MANAGING HERITAGE LANGUAGE RELEVANCE AND LANGUAGE REVITALISATION: THE CASE OF MALACCA PORTUGUESE CREOLE SOH WEN YI FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR 2015 MANAGING HERITAGE LANGUAGE RELEVANCE AND LANGUAGE REVITALISATION: THE CASE OF MALACCA PORTUGUESE CREOLE SOH WEN YI THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR 2015 UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA ORIGINAL LITERARY WORK DECLARATION Name of Candidate: (I.C/Passport No: ) Registration/Matric No: Name of Degree: Title of Project Paper/Research Report/Dissertation/Thesis (“this Work”): Field of Study: I do solemnly and sincerely declare that: (1) I am the sole author/writer of this Work; (2) This Work is original; (3) Any use of any work in which copyright exists was done by way of fair dealing and for permitted purposes and any excerpt or extract from, or reference to or reproduction of any copyright work has been disclosed expressly and sufficiently and the title of the Work and its authorship have been acknowledged in this Work; (4) I do not have any actual knowledge nor do I ought reasonably to know that the making of this work constitutes an infringement of any copyright work; (5) I hereby assign all and every rights in the copyright to this Work to the University of Malaya (“UM”), who henceforth shall be owner of the copyright in this Work and that any reproduction or use in any form or by any means whatsoever is prohibited without the written consent of UM having been first had and obtained; (6) I am fully aware that if in the course of making this Work I have infringed any copyright whether intentionally or otherwise, I may be subject to legal action or any other action as may be determined by UM. Candidate’s Signature Date: Subscribed and solemnly declared before, Witness’s Signature Date: Name: Designation: ABSTRACT This thesis is set against the backdrop of the wider multilingual and postcolonial context and local language revitalisation efforts. The language in study, Malacca Portuguese Creole (MPC), is a Portuguese-based contact language undergoing language shift, spoken as heritage language by a concentrated population of approximately 800 people (Baxter, 2013) in the main research site, Portuguese Settlement (PS), Malacca, West Malaysia. The development of MPC and people identifying with MPC as their heritage language can be traced to the arrival of Portuguese in Malacca in 1511. The bottom-up research design of this thesis is drawn from Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2006, 2014). To understand and explain gaps between views and actions (initially driven by a perceived gap between language revitalisation efforts and reactions towards efforts) and as guided by questions and leads from emerging concepts and categories, the purpose and focus of research were redirected from a general investigation into MPC language revitalisation to capturing the experience, expressivity and dynamics of PS MPC-speaking group members, as illuminated by the language revitalisation process. The initial data collection employed interviewing as the main research instrument. Research participants were MPC speakers involved in revitalisation efforts and those who would be recipients of efforts. The research process was iterative as researcher moved between research procedures including data collection, coding, constant comparative method, memo-writing and theoretical sampling; analysis and conceptualisation were simultaneous. Theoretical sampling, the second phase of data collection according to theoretical relevance, proceeded by contacting research participants, analysing survey, examination of writings in and about MPC and its speakers and using literature as data. This thesis proposes a substantive model which brings the dynamics and voices of a contact-language-speaking group to the forefront. The core iii category of the model, managing relevance of heritage language, can be related to the basic social process of coping mechanisms in response to social development, in the quest of a basic social process or central phenomenon as pursued in a Grounded Theory study. It refers to the process of keeping one’s heritage language relevant as an aspect of one’s social life while maintaining other parts of social life and self-identifications. MPC- speaking group members who have initiated language revitalisation efforts have been motivated to take things into their own hands, showing their coping mechanisms more explicitly, in comparison with non-language-revitalisation-actors whose coping strategies are less explicit. The process of managing heritage language relevance helps construct a particular sense of self: a self identifying with a MPC-speaking heritage; this