Malay trade and creole languages

Malay trade and creole languages
Bahasa-bahasa Melayu dagang dan kreol بهاس٢ ملايو داݢڠ دان کريول
Native to	Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australia
Ethnicity	various
Language family	Creole Malay trade and creole languages
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
IETF	crp-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

Baba Malay

Baba Malay ملايو بابا
Region	Melaka (in Malaysia) and Singapore
Native speakers	2,000 (2014)
Language family	Malay-based creole
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mbf
Glottolog	baba1267
ELP	Baba 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
Region	East Java, Central Java. West Java, North Sumatra, West Kalimantan, and other pocket communities in Indonesia
Ethnicity	Peranakan Javanese-Chinese other Indonesian ethnicity
Native speakers	(20,000 cited 1981)
Language family	Malay-based creole
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pea
Glottolog	pera1256

A kind of Baba Malay, locally called Peranakan from the ethnonym, is spoken among Chinese-Indonesians living in various regions of Indonesia, most visibly in Surabaya and Medan. It is a mixture of three languages: Indonesian (national language), a local language 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 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-Indonesians tend to mix Sundanese in their vocabulary, and Medan (North Sumatran) Chinese-Indonesian have more Hokkien words mixed in.

Betawi Malay

This section is an excerpt from Betawi language.[edit]

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.

Thousand Islands Malay

This section is an excerpt from Orang Pulo language.[edit]

The Orang Pulo language (logat Orang Pulo), alternatively known as Melayu Campuran (Mixed Malay) or Melayu Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands Malay), is a Malay-based creole spoken by the Orang Pulo people inhabiting the Thousand Islands off the coast of Jakarta, Indonesia. This language emerged from a mixture of many languages in Indonesia, particularly Bugis and Malay.

Malaccan Creole Malay

This section is an excerpt from Malay Chetty creole language.[edit]

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 (also known as Indian Peranakans), a distinctive group of Tamil people found mainly in Malacca in Malaysia and Singapore, who have adopted Chinese and Malay cultural practices whilst also retaining their Hindu heritage.

Sri Lanka Malay

This section is an excerpt from Sri Lanka Malay language.[edit]

Sri Lankan Malay, also known as Sri Lankan Creole Malay, bahasa Melayu, Ja basawa, or Java mozhi, is a Malay-based 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, Javanese Sri Lankans, 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.

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.

Sabah Malay

Sabah Malay
Region	Sabah, Sulu Archipelago, Labuan, North Kalimantan, south Palawan
Native speakers	"growing" 3 million L2 speakers (2013)
Language family	Malay–based pidgin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	msi
Glottolog	saba1263

A pidginised variant of standard Malay, Sabah Malay is a local trade or creole-based mixed language. There are a large number of native speakers in urban areas, mainly children who have it as first or 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 Dusun, Tausug, Sama-Bajau languages, Chabacano, Brunei Malay, Indonesian, standard Malaysian as well as other ethnic native languages of Sabah & North Kalimantan.

Makassar Malay

Makassar Malay
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Makassar, South Sulawesi
Native speakers	None Second language: 1.9 million (2000)
Language family	Mixed Malay–Makassarese
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mfp
Glottolog	maka1305

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 East Kalimantan.

Balinese Malay

Balinese Malay
Loloan Malay
Omong Kampong بهاس ملايو بالي ᬒᬁᬢᬶᬬᬂ
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Bali (especially in Jembrana)
Ethnicity	Loloan Malays
Native speakers	25,000 (2000 census)
Language family	Malay-based creole
Writing system	Latin script Jawi script Balinese script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mhp
Glottolog	bali1279

Balinese Malay or Loloan Malay is a dialect of Malay spoken in the island of Bali. It is also known as Omong Kampong ("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

This section is an excerpt from Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin.[edit]

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 Indonesia Malay

The creoles of eastern Indonesia appear to have formed as Malays, 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
• tərkəjut becomes takajo
• ləmbut becomes lombo
• dapat becomes dapa
• jangan becomes jang
• pada becomes pa
• lupa becomes lu

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 tabala
• bərtəngkar becomes batengkar
• mənangis becomes manangis
• kəhidupan becomes kaidopan

Alor Malay

Main article: 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

This section is an excerpt from Ambonese Malay.[edit]

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.

Banda Malay

Banda Malay
Banda Islands Malay
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Banda Islands
Native speakers	3,700 (2000)
Language family	Malay-based creole East Indonesian Banda Malay
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bpq
Glottolog	band1353

Banda Malay is a distinct variant of Moluccan Malay, spoken in Banda Islands, Maluku. Significantly different from Ambonese Malay and for Ambonese, Banda 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)

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.

Malay Dili/Gorap

Main article: Gorap language

ملايو دلي/ ڬوراڤ
Malay Dili/ Gorap
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Northern and western regions of Halmahera Island (mainly)
Ethnicity	Dili people
Native speakers	(1,000 cited 1992)
Language family	Malay-based creole Eastern Indonesia Malay Manadoic Malay ملايو دلي/ ڬوراڤ
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Indonesia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	goq
Glottolog	gora1261
ELP	Gorap
Gorap language classified as Endangered by UNESCO in its Atlas of the World's Languages at Risk of Extinction.

