Malaysian Malay

Malaysian Malay is standardized from the Johore-Riau dialect of Malay. It is spoken by much of the Malaysian population, although most learn a vernacular form of Malay or another native language first. Malay is a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools.

Malaysian Malay
Bahasa Melayu Malaysia بهاس ملايو مليسيا
Standard Malay Bahasa Melayu Piawai بهاس ملايو ڤياواي
Pronunciation	[baˈha.sə mə.la.ju mə'lej.sjə]
Native to	Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei
Speakers	Native: Few (2022) L2: Spoken by the vast majority of those in Malaysia, although most learn a local Malay dialect or another native language first.
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Malayic Malay Malaysian Malay
Early forms	Old Malay Classical Malay (Johor-Riau Malay) Pre-Modern Malay (British Malayan Malay)
Writing system	Latin (Rumi) Arabic (Jawi) Malaysian Braille
Signed forms	Manually Coded Malay Malaysian Sign Language
Official status
Official language in	Brunei  Malaysia  Singapore
Regulated by	Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Malaysian Institute of Language and Literature) Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei (Brunei Language and Literature Bureau) Majlis Bahasa Melayu Singapura (Singapore Malay Language Council)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	zsm
Glottolog	stan1306
Countries where Malaysian Malay is spoken:   Malaysia   Singapore and Brunei, where Standard Malay is an official language
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In Malaysia

Article 152 of the Federation designates "Malay" (Bahasa Melayu) as the official language, but the term bahasa Malaysia (lit. 'Malaysian Language') is used in official contexts from time to time. The use of the latter term can be politically contentious; in 1999 the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka rejected the publication of some short stories as the preface to the publication used the term bahasa Malaysia instead of bahasa Melayu. Between 1986 and 2007, the term bahasa Malaysia was replaced by "bahasa Melayu". In 2007, to recognize that Malaysia is composed of many ethnic groups (and not only the ethnic Malays), the term bahasa Malaysia became the government's preferred designation for the national language. However, both terms remain in use, as the terms Malay and bahasa Melayu are still very relevant or correct according Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and is used in Malaysian education. The language is also referred to as BM.

In Brunei and Singapore

The national standard variety of Malay employed in Brunei largely follows the Malaysian standard; the main differences being minor variation in pronunciation and some lexical influence from Brunei Malay, the local non-standard variety of Malay.^: 72 In Singapore, the Malaysian standard form of Malay is largely followed, although with little differences in vocabulary, and pronunciation is similar to Indonesian language rather than the standard Johor-Riau pronunciation that is usually used in Standard Malay.^: 206

 

 

The Latin alphabet, known in Malay as Rumi (Roman alphabets), is prescribed by law as the official script of Malaysian Malay, and the Arabic alphabet called Jawi (or Malay script) is not legally prescribed for that purpose. Rumi is official while efforts are currently being undertaken to preserve the Jawi script and to revive its use in Malaysia. The Latin alphabet, however, is still the most commonly used script in Malaysia, both for official and informal purposes.

The Malaysian language has most of its borrowings absorbed from Sanskrit, Tamil, Hindustani, Arabic, Persian, Portuguese, Dutch, Sinitic languages, 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.

Colloquial and contemporary usage of Malay includes modern Malaysian vocabulary, which may not be familiar to the older generation, such as:

• Awek (means girl, in place of perempuan).
• Balak (means guy, in place of jantan).
• Cun (means pretty, in place of cantik / jelita).

New plural pronouns have also been formed out of the original pronouns popularly nowadays and the word orang (person), such as:

• Korang (kau + orang, "you all", in place of kalian / kamu semua).
• Kitorang (kita + orang, the exclusive "we", in place of kami).
• Diorang (dia + orang, the exclusive "they", in place of mereka').

In addition, Arabic terms that is originally used in Standard Malay nowadays has been popularly changed where some of the words and pronunciations in the involved terms have been added by the local conservative Muslims by disputing the terms suggested by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), claiming that the involved terms with implementation of the additional words and pronunciations is the real correct terms as same as stated in the Qur'an, where it is predominantly used by the local Muslim netizens in the social medias nowadays. The several involved terms in comparison to Standard Malay that is popularly used, such as:

• Ramadhan (means the holy fasting month, in place of Ramadan).
• Aamiin (means asking Allah (Islam) to verify the prayer (Du'a); real term is Ameen, in place of Amin).
• Fardhu (means obligatory (in Islam), in place of Fardu).
• Redha (means accepting, in place of Reda).
• Mudharat (means harm, in place of Mudarat).
• Dhaif (means poverty, in place of Daif).
• Zohor (means mid-day or noon time, in place of Zuhur).
• Hadith (means Prophet (Mohamed) terms or speeches, in place of Hadis).

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 standard language.

• Comparison of Standard Malay and Indonesian
• Indonesian language
• Jawi, an Arabic script based writing system for Malay
• Language politics
• Malaysian English, English language used formally in Malaysia.
• Varieties of Malay