Clynes-Brunei-Malay.Pdf
Occasional Papers in Language Studies, Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Volume 7 (2001), pp. 11-43. Brunei Malay: An Overview1 Adrian Clynes Universiti Brunei Darussalam INTRODUCTION Brunei Malay in its various forms can be identified with a nation, an ethnic group, and a region. Malay is the national language of Brunei Darussalam, with perhaps two-thirds of the population of around 330,000 (late 1999) speaking a variety of Brunei Malay (cakap barunay, kurapak barunay) as a mother tongue, and many more citizens speaking it as a second language.2 More generally, varieties identified as Brunei Malay are spoken by the Brunei ethnic group, both in Brunei and in neighbouring areas of Malaysia - in Eastern Sarawak, in the Limbang, Lawas and Miri areas, and in Sabah, around Beaufort, Kuala Penyu, Sipitang and on the island of Labuan (Asmah 1985, Yabit Alas 1997). Further afield, BM is the basis for, or has strongly influenced, Malay varieties used for interethnic communication in this region (see below). Today, BM remains a vigorous, locally-expanding language; other indigenous languages are being abandoned by younger speakers in favour of it, and of Brunei Malay ethnic identity (Martin 1996a). Historically cakap barunay is one of the most influential Malay varieties, both in northern Borneo, and further afield.3 There is a clear Bruneian element in what is perhaps the very earliest example of Malay to be published (Collins 1996b, 1998), the 426-item wordlist collected in 1522 by the Italian Pigafetta, who visited Brunei while travelling through the Philippines, Brunei and the Moluccas (Skelton 1969).
[Show full text]