A GRAMMAR OF BABA MALAY WITH SOCIOPHONETIC CONSIDERATIONS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN LINGUISTICS DECEMBER 2014 By Nala Huiying Lee Dissertation Committee: Lyle Campbell, Chairperson Andrea Berez Robert Blust Katie Drager Barbara Watson Andaya Copyright © 2014 by Nala Huiying Lee ii Dedicated to the memory of Lee Tai San alias Yap Kim Seng, my Peranakan grandfather and Hung Kok Cheong, my Hockchia grandfather iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I had looked forward to many things. For example, being able to say, yes there is a doctor on board the plane and could I give you an aspirin? (Just kidding). Chief among which, I had always looked forward to writing this page, knowing that it would mark a particular milestone in my dissertation writing. Yet, this has been the most difficult page I have ever had to write in my thus-far short academic career, not because there is no one to thank, but because I am afraid I might have left you out, and if I do thank you here, there is a high chance that even the most profuse expression of gratitude falls short. Do bear with me as I attempt to do justice to all the kindness I have received. This dissertation was made possible, and due in no small part, to the encouragement and support of many people. My gratitude goes out to my key language consultants who have been nothing but generous with their time and language expertise. Thank you Baba Peter Wee, president of the Peranakan Association Singapore and proprietor of Katong Antique House, for the exceptional company and for encouraging my love of books and all things old; Baba Victor Goh, cultural advisor to the Gunong Sayang Association, for being ever so patient and for sharing with me your passion for the Peranakan culture; my dearest mamah ‘grandmother’ Nyonya Jane Quek, for all the chuckles and for spoiling me with good old home-cooked Peranakan lauk-lauk ‘dishes’; Baba Albert Ku and wife, Aunty Lydia, for welcoming me to Malacca and for treating me like your own; and my own Grand Uncle Chan, for inspiring me with your genteel nature and for sharing with me Lee family stories from dulu-dulu ‘long long ago’. I am also thankful to all other members of the Associations who have extended their generosity to me in some way or other. At the University of Hawai‘i, I am indebted to my dissertation committee. I wish to thank my chairperson, Lyle Campbell, for encouraging me to pursue a grammar, for constantly being my voice of reason when all I wanted were the moon and the stars (and at times Jupiter and Mars), for having a big heart and for lending me the perfect space to work in, for his superhuman response time, and for making my dissertation stronger just by asking the right questions; Andrea Berez for sharing her expertise and enthusiasm on matters of language documentation, for encouraging me to explore different technologies to keep my dissertation organized and on-track, iv and for her good humour and well-timed wit; Robert Blust for being one of the first people to welcome me to Hawai‘i, for making the Austronesian world such an interesting one to be in, for combing through my references in every submission with a fine-toothed comb, so that my bibliographies became models of exception, and for encouraging me to challenge myself every step of the way; Katie Drager for introducing me to sociophonetics, for being patient with me when statistics got me (not the other way around), and for her warmth and energy all around; and Barbara Watson Andaya for her kindness, for coming on board so readily as an external member, and for taking a genuine interest in my work. I am also grateful to classmates and friends at the University. Thank you Katie Gao (née Butler) for the late nights at Sinclair Library, for making sure I had enough food and coffee to get through the weeks of my comprehensive exams, for all the times it got tough, and for all the good ones too; Sunju Kim for equally good company, for the evenings at the coffeeshop, and for teaching me random Korean phrases; Carolina Aragon for keeping me upbeat, for making me doce de leite, and for being my constant gym buddy; John Van Way for being an all-round excellent colleague and co-writer, for creating the Language Endangerment Index with me, and for keeping my competitive edge sharp; Tamami Harada for her selfless friendship, her generosity, and for keeping me sane over the weekends. I also wish to thank members of the sociolinguistics interest group, In-group, and Da Pidgin Coup for making me feel at home with my work in Hawai‘i. Special thanks goes to Kent Sakoda for all the talk story time and for feeding me candy and zabon. I am also grateful to Jennifer Kanda and Nora Lum. I am forever in awe at their efficiency and adeptness, and how much they know everything there is to know about what form there is to fill in, or when I have to turn it what. At the National University of Singapore, I am grateful to current head of department, John Richardson, and my previous head of department, Lionel Wee for all their encouragement in my academic career; to my mentor, Bao Zhiming for always finding time for me and for all his sagely advice; to Mie Hiramoto, the elder sister I never had, for all the times I panicked and needed a listening ear, and for showing me that people who live with the same philosophies as I do can come out just fine. At the Nanyang Technological University, I owe much to past colleagues, especially Ng Bee Chin and Tan Ying Ying. They were among the first people to stand by me. v To Mama, thank you for sharing your love of different cultures and your curiosity of the world with me. To Papa, thank you for years of ferrying my friends and me around in your car, for tirelessly standing by me in your quiet ways. To Juan, if not for you, I don’t think I would have ever been able to come do this and feel good about it. Thank you for being my amazing sister. To Shawn, thanks for the laughs and welcome to the family. To my in-laws, you are probably the best ones there are out there. Thanks for supporting the kind of lifestyle that I lead and the work that I do. To Iswen, my partner in life, this journey would have been so different without you, and we did it, husband. I cannot wait to explore the world with you. Woof to Ruffy and Snowy, who can’t read this, without whom this dissertation might have been completed some weeks earlier. This research was supported by funding provided by the National University of Singapore Overseas Graduate Scholarship, the University of Hawai‘i Department of Linguistics Graduate Assistantship, Achievement Scholarship, and Endowment Fund, as well as the University of Hawai‘i Graduate Students Organization Award. vi ABSTRACT Baba Malay, the home language of Peranakans, was formed via early intermarriage between Hokkien-speaking male traders and Malay-speaking indigenous women in the Malay Peninsula. The language is endangered, with less than 1,000 speakers in Singapore, and less than 1,000 speakers in Malacca, Malaysia. This dissertation describes the language’s sociohistorical background, its current circumstances of endangerment, and provides information regarding the phonology, parts of speech, and syntax of Baba Malay as it is spoken in Singapore. The language has 19 consonants and 8 vowels, of which [ɛ] occurs only in a refined style of speaking. Acoustic investigation of the vowel system shows that that [ɛ] is falling out of use, especially among less proficient speakers. A matched guise task is conducted to show the associations that listeners form between this changing variant and the speakers who produce this variant. Results show that younger listeners in particular perceived forms with [ɛ] as being more emblematic of the Peranakan culture and community than corresponding coarse speech forms that do not use [ɛ]. This is consequential for language change. Results from a post-matched guise survey also indicate that Peranakans are very concerned about language loss. Beyond this extended phonological investigation, the language’s basic clausal word order is Subject Verb Object, where Subject is optional. Topicalization also occurs frequently in the language. The basic phrasal word orders in Baba Malay are Noun Adjective, Genitive Noun, and Preposition Noun. Relative clauses occur prenominally and postnominally. Other than presenting a traditional description of Singapore Baba Malay, this grammar also highlights differences between Singapore Baba Malay and Malacca Baba Malay, and addresses whether Baba Malay is a genetic dialect of Malay, a mixed language, or a creole. Comparison between Singapore Baba Malay and Malacca Baba Malay shows that Malacca Baba Malay is more influenced by standard Malay, particularly where lexicon is concerned. Investigation into the issue of classification shows that BM should be classified as a creole. This dissertation includes vocabulary and texts; the audio files associated with these texts are archived at Kaipuleohone. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................................. iv Abstract ................................................................................................................................................. vii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................