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Malay language: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Malay language
On the 1st of May 683, a stone inscription was carved in the banks of the Tatang River near Palembang, South Sumatra, marking the first known written record of the Malay language. This artifact, known as the Kedukan Bukit inscription, was discovered by the Dutchman C. J. Batenburg on the 29th of November 1920, and it reveals that Old Malay was already a sophisticated language influenced by Sanskrit, the ancient Indo-Aryan language of India. The stone, written in the Pallava variety of the Grantha alphabet, measures approximately 45 centimeters in length and serves as a testament to the early maritime empire of Srivijaya, which spread Old Malay throughout the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago through its economic power and expansion. 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, a 14th-century pre-Islamic legal text produced during the reign of Adityawarman (1345, 1377) of the Melayu Kingdom, further illustrates the language's evolution into a formal legal and administrative tool. The Terengganu Inscription Stone, discovered in Terengganu on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, 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.
The Court And The Sea
Classical Malay came into widespread use as the lingua franca of the region during the Malacca Sultanate era (1402, 1511), a powerful maritime kingdom strategically located along the Strait of Malacca that became a hub of international trade and Islamic learning in the region. During this period, the Malay language developed rapidly under the influence of Islamic literature, which brought about significant linguistic changes, including a massive infusion of Arabic vocabulary, as well as continued influence from Sanskrit and Tamil. This enriched form of the language came to be known as Classical Malay. It was during this time the language evolved into a form recognisable to speakers of modern Malay. After the Capture of Malacca by the Portuguese in 1511, marking the fall of the Malacca Sultanate, the royal court re-established itself as the Johor Sultanate. The court continued to use Classical Malay as its literary and administrative language. Over time, this literary tradition became strongly associated with the territories under the sultanate, including the present-day Malaysian state of Johor and the Indonesian province of Riau Islands. As a result, many assumed that the spoken Malay of Johor and Riau was closely related to Classical Malay. However, while the literary language used in the region reflects the classical tradition, the local spoken dialects differ. The fall of Malacca led to the dispersal of Malay literary centres, as many literati and scholars sought refuge in areas outside the immediate control of European colonial powers. As a result, new Malay literary works began to emerge from Aceh, Java, Makassar, the Moluccas, Champa, and other regions. Among the oldest surviving letters written in Malay are the letters from Sultan Abu Hayat of Ternate, in the Maluku Islands of present-day Indonesia, dated around 1521, 1522. The text is addressed to the king of Portugal, following contact with Portuguese explorer Francisco Serrão. The letters show a sign of non-native usage, as the Ternateans used (and still use) the unrelated Ternate language, a West Papuan language, as their first language. Malay was used solely as a lingua franca for inter-ethnic communications.
Common questions
When was the first known written record of the Malay language created?
The first known written record of the Malay language was created on the 1st of May 683. This record is the Kedukan Bukit inscription carved on a stone near Palembang, South Sumatra.
Who discovered the Kedukan Bukit inscription and when was it found?
The Dutchman C. J. Batenburg discovered the Kedukan Bukit inscription on the 29th of November 1920. This artifact measures approximately 45 centimeters in length and reveals that Old Malay was already a sophisticated language influenced by Sanskrit.
What script was used to write Old Malay before the introduction of Jawi?
Old Malay was written using the Pallava and Kawi scripts before the introduction of the Arabic Jawi script. These scripts were used during the era of the Pallava variety of the Grantha alphabet and the kingdom of Pasai.
Which empire spread Old Malay throughout the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago?
The Srivijaya maritime empire spread Old Malay throughout the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago from the 7th to the 11th centuries. This expansion was driven by the empire's economic power and its role as a hub for trade.
When did the Malacca Sultanate era occur and how did it influence the Malay language?
The Malacca Sultanate era occurred from 1402 to 1511 and transformed Malay into Classical Malay. During this period, the language developed rapidly under the influence of Islamic literature, which brought about a massive infusion of Arabic vocabulary.
How many people speak Malay across Maritime Southeast Asia today?
