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Languages and Language Situation of Southeast Asia

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Languages and Language Situation of Southeast Asia Jati, Bilangan 3, Ogos 1997 t4 LANGUAGES AND LANGUAGE SITUATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIA Dato'Asmah Haii Omar Introduction In terms of origin the languagesof SoutheastAsia can be divided into two categoriesindigenous and non-indigenous.Indigenous languages are thosewhich have been in the area for a long time, as comparedto the non-indigenousones which have the origins outsidesuch as Chinese, Indian and Europeanlanguages. A widely acceptedtheory, that of H. Kern, posits the original homelandof the Austronesianlanguages of PeninsularMalaysia and the islandsof SoutheastAsia as the Provinceof Yunnanin SoutheastChina. Indigenous Languages The indigenouslanguages of the whole of SoutheastAsia belong to a number of different stocks. These are Austronesian,Papuan, Tai-Kadai, Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burrnan. The Austronesianstock is most widely spreadall over the SoutheastAsian islands, PeninsularMalaysia, the hills of Hainan and Taiwan (Formosa). A few of theselanguages are also found in Kampuchea. The Papuan family of languagesis only locatedin New Guinea. The Austroasiaticfamily consistsof the Mon-khmer and Munda groups of languages.The aboriginallanguages of PeninsularMalaysia (with the exception of Jakunand Temuanwhich are dialectsof Malay) 4nd Metnamesebelong to, the Mon-Khmer group. In the Tai-Kadai group are Thai, Lao and various other languagesfound in Thailand and Laos. The members of Tibeto-Burrnanare Burmeseand variousother languagesof Burma. In terms of typology,one can point to particularlinguistic featuresthat serves to differentiatethe Austronesianlanguages apart from the Austroasiatic,Tai-Kadai and Tibeto-Burmanlanguages; and this is the tonal feafurewhich is absentin the former, but forms a distinctive trait in most of the languagesin the latter three groups. This paper henceforthwill be devotedto a discussionon the languagesand languagesituation of the Austronesianregion of Indonesia,Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines. Most of the indigenouslanguages of thesecountries belongto the Austronesianlanguage stock. This stockhas an areaof spreadwhich Dato'Asmsh Haji Omsr-Languages and Longuoge Situstion l5 of SoutheastAsia runs from Taiwanin the north to New Zealandin the south,and from EasterIsland in the eastto Madagascarin the west. The Austronesianstock is divided into four main families. and these are Indonesian,,Melanesian, Polynesian and Micronesian.The languagesof the latter threeare also known as Oceaniclanguages. The Austronesianlanguages of Malaysia, Singapore,Brunei, the Philippines and Indonesia are mostly those of the Indonesianfamily. However, Indonesia beingthe largestand most widespreadof all thesecountries also encompasses the Melanesianfamily of languages,specifically in Irian. Malaysiais the only oneof the five countrieswhich haslanguages of both the Austronesianand Austroasiaticstocks. The former stock comprisesMalay (with its variousdialects), and the languagesof Sabahand Sarawak,while the latter consistsof the aboriginalor orangasli languagesof PeninsularMalaysia, with the exception of Jakun and Temuan,which, as already mentioned,are dialects of Malay. Origin of Homeland of the Austronesian Languages There are many theorieson the subjectof origins of the Austronesianlanguages. Isidore Dyen seemedto think that it was the island of Borneo. However,as said earlier,the theory most widely acceptedis the one expoundedby H. Kern, which says that the homelandof the Austronesianlanguages was Yunnan in Southeast China. This theory was based on archaeologicalfindings of artefacts,animal remainsand vegetation. Specialistson theAustroasiatic languages also seemto be of the opinionthat the homelandof the Austroasiaticpeoples is around the samearea as that of the Austronesian languages. This area is now a region of spreadof the Chinese language. Austronesian Languages It is not known how many languagesthere are altogetherin the countriesunder consideration.A rough guess is that there are 400 in Indonesia,250 in the Philippines,and 100in Malaysiaand Brunei. These languages vary in termsof the size of their speechcommunities. Following Ferguson's model (Ferguson,197l), thosewith at leasta million speakersmay be termedmajor languages,while those with lessthan this numbermay be termedminor languages.At the sametime, there may be languageswith only a few hundredspeakers and are facing the dangerof Jati, Bilangsn 3, Ogos 1997 l6 beingextinct; these are the moribundlanguages. Eachof the countriesunder consideration have a lingua.franca,which is used by peopleof variouslinguistic backgrounds in socialisingwith eachother or in carryingout their trades.In Malaysia,Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei, the