Malay language
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From Johor Bahru Directory
The Malay language is an Austronesian language, spoken by the Malay people and people of other ethnic groups who reside in the Malay Peninsula, southern Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands and parts of the coast of Borneo.[1] More specifically, it belongs to the Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages (the latter includes Malagasy and the languages of the Philippines), which in turn is a subgroup of the Austronesian family. The Malay language's closest relatives therefore include Javanese, Acehnese, Chamorro and Palauan.
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2. Malay is the official language of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and East Timor, and one of four official languages of Singapore. Formally referred to as Bahasa Indonesia (literally, "Indonesian language") in Indonesia and East Timor, the Malay language is also called Bahasa Kebangsaan (National Language) and Bahasa Persatuan/Pemersatu (Unifying Language) in Indonesia. In Malaysia, the language is now officially known as Bahasa Malaysia, ("Malaysian language"). Singapore, Brunei and southern Thailand refers to the language as Bahasa Melayu ("Malay language"). Separated by some centuries of different vocabulary development, however, Bahasa Indonesia differs to a certain extent from the Malay language, as spoken in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
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3. The history of the Malay language can be divided into four periods: Old Malay, the Transitional Period, the Malacca Period, and Late Modern Malay. Unintelligible to a speaker of modern Malay, Old Malay was heavily influenced by Sanskrit, the lingua franca of Hinduism and Buddhism. The Kedukan Bukit Inscription, the earliest known inscription written in the Old Malay language, was found at Kedukan Bukit in South Sumatra and dates back to the 7th century. During the 15th century, the Malay language came into widespread use as the trade language of the Sultanate of Malacca (1402 – 1511), developing rapidly from the influence of Islamic literature. This development changed the nature of the language, with massive infusion of Arabic, Persian, and later Hindi vocabularies, and evolved into a form recognizable to speakers of modern Malay.
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4. Historically, Malay has been written using various types of script. Before the introduction of the Arabic script in the Malay region, Malay was written using Pallava, Kawi, and Rencong script. These scripts are still in use today by the Champa Malay in Vietnam and Cambodia. Old Malay was written using Pallava and Kawi script, as evident from several inscription stones in the Malay region. Starting from the era of kingdom of Pasai and throughout the golden age of the Sultanate of Malacca, Jawi, a modified Arabic script, gradually became the most commonly-used script in the Malay region. The Malay language is now normally written using the Latin alphabet, called Rumi, which is official in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. In Brunei, however, both Rumi and Jawi are co-official. Efforts are currently being undertaken to preserve Jawi script and to revive its use amongst Malays in Malaysia. Students taking the Malay language examination in Malaysia have the option of answering questions, using Jawi script.