Malay is spoken by 60 million people across Maritime Southeast Asia. This total includes 10 million speakers in Malaysia and 260 million speakers in Indonesia as Indonesian.
The 19th century marked a period of strong Western political and commercial domination in the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago. The colonial demarcation brought by the 1824 Anglo-Dutch Treaty led to Dutch East India Company effectively colonising the East Indies in the south, while the British Empire held several colonies and protectorates in the Malay peninsula and Borneo in the north. Both colonial powers used the Malay language as a tool of centralisation and modernisation. They made use of each other's scholarly publications in developing the standardised versions of the Malay language. The flourishing of pre-modern Malay literature in the 19th century led to the rise of intellectual movements among the locals and the emergence of new communities of Malay linguists. The divergence between Indonesian and Standard Malay is systemic in nature, contributing to the way the two sets of speakers understand and react to the world, and are more far reaching with a discernible cognitive gap than the difference between dialects. The words for 'article', pasal and perkara, and for 'declaration', pernyataan and perisytiharan, are specific to the Indonesian and Malaysian standards, respectively, but otherwise all the words are found in both (and even those words may be found with slightly different meanings). The presence of Sanskritised neologism in Malaysian and Bruneian Malay is a result of 'importation' from Indonesian. Terminology for various subjects such as administration, business, and law was derived from the languages of respective colonial master, those are Dutch for Indonesian and English for Malaysian and Bruneian Malay. Although the rule for scientific terms development is agreed, the result can differ because of the difference in traditional vocabulary and the loan-shift difference on semantics and grammatical feature choice.
The Script And The Sound
Malay is now written using the Latin script, known as Rumi in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore or Latin in Indonesia, although an Arabic script called Arab Melayu or Jawi also exists. Latin script is official in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Malay uses Hindu-Arabic numerals. Rumi (Latin) and Jawi are co-official in Brunei and Malaysia only. Names of institutions and organisations have to use Jawi and Rumi (Latin) scripts in Brunei and some parts of Malaysia. Jawi is used fully in schools, especially the religious school, sekolah agama, which is compulsory during the afternoon for Muslim students aged from around 6, 7 up to 12, 14. Efforts are currently being undertaken to preserve Jawi in Malaysia, and students taking Malay language examinations in Malaysia have the option of answering questions using Jawi. The Latin script, however, is the most commonly used in Brunei and Malaysia, both for official and informal purposes. Historically, Malay has been written using various scripts. Before the introduction of Arabic script in the Malay region, Malay was written using the Pallava, Kawi and Rencong scripts; these scripts are no longer frequently used, but similar scripts such as the Cham alphabet are used by the Chams of 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 Malacca Sultanate, Jawi gradually replaced these scripts as the most commonly used script in the Malay region. Starting from the 17th century, under Dutch and British influence, Jawi was gradually replaced by the Rumi script. Malay originally had four vowels, but in many dialects today, including Standard Malay, it has six, with a split into e and o, and i split into e and i. Many words are commonly pronounced variably, with either e or i, and relatively few words require a mid vowel. There is a rule of vowel harmony: the non-open vowels e and o in bisyllabic words must agree in height, so hidung ('nose') is allowed but *hedung is not.
