bə(r)", reduces to "ba"
  • The prefix "tə(r)", reduces to "ta"
  • The prefix "kə", reduces to "ka"

For example:

The loss of middle "ə" and "h" in the last end of words:

  • tərbəlah becomes tabla
  • bərtəngkar becomes batengkar
  • mənangis becomes manangis
  • kəhidupan becomes kaidopan

Bacanese Malay

Bacanese Malay is a Malayic isolect spoken in Bacan Island and its surroundings, south of Halmahera, North Maluku. Bacanese Malay is considered rather different from other Malay-derived languages in eastern Indonesia because of its archaic lexicon and being rather close to its sister languages in Borneo such as Banjarese and Brunei Malay. It was also used as a supplementary language in the reconstruction of Proto-Malayic.

Dili Malay

Dili Malay is a variety of trade Malay spoken in Dili, Timor Leste especially in the Kampung Alor area. According to experts, before becoming the mother tongue of a number of its speakers, this language was originally a pidgin language (Bloomfield, 1933; Hall, 1966). Then, in its development, this pidgin language became a creole language which was used in wider social interactions in society (Todd, 1974:50). Due to the long historical presence of the Portuguese in East Timor, several Dili Malay loanwords originate from Portuguese and Tetum, with little influences from other native languages.

Manado Malay

Manado Malay, or simply the Manado language, is a creole language spoken in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province in Indonesia, and the surrounding area. The local name of the language is bahasa Manado, and the name Minahasa Malay is also used, after the main ethnic group speaking the language. Since Manado Malay is used primarily for spoken communication, there is no standard orthography.
Manado Malay differs from standard Malay in having numerous Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, and Ternate loan words, as well as having traits such as its use of kita as a first person singular pronoun, rather than as a first person inclusive plural pronoun. It is derived from North Moluccan Malay (Ternate Malay), which can be evidenced by the number of Ternate loanwords in its lexicon. For example, the pronouns ngana ('you', singular) and ngoni ('you', plural) are of Ternate–Tidore origin. Manado Malay has been displacing the indigenous languages of the area.

Gorap

Gorap
Native toIndonesia
RegionMorotai Island, central Halmahera
Native speakers
(1,000 cited 1992)
Malay-based creole
  • East Indonesian
    • Gorap
Language codes
ISO 639-3goq
Glottologgora1261
ELPGorap

Gorap is lexically 85% Malay, but has many Ternate words as well, and word order differs from both Austronesian and Halmahera languages. Children no longer acquire the language.

Ternate / North Moluccan Malay

North Moluccan Malay (also known as Ternate Malay) is a Malay-based creole language spoken on Ternate, Tidore, Halmahera, and Sula Islands, North Maluku for intergroup communications. The local name of the language is Bahasa Pasar, and the name Ternate Malay is also used, after the main ethnic group speaking the language. Since North Moluccan Malay is used primarily for spoken communication, there is no standardized orthography.

Kupang Malay

Kupang Malay
Native toIndonesia
RegionKupang, West Timor
Native speakers
(200,000 cited 1997)
100,000 L2 speakers (no date)
Malay-based creole
  • East Indonesian
    • Kupang Malay
Language codes
ISO 639-3mkn
Glottologkupa1239

Kupang Malay is spoken in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, which is on the west end of Timor Island. It is based on archaic Malay mixed mostly with Dutch, Portuguese and other local languages. It is similar to Ambonese Malay with several differences in vocabulary and accent. Its grammatical system resembles other East Indonesian Malay Creoles.

The pronouns in Kupang Malay differ from Indonesian as shown in the table below:

Pronouns Indonesian Kupang Malay
First person singular
First person plural (inclusive)
First person plural (exclusive)
aku, saya
kita
kami
beta
katong
batong
Second person singular
Second person plural
kamu, engkau
kalian
lu
basong
Third person singular
Third person plural
dia
mereka
dia
dong

Unlike in Indonesian, there is no schwa in Kupang Malay.

Indonesian Kupang Malay English Gloss
sēlamāt salamat 'greetings, safe'
kēliling kaliling, kuliling 'go around'
sēbēntar sabantar 'a moment'
pērut parú 'stomach'

The word order of Kupang Malay is mixed Malay and the Helong Language .

English Indonesian Kupang Malay
Kupang Kota Kupang Kupang kota
Indonesia has already become to most populated country. Indonesia sudah menjadi negara yang teramai Indonesiya su manjadi yang tarame

The "ia ,"ie, "io",and iu,reduces to iya, iye, iyo, iyu or nua, oa, os becomes nuwa, woa, wos.

  • The lack of foreign letters e.g. "z","v",and"q"

For example;

  • ZamanSaman
  • VideoFideo
  • QatarKatar

Alor Malay

Alor Malay is spoken in the Alor archipelago. Speakers perceive Alor Malay to be a different register of standard Indonesian, but both of these are prestige varieties of the archipelago. Many people are able to understand standard Indonesian, but cannot speak it fluently and choose to use Alor Malay on a daily basis.

Alor Malay is based on Kupang Malay; however, Alor Malay differs significantly from Kupang Malay, especially in its pronouns.

Ambonese Malay

Ambonese Malay or simply Ambonese is a Malay-based creole language spoken on Ambon Island in the Maluku Islands of Eastern Indonesia. It was first brought by traders from Western Indonesia, then developed when the Dutch Empire colonised the Maluku Islands and was used as a tool by missionaries in Eastern Indonesia. Malay has been taught in schools and churches in Ambon, and because of this it has become a lingua franca in Ambon and its surroundings.

Bandanese Malay

Bandanese Malay
Banda Malay
Native toIndonesia
RegionBanda Islands
Native speakers
3,700 (2000)
Malay-based creole
  • East Indonesian
    • Bandanese Malay
Language codes
ISO 639-3bpq
Glottologband1353

Bandanese Malay is a distinct variant of Moluccan Malay, spoken in Banda Islands, Maluku. Significantly different from Ambonese Malay and for Ambonese, Bandanese Malay tends to be perceived as sounding funny due to its unique features.

Example :

  • Beta : I
  • pane : you
  • katorang : we
  • mir : ants (deviated from Dutch : mier)

Papuan/Irian Malay

Papuan Malay or Irian Malay is a Malay-based creole language spoken in the Indonesian part of New Guinea. It emerged as a contact language among tribes in Indonesian New Guinea (now Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, West Papua, and Southwest Papua) for trading and daily communication. Nowadays, it has a growing number of native speakers. More recently, the vernacular of Indonesian Papuans has been influenced by Standard Indonesian, the national standard dialect. It is spoken in Indonesian New Guinea alongside 274 other languages and functions as a lingua franca.

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