lingua franca is Malay,while in the Philippinesit is Tagalog. The local languagesare fully developedin the sensethat they are well-formed toolsof theircommunities service not only communication,but alsocognitive and The discussionbelow revolves around certain languagefeatures and systems pertainingto certain concepts,which help in formulating the world view of the Austronesianpeople of SoutheastAsia. Morphological Types The languagesof the Austronesianstock are agglutinativein nature. This means that they make use of affixes to derive words from roots or base forms. These affixes may consistof prefixes,suffixes and infixes. Of thesethree subcategories the first seemsto be the most dominant,in termsof inventoryas well frequencyin usage.Next comesthe subcategoryof infix, followed by the subcategoryof suffix. Besidesthese affixes, there also exist the discontinuousaffixes, viz. thosewhich reflecta combinationof a prefix and a suffix, or an infix and a suffix. To illustrate,consider for exampleat Malay which has only three indigenous affixesas opposedto about 12 prefixes,and threediscontinuous affixes. An almost similar pattern showing the dominanceof the prefixes over the other types of affixes occursin Iban andKadazan. The affixes may have a grammaticalor a lexical function. With the former function,it indicatesthe modulationof the categoryit occupies. For example,in the caseof the verb in Malay, the prefix me- as in membuka(to open),menari (to dance),melihctt (to see),etc. may indicatethe active voice, and with it various aspectslike thebeginning or continuityof action,and so on. On the other hand,the affixes can derive new lexical items by adding in new meaningsto the baseform to which they are attached.For example,from the root tari (to dance),one can derivepenari (dancer)by using the prefix pe-; andtarian (a dance)by using the suffix -aru. Another morphologicalfeature which is a characteristicof the Austronesian languagesis reduplication. This featuremay consistof the reduplicationof the whole word (for example,oranp "person";orang-orang "people"),the root of a complexword (for example,menulls "to write"; menulis-nulis"to keepon writing"), or the first syllableof the root (for example,laki "husband";lelaki "male", "man"). Dato'Asmah Haji Omar-Languages and Languoge Situution t7 of Southeust Asia All the examplesabove are taken from Malay. Reduplicationhas a lexical function; that is to say it derivesnew words from the root-forrns,as seenin the examplesalready given. Numbers and Counting Most of theselanguages have numeralsup to the thousand. A few, fbr exarnple Malay, Javaneseand Tagalog,have numerals up to a million. However, the numeralsabove the thousandare borrowed from Sanskritand English. On the other hand,there are also languageswhich have numerals.That run only up to ten. A casein point is the RundumMurut of Sabah. A great number of the languagesuse numeral classifiersin counting,while othersdo not. The classifiersare categorisedaccording to the noun objectsthey modify. Generally,they fall into two main categories,anintate and inanimate. Most of the languageswhich have the animatenumeral classifiers divide this categoryinto two subcategories:human and non-human.The non-humannumeral classifiersmodify nouns ref-erringto animals. For example, Malay makes a distinctionbetween human and non-humansnoun by using the classifrerorang for the former and ekor for the latter,as in the following examples:dua orang anak (fwo children), tiga orang kawan (threefriends); as opposedto dua ekor o!,am(two chickens),and tiga ekor kambing(three goats). Not all languagesmake this human versus non-humandistinction. For example, Iban usesonly one classifier,and that is iko, (a cognateof the Malay ekor), for both hurnanand non-humannouns, for example,pat ikojani (four pigs); lima iko anembiak(five children) Classifiersfor inanimatenotions are generallydetermined by the shapeand size of the noun objectsconcerned. Malay and Iban are among those languages which havea rich storeof suchclassifiers. The separationbetween the singularand the plural number doesnot form a significantsystem in theselanguages. That is to say,a noun, a verb or' an adjective may be usedin the singuiaror the plural; it doesnot haveto havea particularform by usingvarious affixes to showthat it denotesthe plural as opposedto the singular. In Malay, the noun may be reduplicatedto convey the plural meaning,such as orang (person);orong-orang (people). However, this device is optional and indicatesa preferencefor the type of style which shows definitenessrather than a rule that hasto be followed. In contradistinctionwith the above,the separationbetween the singularand theplural occursin the systemof personalpronouns as will be discussedbelow. Jati, Bilsngsn 3, Ogos 1997 l8 Personal Pronouns and the Concept of Intimacy, Neutrality and Distance The Austronesianlanguages
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