MALAY LANGUAGE

HISTORY AND EVOLUTION

Malay verifiable etymologists concede to the probability of the Malay country being in Western Borneo. A structure known as Proto-Malay was spoken in Borneo in any event by 1000 BCE and was, it has been contended, the familial language of all ensuing Malayan dialects. Its precursor, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, a relative of the Proto-Austronesian language, started to separate by at any rate 2000 BCE, perhaps because of the toward the south development of Austronesian people groups into Maritime Southeast Asia from the island of Taiwan.

The historical backdrop of the Malay language can be isolated into five periods: Old Malay, the Transitional Period, the Malacca Period (Classical Malay), Late Modern Malay and Modern Malay. Old Malay is accepted to be the real predecessor of Classical Malay.

Old Malay was affected by Sanskrit, the scholarly language of Classical India and a ritualistic language of Hinduism and Buddhism. Sanskrit loanwords can be found in Old Malay jargon. The most punctual known stone engraving in the Old Malay language was found in Sumatra, written in the Pallava assortment of the Grantha alphabet and is dated 1 May 683. Known as the Kedukan Bukit engraving, it was found by the Dutchman M. Batenburg on 29 November 1920 at Kedukan Bukit, South Sumatra, on the banks of the Tatang, a feeder of the Musi River. It is a little stone of 45 by 80 centimeters (18 by 31 in).

The soonest enduring original copy in Malay is the Tanjung Tanah Law in post-Pallava letters.[13] This fourteenth century pre-Islamic legitimate content was delivered in the Adityawarman time (1345–1377) of Dharmasraya, a Hindu-Buddhist realm that emerged after the finish of Srivijayan rule in Sumatra. The laws were for the Minangkabau public, who today actually live in the good countries of Sumatra, Indonesia.

The Malay language came into broad use as the most widely used language of the Malacca Sultanate (1402–1511). During this period, the Malay language grew quickly affected by Islamic writing. The advancement changed the idea of the language with monstrous mixture of Arabic, Tamil and Sanskrit vocabularies, called Classical Malay. Under the Sultanate of Malacca the language developed into a structure unmistakable to speakers of current Malay. At the point when the court moved to set up the Johor Sultanate, it kept utilizing the old style language; it has gotten so connected with Dutch Riau and British Johor that it is frequently accepted that the Malay of Riau is near the traditional language. Notwithstanding, there could be no nearer association between Malaccan Malay as utilized on Riau and the Riau vernacular.

Among the most seasoned enduring letters written in Malay are the letters from Sultan Abu Hayat of Ternate, Maluku Islands in present-day Indonesia, dated around 1521–1522. The content is routed to the lord of Portugal, following contact with Portuguese voyager Francisco Serrão. The letters give indication of non-local utilization; the Ternateans utilized (and still use) the disconnected Ternate language, a West Papuan language, as their first language. Malay was utilized exclusively as a most widely used language for between ethnic communications.

Grouping

Malay is an individual from the Austronesian group of dialects, which incorporates dialects from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with a more modest number in mainland Asia. Malagasy, a geographic anomaly spoken in Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, is likewise an individual from this language family. Albeit these dialects are not really commonly comprehensible to any degree, their likenesses are fairly striking. Numerous roots have come basically unaltered from their basic precursor, Proto-Austronesian language. There are numerous cognates found in the dialects' words for family relationship, wellbeing, body parts and basic creatures. Numbers, particularly, show surprising familiarities.

Inside Austronesian, Malay is important for a bunch of various firmly related types of discourse known as the Malayic dialects, which were spread across Malaya and the Indonesian archipelago by Malay brokers from Sumatra. There is conflict with respect to which assortments of discourse famously called "Malay" ought to be viewed as tongues of this language, and which ought to be delegated particular Malay dialects. The vernacular of Brunei—Brunei Malay—for instance, isn't promptly clear with the standard language, and the equivalent is valid with some lects on the Malay Peninsula like Kedah Malay. Be that as it may, both Brunei and Kedah are very close.

The nearest family members of the Malay dialects are those abandoned on Sumatra, like the Minangkabau language, with 5.5 million speakers on the west coast.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

Malay is spoken in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, East Timor, Singapore, portions of Thailand and southern Philippines. Indonesia directs its own standardizing assortment of Malay, while Malaysia and Singapore utilize the equivalent standard. Brunei, notwithstanding Standard Malay, utilizes an unmistakable vernacular lingo called Brunei Malay. In East Timor, Indonesian is perceived by the constitution as one of two working dialects (the other being English), close by the authority dialects of Tetum and Portuguese. The degree to which Malay is utilized in these nations differs relying upon recorded and social conditions. Malay is the public language in Malaysia by Article 152 of the Constitution of Malaysia, and turned into the sole authority language in Peninsular Malaysia in 1968 and in East Malaysia progressively from 1974. English proceeds, notwithstanding, to be generally utilized in expert and business fields and in the prevalent courts. Other minority dialects are likewise usually utilized by the country's huge ethnic minorities. The circumstance in Brunei is like that of Malaysia. In the Philippines, Malay is spoken by a minority of the Muslim populace dwelling in Mindanao (explicitly the Zamboanga Peninsula) and the Sulu Archipelago. Be that as it may, they for the most part talk it in a type of creole taking after Sabah Malay. Verifiably, it was the essential exchanging language of the archipelago before Spanish occupation. Indonesian is spoken by the abroad Indonesian people group in Davao City, and useful expressions are educated to individuals from the Philippine Armed Forces and to understudies.

OFFICIAL STATUS

Standard Malay is the authority language of Malaysia and one of the four authority dialects of Singapore (alongside English, Mandarin, and Tamil). It is additionally spoken in Indonesia, and Brunei, and is utilized as a working language in East Timor. It is spoken by 10.5 million individuals in Malaysia (2004 statistics) with a populace absolute for all nations: of 15.8 million speakers of Malay as a first language with an extra 3 million second-language speakers.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, the language is known as Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Malaysia. Since 1968, Standard Malay is the authority language of Malaysia. Notwithstanding, the language of more extensive correspondence is informal Malay. As a remnant of colonization, English is as yet thought to be a glory language among the informed classes. It keeps on being utilized in most of establishments of advanced education. In any case, Malay is formally the vehicle of logical, authoritative, lawful and other authority matters.

Brunei

Malay and English are the two co-official dialects of Brunei. Malay is spoken by over portion of the populace. English is broadly utilized, particularly by the Chinese and Indian minorities, as a result of its significance as the language of worldwide business.

Singapore

In Singapore, Malay was verifiably the most widely used language among individuals who communicated in various dialects, however it has been supplanted by English. Today, it holds the situation with a public language. 15% of Singapore's populace speak Malay.

Indonesia

Known as called Bahasa Indonesia, it is spoken by 23 million individuals as a first language and by 140 million individuals as a subsequent language. It has become the most widely used language for its various ethnic gatherings who talk a wide assortment of dialects. In East Timor (an area of Indonesia from 1976 to 1999), Bahasa Indonesia is generally spoken, and perceived by its Constitution as a working language.