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Malay language
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Malay language
Malay (UK: /məˈleɪ/ mə-LAY, US: /ˈmeɪleɪ/ MAY-lay; endonym: Bahasa Melayu, Jawi script: بهاس ملايو) is an Austronesian language spoken primarily by Malays in several islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and the Malay Peninsula on mainland Asia. The language is an official language of Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore. Indonesian, a standardized variety of Malay, is the official language of Indonesia and one of the working languages of Timor-Leste. Malay is also spoken as a regional language of ethnic Malays in Indonesia and the southern part of Thailand. Altogether, it is spoken by 60 million people across Maritime Southeast Asia.
The language is pluricentric and a macrolanguage, i.e., a group of mutually intelligible speech varieties, or dialect continuum, that have no traditional name in common, and which may be considered distinct languages by their speakers. Several varieties of it are standardized as the national language (bahasa kebangsaan or bahasa nasional) of several nation states with various official names: in Malaysia, it is designated as either Bahasa Melayu ("Malay language") or in some instances, Bahasa Malaysia ("Malaysian language"); in Singapore and Brunei, it is called Bahasa Melayu ("Malay language") where it in the latter country refers to a formal standard variety set apart from its own vernacular dialect; in Indonesia, an autonomous normative variety called Bahasa Indonesia ("Indonesian language") is designated the bahasa persatuan/pemersatu ("unifying language" or lingua franca) whereas the term "Malay" (bahasa Melayu) refers to vernacular varieties of Malay indigenous to areas of Central to Southern Sumatra and West Kalimantan as the ethnic languages of Malay in Indonesia.
Classical Malay, also called Court Malay, was the literary standard of the pre-colonial Malacca and Johor Sultanates and so the language is sometimes called Malacca, Johor or Riau Malay (or various combinations of those names) to distinguish it from the various other Malayic languages. According to Ethnologue 16, several of the Malayic varieties they currently list as separate languages, including the Orang Asli varieties of the Malay Peninsula, are so closely related to standard Malay that they may prove to be dialects. There are also several Malay trade and creole languages (e.g. Ambonese Malay) based on a lingua franca derived from Classical Malay as well as Makassar Malay, which appears to be a mixed language.
Malay historical linguists agree on the likelihood of the Malayic homeland being in western Borneo. A form known as Proto-Malayic was spoken in Borneo at least by 1000 BCE, it has been argued to be the ancestral language of all subsequent Malayic languages. Its ancestor, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, a descendant of the Proto-Austronesian language, began to break up by at least 2000 BCE, possibly as a result of the southward expansion of Austronesian peoples into Maritime Southeast Asia from the island of Taiwan.
The history of the Malay language can be divided into five periods: Old Malay, the Transitional Period, Classical Malay, Late Modern Malay and Modern Malay. Old Malay is believed to be the actual ancestor of Classical Malay.
Old Malay was influenced by Sanskrit, the ancient Indo-Aryan language of India. Sanskrit loan words can be found in Old Malay vocabulary. The earliest known stone inscription in the Old Malay language was found on the island of Sumatra. Written in the Pallava variety of the Grantha alphabet, it is dated 1 May 683. Known as the Kedukan Bukit inscription, it was discovered by the Dutchman C. J. Batenburg on 29 November 1920 at Kedukan Bukit, on the banks of the Tatang River, a tributary of the Musi River, near Palembang, in what is now South Sumatra, Indonesia. The stone measures approximately 45 by 80 centimetres (18 by 31 in). For centuries, Srivijaya, a maritime empire based on the island from the 7th to the 11th centuries, was responsible for the spread of Old Malay throughout the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago through its expansion and economic power. Old Malay served as the lingua franca of traders and was widely used in various ports and marketplaces across the region.
The Tanjung Tanah Law was a 14th-century pre-Islamic legal text that was produced during the reign of Adityawarman (1345–1377) of the Melayu Kingdom (also known as Malayu or Dharmasraya Kingdom), a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom that arose after the end of Srivijayan rule in Sumatra. The laws were for the Minangkabau people, who today still live in the highlands of Sumatra, Indonesia.
The Terengganu Inscription Stone (Malay: Batu Bersurat Terengganu; Jawi: باتو برسورت ترڠݢانو) is a granite stele bearing an inscription in Jawi script, discovered in Terengganu, on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula (in what is now Malaysia). It is considered the earliest evidence of Classical Malay. Dated approximately to 702 AH (1303 CE), it represents the oldest known evidence of Jawi writing in the Malay world and stands as one of the earliest testimonies to the advent of Islam as a state religion in the region. The inscription contains a proclamation issued by a ruler of Terengganu, referred to as Seri Paduka Tuan, urging his subjects to uphold and propagate Islam, while outlining 10 basic Sharia laws as guidance.