Gorap is a Malay-based creole language predominantly spoken by Gorap (Bobaneigo) ethnic group, indigenous to western and northern regions of the Indonesian island of Halmahera. It shares vocabulary with other Papuan languages and some of languages spoken in Sulawesi, such as Buginese and Cia-Cia. Roughly around 60 out of 200 attested words in this language were indicated sharing vocabulary with those languages.

Kupang Malay

This section is an excerpt from Kupang Malay.[edit]

Kupang Malay or simply the Kupang language is a Malay-based creole language spoken in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, which is on the west end of Timor Island. Kupang Malay is presently used as a lingua franca for inter-ethnic communication, and it also has native speakers.

Larantuka Malay

This section is an excerpt from Larantuka Malay.[edit]

Larantuka Malay (bahasa Nagi, Melayu Larantuka), also known as Nagi, is a Malay-based creole language spoken in the eastern part of Flores in Indonesia, especially in Larantuka. It is a derivative of Malay which is thought to originate from Malacca. It is a language with unspecified linguistic affiliation. According to 2007 data, this language is spoken by 20,000 speakers, mainly the people of East Flores. Larantuka Malay is the mother tongue of the Nagi people. Then it also functions as a second language for several nearby communities.

Manado Malay

This section is an excerpt from Manado Malay.[edit]

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.

Sula Malay

Main article: Sula Malay

Sula Malay
Sula–Taliabu Malay
Melayu Sula
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Sula Islands and Taliabu Island
Native speakers	170,000 (2023 estimate)
Language family	Malay-based creole Eastern Indonesia Malay North Moluccan Malay Sula Malay
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Indonesia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None

Sula Malay is a variety of Malay-based creole language which is generally used by multiethnic society in Sula Islands and Taliabu Island in the southwest part of North Maluku. The Sula Malay is heavily influenced by other languages, This can be found in loan words originating from Ambonese Malay and Dutch language can be found in Sula Malay. Some contraction vocabulary can also be found in this language, as is the case in North Moluccan Malay (Ternate Malay).

Ternate/North Moluccan Malay

This section is an excerpt from North Moluccan Malay.[edit]

North Moluccan Malay (also known as Ternate Malay) is a Malay-based creole language spoken on Ternate, Tidore, Morotai, Halmahera, and Sula Islands in North Maluku for intergroup communications. The local name of the language is bahasa Pasar (literally 'market language'), and the name Ternate Malay is also used, after the main ethnic group speaking the language. It is commonly written using Indonesian orthography. One of its varieties is Sula Malay, which was formed with the influence of Ambonese Malay.

Papuan Malay

This section is an excerpt from Papuan Malay.[edit]

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.

References

Works cited

• Allen, Robert B. Jr.; Hayami-Allen, Rika (2002). "Orientation in the Spice Islands" (PDF). In Macken, Marlys (ed.). Papers from the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society. Tempe: Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University. pp. 21–38. ISBN 1-881044-29-7. OCLC 50506465. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 December 2022.
• Bos, Paula R. (2005). "Nagi music and community: belonging and displacement in Larantuka, eastern Indonesia". In Hae-kyung Um (ed.). Diasporas and Interculturalism in Asian Performing Arts: Translating Traditions. Abingdon–New York: RoutledgeCurzon. pp. 144–158. doi:10.4324/9780203641903. ISBN 0-203-64190-6. OCLC 53215736. ISBN 0-700-71586-X.
• Bowden, John (2005). "Language Contact and Metatypic Restructuring in the Directional System of North Maluku Malay" (PDF). Concentric: Studies in Linguistics. 31 (2): 133–158.
• Henley, David (1996). Nationalism and regionalism in a colonial context: Minahasa in the Dutch East Indies. Leiden: KITLV Press.
• Kluge, Angela Johanna Helene (2014). A Grammar of Papuan Malay (PhD). LOT Dissertation Series 361. Leiden University. hdl:1887/25849.
• Lim, Sonny (1988). "Baba Malay: the language of the 'Straits-born' Chinese". In Steinhauer, H. (ed.). Papers in Western Austronesian Linguistics No. 3. Pacific Linguistics Series A - No.78. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University. pp. 1–61. doi:10.15144/PL-A78. hdl:1885/145107. ISBN 0-85883-382-4.
• Paauw, Scott H. (2009). The Malay contact varieties of eastern Indonesia: A typological comparison (PDF). The State University of New York at Buffalo. OCLC 6002898562. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
• Paulo, Derrick A (21 October 2018). "Meet the Chetti Melaka, or Peranakan Indians, striving to save their vanishing culture". CNA. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
• Steinhauer, Hein (1991). "Malay in east Indonesia: the case of Larantuka (Flores)". Papers in Austronesian Linguistics (PDF). Pacific Linguistics A-81. Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. pp. 177–195. doi:10.15144/PL-A81.177. ISBN 0858834022. OCLC 646958819. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
• Stoel, Ruben (2007). "The Intonation of Manado Malay". In van Heuven, Vincent J.; van Zanten, Ellen (eds.). Prosody in Indonesian Languages. LOT Occasional Series, Vol. 9. Utrecht: LOT, Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics. pp. 117–150. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.464.9608. ISBN 978-90-78328-44-5.

External links

• A Baba Malay Dictionary by William Gwee Thian Hock
• Malay creole boy, Hottentot Square Cape Town; Malay boy of Cape Town [picture] / George French Angas delt. et lithog.
• The Malay Chetty Creole Language Of Malacca A Historical And Linguistic Perspective

Bibliography

• Ethnologue: Malay-based creoles