forms the socio-psychological and emotional dimension of the process. To understand this self- managing dimension and because self-constructing is not an isolated process, a socio- historical or socio-cultural dimension enters the picture. This new way of looking at the dynamics of a contact-language-speaking group in managing heritage language relevance can be applied to promote, plan and integrate the relevance of heritage language in future language revitalisation efforts. The present study is the first in employing Grounded Theory to conduct a formal research on MPC and the first to explore the MPC language revitalisation process cycle. iv ABSTRAK Tesis ini meliputi konteks umum, iaitu konteks berbilang bahasa dan lepas penjajahan dan konteks tempatan, usaha mempergiatkan bahasa. Bahasa yang dikaji, Bahasa Kriol Portugis Melaka (MPC), ialah satu bahasa kontak berdasarkan Bahasa Portugis yang merupakan bahasa warisan bagi suatu populasi sebanyak 800 orang (Baxter, 2013) dan sedang mengalami pengalihan bahasa di tempat kajian, Perkampungang Portugis (PS), Melaka, Semenanjung Malaysia. Perkembangan MPC dan mereka yang mengidentifikasikan diri dengan MPC sebagai bahasa warisan boleh dikesan bekas langkahnya ke tahun 1511 apabila orang Portugis menjejaki Melaka. Perancangan penyelidikan tesis ini merujuk kepada Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2006, 2014). Untuk memahami kekurangan respons terhadap usaha mempergiatkan MPC yang merupakan motivasi penyelidikan ini sementara mengikuti konsep dan kategori yang timbul daripada penyelidikan, objektif dan focus tesis ini berkembang daripada suatu penyelidikan umum usaha mempergiatkan lagi MPC kepada penyelidikan yang mengenai pengalaman anggota masyarakat yang menutur MPC dalam pengurusan bahasa warisan mereka yang terancam. Pengumpulan data bermula dengan temuduga sebagai instrumen utama penyelidikan. Peserta penyelidikan terdiri daripada mereka yang terlibat dalam usaha mempergiatkan bahasa dan mereka yang merupakan penerima usaha tersebut. Proses penyelidikan adalah bersifat lelaran sementara penyelidik megulang-ulangkan proses-proses seperti pengumpulan data, pengekodan, perbandingan kod, penulisan memo dan pengumpulan data bersifat teoretikal; penganalisasian data dan pengkonsepan dijalankan serentak. Pengumpulan data bersifat teoretikal yang merupakan tahap kedua pengumpulan data mengikut kaitan teoretikal dijalankan dengan menghubungi peserta penyelidikan, menganalisasi tinjauan, menganalisasi kerja yang ditulis dalam MPC dan yang mengenai MPC, dan merujuk kepada sorotan kajian sebagai data. Tesis ini mengemukakan suatu model substantif bagi v memahami pengalaman, daya pengungkapan dan dinamiks masyarakat berbahasa kontak di PS. Kategori utama, pengurusan bahasa warisan terancam, yang timbul daripada proses penyelidikan boleh dikaitkan dengan strategi pengurusan proses umum terhadap perubahan masyarakat. Ia merujuk kepada proses menguruskan bahasa warisan yang merupakan suatu aspek kehidupan masyarakat sementara bersambung dengan aspek- aspek kehidupan yang lain. Terdapat anggota masyarakat berbahasa MPC yang digalakkan dengan motivasi untuk menentukan nasib sendiri dengan memulakan atau terlibat dalam usaha mempergiatkan MPC dan menunjukkan strategi pengurusan kaitan bahasa warisan terancam yang lebih jelas. Proses pengurusan kaitan bahasa warisan terancam menyumbang kepada pembinaan diri yang mengidentifikasi dengan warisan berbahasa MPC; ini merupakan suatu dimensi psikologi dan emosi. Bagi memahami dimensi psikologi dan emosi dan oleh sebab pembinaan diri bukan suatu proses independen, suatu lagi dimensi sejarah dan budaya diterokai. Perspektif tesis ini yang menerokai dinamiks masyarakat yang berbahasa kontak sebagai bahasa warisan dan bagaimana mereka mengurus kaitan bahasa tersebut boleh menyumbang kepada perancangan dan pembelajaran bahasa bagi usaha mempergiatkan bahasa yang akan datang. Tesis ini juga merupakan kajian pertama yang merujuk kepada Grounded Theory sebagai reka bentuk penyelidikan MPC dan kajian formal pertama ke atas usaha mempergiatkan bahasa warisan terancam, MPC. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the family and Portuguese Settlement community who have assisted me and made this thesis possible. To Mama Anne (De Mello), Uncle Gerard (De Costa), the late Carrieanne De Costa, and Roseanne De Costa, words cannot describe how much I appreciate your kindness, generousity and hospitalibity in making me feel like home and helping me in every possible way. More names could not be given credit here to protect their identity as research participants of this study. To all participants of this study, thank you very much for your time and patience in sharing a part of your