The Dialect Continuum
There is a group of closely related languages spoken by Malays and related peoples across Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Southern Thailand, Timor-Leste, and the far southern parts of the Philippines. They have traditionally been classified as Malay, Para-Malay, and Aboriginal Malay, but this reflects geography and ethnicity rather than a proper linguistic classification. The Malayic languages are mutually intelligible to varying extents, though the distinction between language and dialect is unclear in many cases. Para-Malay includes the Malayic languages of Sumatra. They are: Minangkabau, Central Malay (Bengkulu), Pekal, Talang Mamak, Musi (Palembang), Negeri Sembilan (Malaysia), and Duano'. Ethnologue 16 also lists Col, Haji, Kaur, Kerinci, Kubu, Lubu'. Aboriginal Malay are the Malayic languages spoken by the Orang Asli (Proto-Malay) in Malaya. They are Jakun, Orang Kanaq, Orang Seletar, and Temuan. The other Malayic languages, included in neither of these groups, are associated with the expansion of the Malays across the archipelago. They include Riau-Johor Malay (Malaysian and Indonesian), Kedah Malay, Brunei Malay, Berau Malay, Bangka Malay, Jambi Malay, Kutai Malay, Terengganu Malay, Riau Malay, Loncong, Pattani Malay, Bacan Malay, and Banjarese. Menterap may belong here. There are also several Malay-based creole languages, such as Betawi Malay, Cocos Malay, Makassar Malay, Ambonese Malay, Dili Malay, Kupang Malay, Manado Malay, Papuan Malay, Thousand Islands Malay, Larantuka Malay, Alor Malay, Balinese Malay, Sri Lankan Malay and Sabah Malay, which may be more or less distinct from standard (Malaccan) Malay. Batavian and eastern dialects are sometimes regarded as Malay creole, because the speakers are not ethnically Malay. The word kita means 'we, us' in western, but means 'I, me' in Manado, whereas 'we, us' in Manado is torang and Ambon katong (originally abbreviated from Malay kita orang 'we people'). Another difference is the lack of possessive pronouns (and suffixes) in eastern dialects. Manado uses the verb pe and Ambon pu (from Malay punya 'to have') to mark possession. So 'my name' and 'our house' are translated in western Malay as namaku and rumah kita but kita pe nama and torang pe rumah in Manado and beta pu nama, katong pu rumah in Ambon dialect.
The Unifying Tongue
Besides Indonesian, which developed from the Riau Malay dialect, there are many Malay varieties spoken in Indonesia; they are divided into western and eastern groups. Western Malay dialects are predominantly spoken in Sumatra and Borneo, which itself is divided into Bornean and Sumatran Malay; some of the most widely spoken Sumatran Malay dialects are Riau Malay, Langkat, Palembang Malay and Jambi Malay. Minangkabau, Kerinci and Bengkulu are believed to be Sumatran Malay descendants. Meanwhile, the Jakarta dialect (known as Betawi) also belongs to the western Malay group. The eastern varieties, classified either as dialects or creoles, are spoken in the eastern part of the Malay or Nusantara archipelago and include Makassar Malay, Manado Malay, Ambonese Malay, North Moluccan Malay, Kupang Malay, Dili Malay, and Papuan Malay. The differences among both groups are quite observable. For example, the word kita means 'we, us' in western, but means 'I, me' in Manado, whereas 'we, us' in Manado is torang and Ambon katong (originally abbreviated from Malay kita orang 'we people'). Another difference is the lack of possessive pronouns (and suffixes) in eastern dialects. Manado uses the verb pe and Ambon pu (from Malay punya 'to have') to mark possession. So 'my name' and 'our house' are translated in western Malay as namaku and rumah kita but kita pe nama and torang pe rumah in Manado and beta pu nama, katong pu rumah in Ambon dialect. The pronunciation may vary in western dialects, especially the pronunciation of words ending in the vowel 'a'. For example, in some parts of Malaysia and in Singapore, kita (inclusive 'we, us, our') is pronounced as [kita], in Kelantan and Southern Thailand as [kitə], in Riau as [kita], in Palembang as [kitə], in Betawi and Perak as [kitə] and in Kedah and Perlis as [kitɑ]. Indonesian has been recognised as an official language of the General Conference of UNESCO since 2023. The VOA and BBC use Indonesian as one of their standard language for broadcasting. In Australia, Indonesian is one of three Asian target languages, together with Japanese and Mandarin, taught in some schools as part of the Languages Other Than English programme. Indonesian has been taught in Australian schools
The Global Reach
and universities since the 1950s. Malay is spoken by 60 million people across Maritime Southeast Asia. 10 million in Malaysia as either 'Malay' or 'Malaysian', 5 million in Indonesia as 'Malay' plus 260 million as 'Indonesian', etc.