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Malay language
Malay (UK: /məˈleɪ/ mə-LAY, US: /ˈmeɪleɪ/ MAY-lay; endonym: Bahasa Melayu, Jawi script: بهاس ملايو) is an Austronesian language spoken primarily by Malays in several islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and the Malay Peninsula on mainland Asia. The language is an official language of Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore. Indonesian, a standardized variety of Malay, is the official language of Indonesia and one of the working languages of Timor-Leste. Malay is also spoken as a regional language of ethnic Malays in Indonesia and the southern part of Thailand. Altogether, it is spoken by 60 million people across Maritime Southeast Asia.
The language is pluricentric and a macrolanguage, i.e., a group of mutually intelligible speech varieties, or dialect continuum, that have no traditional name in common, and which may be considered distinct languages by their speakers. Several varieties of it are standardized as the national language (bahasa kebangsaan or bahasa nasional) of several nation states with various official names: in Malaysia, it is designated as either Bahasa Melayu ("Malay language") or in some instances, Bahasa Malaysia ("Malaysian language"); in Singapore and Brunei, it is called Bahasa Melayu ("Malay language") where it in the latter country refers to a formal standard variety set apart from its own vernacular dialect; in Indonesia, an autonomous normative variety called Bahasa Indonesia ("Indonesian language") is designated the bahasa persatuan/pemersatu ("unifying language" or lingua franca) whereas the term "Malay" (bahasa Melayu) refers to vernacular varieties of Malay indigenous to areas of Central to Southern Sumatra and West Kalimantan as the ethnic languages of Malay in Indonesia.
Classical Malay, also called Court Malay, was the literary standard of the pre-colonial Malacca and Johor Sultanates and so the language is sometimes called Malacca, Johor or Riau Malay (or various combinations of those names) to distinguish it from the various other Malayic languages. According to Ethnologue 16, several of the Malayic varieties they currently list as separate languages, including the Orang Asli varieties of the Malay Peninsula, are so closely related to standard Malay that they may prove to be dialects. There are also several Malay trade and creole languages (e.g. Ambonese Malay) based on a lingua franca derived from Classical Malay as well as Makassar Malay, which appears to be a mixed language.
Malay historical linguists agree on the likelihood of the Malayic homeland being in western Borneo. A form known as Proto-Malayic was spoken in Borneo at least by 1000 BCE, it has been argued to be the ancestral language of all subsequent Malayic languages. Its ancestor, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, a descendant of the Proto-Austronesian language, began to break up by at least 2000 BCE, possibly as a result of the southward expansion of Austronesian peoples into Maritime Southeast Asia from the island of Taiwan.
The history of the Malay language can be divided into five periods: Old Malay, the Transitional Period, Classical Malay, Late Modern Malay and Modern Malay. Old Malay is believed to be the actual ancestor of Classical Malay.
Old Malay was influenced by Sanskrit, the ancient Indo-Aryan language of India. Sanskrit loan words can be found in Old Malay vocabulary. The earliest known stone inscription in the Old Malay language was found on the island of Sumatra. Written in the Pallava variety of the Grantha alphabet, it is dated 1 May 683. Known as the Kedukan Bukit inscription, it was discovered by the Dutchman C. J. Batenburg on 29 November 1920 at Kedukan Bukit, on the banks of the Tatang River, a tributary of the Musi River, near Palembang, in what is now South Sumatra, Indonesia. The stone measures approximately 45 by 80 centimetres (18 by 31 in). For centuries, Srivijaya, a maritime empire based on the island from the 7th to the 11th centuries, was responsible for the spread of Old Malay throughout the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago through its expansion and economic power. Old Malay served as the lingua franca of traders and was widely used in various ports and marketplaces across the region.
The Tanjung Tanah Law was a 14th-century pre-Islamic legal text that was produced during the reign of Adityawarman (1345–1377) of the Melayu Kingdom (also known as Malayu or Dharmasraya Kingdom), a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom that arose after the end of Srivijayan rule in Sumatra. The laws were for the Minangkabau people, who today still live in the highlands of Sumatra, Indonesia.
The Terengganu Inscription Stone (Malay: Batu Bersurat Terengganu; Jawi: باتو برسورت ترڠݢانو) is a granite stele bearing an inscription in Jawi script, discovered in Terengganu, on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula (in what is now Malaysia). It is considered the earliest evidence of Classical Malay. Dated approximately to 702 AH (1303 CE), it represents the oldest known evidence of Jawi writing in the Malay world and stands as one of the earliest testimonies to the advent of Islam as a state religion in the region. The inscription contains a proclamation issued by a ruler of Terengganu, referred to as Seri Paduka Tuan, urging his subjects to uphold and propagate Islam, while outlining 10 basic Sharia laws as guidance.
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